Therefore, according to Cranley, the Democratic National Committee is prepared to flood money and organizational support into any race where a Democratic challenger has a chance to unseat an incumbent Republican.

And Cranley hopes to be their man.

His fight is for the pivotal Ohio's first Congressional District, which includes most of urban Cincinnati and some of its western suburbs.

Cranley describes this area as largely Catholic, African-American and working class. The district has voted for Clinton in the past two presidential elections, but has returned Chabot to office twice already.

"My opponent is a hard worker, and a genuinely nice guy. But he simply doesn't represent the district," Cranley said.

In fact the district had traditionally voted Democratic prior to Chabot's first win in 1994.

Chabot came to power as a so-called "Gingrich Freshman," part of the wave of new Republicans who ended 50 years of Democratic control of Congress and propelled former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich into power.

In that election, Chabot defeated Democratic incumbent David Mann, with a considerable 20,000-vote margin. He won re-election in 1996 against Democratic challenger Mark Longabaugh by a margin of 23,605.