RACE OF THE DAY — Ohio-13

With so many Democratic House seats to target this cycle, national Republicans were relieved to have self-funding candidates like used-car dealer Tom Ganley (R) step forward.

These wealthy businessmen have been able to relieve some of the party’s financial burden and allow the National Republican Congressional Committee to shift its resources to other candidates.

{mosads}Ganley, who is challenging Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), is one of the GOP’s top self-funding prospects.

He had originally looked to run for Ohio’s open Senate seat but in February switched to make a run for the House. Ganley’s since pumped millions of dollars from his own fortune into his campaign. He was owed $2.8 million by his campaign at the end of June, when he reported having some $2.7 million cash on hand. 

Sutton, meanwhile, had less than $600,000 banked at of the end of the last quarter.

Although favored financially, Ganley faces an uphill battle on paper. He’s trying to flip a district that President Obama carried with 57 percent of the vote in the 2008 election, the same year Sutton took 65 percent of the vote. And before Sutton was first elected, in 2006, the Cleveland-area district was held by now-Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) for seven terms.

Even with the national environment favoring Republicans, this is a difficult district for the party to flip. Still, the National Republican Congressional Committee hasn’t invested any money in TV ads targeting Sutton.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, however, has sought to bolster Sutton by dropping more than $230,000 on a TV spot hitting Ganley. Its ad labeled him a “millionaire used-car salesman” who has been sued by his customers for “fraudulent and deceptive practices.”

Republicans have dismissed Democrats’ talk of Ganley’s business practices as “false accusations.”

Meanwhile, Democrats have also tried to hit Ganley for taking money from the cash-for-clunkers subsidy program while decrying government spending.

The Republican, who’s making his first run for public office, also got into trouble when he told reporters in August, “I don’t have a position on whether [Obama is] a Muslim.” He later issued a statement saying he had “no reason to believe” that the president is not a Christian. 

The one public poll of this race shows Ganley and Sutton effectively tied.