The Eye

Yalamanchili, who is not accepting PAC contributions, bemoaned the large amounts of campaign funds that the financial services industry has bestowed on both the Democratic and Republican parties, which he said have engaged in partisan bickering and ignored the nation's long-term challenges.

Among his ideas are establishing a commission, patterned after the system that recommends military base closures, that would make "specific recommendations to either cut programs, get them in line and also for long-term restructuring of certain entitlement programs."

Yalamanchili said that the economic stimulus law President Obama signed into law in February included a "lot of pork" but was a "painful pill that we probably had to take." He said the health care bill the House passed last weekend was "better than what we have now," but didn't include enough consumer choice or "tort reform" to curb lawsuit abuse. He prefers a health bill promoted by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Sen. Robert F. Bennett of Utah.

His campaign Web site refers to a campaign slogan, "Vote Chili," that he also used during a run for freshman class president a decade ago at Rutgers University. It's a play on his last name as well as a reference to the food that is popular around Cincinnati.

Yalamanchili served as the director of marketing for LinkedIn, a business-oriented social networking site, and before that as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble. He also has a background in technology and plans to blog every day during the campaign.

He appeared on the sixth season of The Apprentice, which aired in early 2007, and was "fired" in the eighth week, after his team lost a competition. Yalamanchili drew similarities between reality television and politics, which he said are both infused with "gotcha" moments, distortion and one-upmanship.

"Having been on a reality TV show and having been behind the scenes of it, it's very representative of the current state of Democratic and Republican party politics," he said.

Though every House member affiliates with either the Democratic or Republican parties, Yalamanchili said that the political environment in 2010 will be conducive to independent candidates because voters are yearning for change.

"I think they're starting to realize that it's not going to be found in the Democratic and Republican parties," Yalamanchili said. "I think 2010 is really going to be the start of an independent movement."

Ohio's 2nd, which takes in part of Cincinnati and some suburbs and rural territory east of the city, has a generic Republican lean, as evidenced by district's backing of John McCain over Barack Obama by 59 percent to 40 percent in the 2008 presidential balloting. But Schmidt has had a shaky hold on the district during her 51-month tenure, and she's being challenged in the GOP primary next spring by Mike Kilburn, a longtime county commissioner.

The Democratic field includes state Rep. Todd Book, who is favored by party leaders, and David Krikorian, who won 18 percent of the vote as an independent candidate in the 2008 election. Schmidt won 45 percent of the vote and Democratic physician Victoria Wulsin won 37 percent.

CQ Politics currently rates the 2nd District race Leans Republican.

To follow all the 2010 House races, check out the CQ Politics election map.