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Trump Campaign Manager Blasts ORP Chair, And Tea Partiers Consider Voting Against "Never Trump" Republicans

The presidential race in Ohio is a real cliff hanger - a new Quinnipiac Poll shows Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are tied at 45% each among likely Ohio voters. Both Vice Presidential candidates were in Ohio this week. Thousands of Ohioans got put back on the voting rolls for the 2016 election Wednesday night through a federal judge’s ruling.

The rift that’s been brewing all year between the Trump campaign and the chair of the Ohio Republican Party has blown up into what appears to be a full-blown war. It’s no secret Matt Borges has had concerns about Trump as the party’s nominee. But Trump’s Ohio campaign manager Bob Paduchik suggested this was personal in a letter to the Ohio Republican Party’s state central committee last weekend. Borges came back with a detailed and pointed response.

Several Tea Party activists and supporters are in Trump’s corner, including one of the movement’s most prominent leaders in Ohio, including Portage County Tea Party Executive Director Tom Zawistowski. He's had a history of run-ins with the Ohio Republican Party, including his failed effort in 2013 to become head of the organization, and is urging votes against Republican Sen. Rob Portman and any other candidate who has denounced Trump.

Some observers feel Ohio’s US Senate contest is all but over, with incumbent Rob Portman leading Democratic former Gov. Ted Strickland by around 15 points.  But the candidates still went ahead with a three-debate tour of the state – the first was a week ago Friday in Youngstown, and the second was in Columbus on Monday. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler was the co-moderator of the third and final debate between Strickland and Portman. And she was among those who watched that second debate in Columbus.