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0000017a-3b40-d913-abfe-bf44a4f90000Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU news team as the politics reporter and columnist in April 2012 , after 30 years of covering local, state and national politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. On this page, you will find his weekly column, Politically Speaking; the Monday morning political chats with News Director Maryanne Zeleznik and other news coverage by Wilkinson. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio gubernatorial race since 1974, as well as 16 presidential nominating conventions. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots, the Lucasville prison riot in 1993, the Air Canada plane crash at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983, and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. And, given his passion for baseball, you might even find some stories about the Cincinnati Reds here from time to time.

Boehner challenger drops out of GOP primary race

House Speaker John Boehner has one less challenger in the May 6 GOP primary for his 8th Ohio Congressional District.

Matthew Ashworth, a tea party activist and business owner from Liberty Township, said on his campaign website that he was getting out of the race, and throwing his support to another challenger, Eric Gurr, also a business owner from Liberty Township.

That leaves Gurr and J.D. Winteregg, a high school French teacher from Troy, as the two Republicans challenging Boehner, who has held the seat since 1991.

“I did not get in the race to be a spoiler and split the vote among the candidates thereby making it easier for Boehner to be re-elected,’’ Ashworth wrote on his campaign website.

As of mid-day today, Ashworth had not submitted a formal letter of withdrawal to the Butler County Board of Elections. But Jocelyn Bucaro, deputy director of the board, said she expected a letter from Ashworth today.

It is too late to remove Ashworth’s name from the ballot, but votes cast for him will not be counted, Bucaro said.

Bucaro said that once Ashworth’s formal withdrawal is received, the boards of elections in the 8th District will insert notices in absentees ballots saying votes for Ashworth will not be counted. Notices will be placed in all polling places on election day.

A national group called the Tea Party Leadership Fund, which has been backing Winteregg, has spent several hundred thousand dollars on ads attacking Boehner.

That has prompted Boehner to do something he rarely does – mount his own TV ad campaign in the Cincinnati and Dayton markets.

Boehner has had primary challenges in the past; and has consistently won with over 80 per cent of the vote.

Howard Wilkinson is in his 50th year of covering politics on the local, state and national levels.