Once again, Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt will face Democrat Victoria Wulsin in this fall's general election to see who goes to Washington to represent the 2nd Congressional District, which stretches along the Ohio River from the Indiana border to Portsmouth.

With half of the 719 precincts in the district's six states reporting at press time, Schmidt was turning back challenger Tom Brinkman 26,006 votes to 14,785 - a margin of 62 percent to 35 percent.

Nathan Bailey had 1,335 votes. The fourth candidate listed on the ballot, Phil Heimlich, dropped out of the race in late January.

Wulsin, endorsed by the Cincinnati Enquirer, was beating attorney Stephen Black 56 percent to 31 percent. Her numbers were remarkably nearly the same as Schmidt's. She had 26,473 votes to Black's 14,796, a margin of 56 percent to 31 percent.

A third candidate, truck driver William Smith of Waverly, had 6,371 votes.

Wuslin, a public health physician, is making her third attempt for the district seat.

Schmidt, a marathon runner, narrowly defeated Wulsin 120,112 to 117,595 in the 2006 general election.

Schmidt said it won't be that close this time around. She said the conditions in 2006 were different than they will be this fall.

"In 2006, we had a governor with an indictment and a conviction. There were problems with scandals in Congress. Our gubernatorial candidate lost by 20 points," she said.

Schmidt said she's "humbled and grateful" for the opportunity to represent the 2nd District again.

"The 2nd District is second to none," she said. "It's inhabited by true Americans who believe in hard, honest work."

She believes John McCain has an excellent chance to be the next president of the United States.

"He's the kind of leader who makes us feel good when we turn out the lights and go to bed," she said. "We feel we're going to wake up (the) next morning in a safe and secure world."

Wulsin did not immediately return messages left on her cell phone asking for her comments on the race.

On March 17, 2005, President Bush nominated Rob Portman, then the popular congressman representing the 2nd District, to the post of Trade Representative.

Schmidt began her campaign on April 11, 2007, for the Republican primary to fill the vacancy left by Portman.

Running on a strong conservative platform, she won the primary over 10 opponents with 31 percent of the vote, then went on to win the special election in August by defeating Democratic candidate Paul Hackett.

G. SAM PIATT can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 236.