Ohio 2nd Blog

Happy New Year!

(In case you were looking for all five verses.)

From the Drum Major Institute’s 2005 Year in Review:

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UPDATE: Audio has been posted.

Paul Hackett will be appearing 8 a.m. tomorrow morning on Cincinnati Advance Radio, WAIF-FM, 88.3.

Also, every campaign is rushing to get in any last minute end of quarter fundraising done. So too for the Hackett campaign. I really think that he’s got a good chance at this if he can just keep things afloat during the primary. Sherrod Brown’s awash with cash, but given his actions over the last four months I think that he’s done nothing but waste it. Paul sent out this fundraiser yesterday. I hope he’s able to hang in there.

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Eternal Bob McEwen nemesis BizzyBlog has filed a complaint against the former Congressman for continually referring to himself as “Congressman”.

This is the part of Ohio Revised Code (Section 3517.21) in question:

Use the title of an office not currently held by a candidate in a manner that implies that the candidate does currently hold that office

Personally I would think that this was something pretty common of former Congressmen. I wonder how many wet noodle lashes the penalty might be given that politicians in Ohio are free to lose millions of tax payer dollars through corruption and blatantly violate campaign contribution laws with no penalty what so ever.

It is cute watching BizzyBlog fire up with Terminator like focus on his old foe.

Dotty Lynch @ CBS News:

The state of Ohio is a Republican disaster area. Rep. Robert Ney is mired in the Abramoff investigation and Democrats are salivating at the possibilities in Ohio in 2006. One interesting wrinkle has occurred. With the seat of Republican Sen. Mike DeWine possibly in play, Democrats have a tough primary fight on their hands. Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett, who almost picked off a House seat in a heavily Republican district in Cincinnati, has a strong opponent for the Senate nomination in Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown. Brown has run a brilliant early campaign, hiring experienced liberal organizers, wooing the party establishment who have been wary of Hackett and his movement supporters, and taking out ads on progressive Internet sites. Polls show Brown leading Hackett among Democrats but in late December, the Ohio UAW broke ranks with other labor unions and endorsed Hackett over Brown who has a solid labor record.

Am I missing something?

One part is right on the money: wooing the party establishment who have been wary of Hackett and his movement supporters. It’s obvious from the way Brown has tried to game the blogosphere that he is threatened by it. I expect that the party establishment is as well, since it reduces a candidate’s dependancy on the traditional power structures.

The question is, by treating that blogs as a threat that needs to be “neutralized” is the Democratic leadership creating a self-fulfilling prophecy? Blogs could be a useful partner to the powers that be in wrestling back control of the state. However, one thing I know about bloggers, is if you treat them like your enemy, they will become your enemy.

Many of us so called progressives wonder if the Democrats running the show in our fair state are a part of the problem. If their goal in 2006 is protecting and enhancing their power instead of promoting positive change for every citizen than that is indeed the case.

2006 will be a major year for the Ohio Democratic Party. I see it going down one of two paths: In one direction I see it as a building year where Democrats join together to take our state back. In the other I see it as a destroying year with activists, frustrated at the anemic powerhungry deadwood that run the Party coordinate their efforts and do some serious housecleaning. Choose your path.

Ohio’s Congressional delegation isn’t bringing home the bacon. From the Beacon Journal:

Thirty-six states received more federal money per capita than Ohio in 2004, according to data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Ohioans, who are represented by one of the country’s most powerful congressional delegations, got about $1,000 less per capita in federal money than the national average.

To hit that average, federal spending in Ohio would have to increase to $83 billion from about $72 billion.

As important as the state is on the electoral college map, you’d think that it would translate into a significant portion of Federal projects. I guess as long as Tom Noe is comfortable, what else matters?

This lack of performance hasn’t stopped them from bragging about the largesse they are showering upon their constituents. Luckily there’s always that strong sense of charity in our communities that we can fall back on.

Please sir, may I have another highway construction project.

Swing State Project’s DavidNYC:

I’m thrilled to let you all know that I’ll be joining the board of a new PAC designed specifically to help veterans get elected as Dems. It’s called Band of Brothers and already has some serious backing from major guys like Sen. Max Cleland (one of my heroes) and Stan Greenberg, a top Democratic pollster and one-time advisor to Bill Clinton.

Interesting list from Hotline On Call:

Within the past few weeks:

• The election supervisor for the county encompassing Tallahassee, FL saw voting results hacked before his eyes. He decertified Diebold. Jeb Bush noticed and wants a full review of Florida’s voting machines.
• Diebold chief Wally O’Dell — he of “deliver the election” to Bush fame — resigns.
• CA refuses to certify Diebold yet, reversing a reversal.
• St. Louis Co., MO decertifies Diebold machines.
• North Carolina is apparently about to do the same.

Don’t worry Ohio voters. We’re still using plenty of Diebold voting machines here.

We need an open-source voting methodology.

Agreed

Alas, it’s not going to happen. The only way politicians learn any lessons is by being thrown out of office. Of all the candidates out there I’ve liked Hackett’s defense of civil liberties the best. The 2^nd amendment angle gives it a lot more resonance. I’m tired of politicians using terrorism as justification for shredding the Constitution.

BuckeyeSenate has tracked threatening anonymous posts under the handle “thisblogishorses___” back to a Sherrod Brown staffer using the IP addresses of the posts and linking them to emails sent out for the campaign. (This all stems from reports on the blogs of Sherrod Brown’s actions during the ODP Christmas party.)

I was expecting this sort of stuff would be happening in the 2006 cycle. I didn’t expect to see it from Democrats. This does give bloggers a good reason to allow anonymous comments since it can be used as a trap for internet novices.

Brown’s efforts to have the blogs “neutralized” have been a complete and very expensive failure.

ADDED: Live from Dayton has more.

BTW, this is not the first time that a staffer got into hot water for their online Sherrod Brown advocacy.

UPDATE: This comment by Cleveland AFL-CIO’s John Ryan over @ Buckeye Politics does provide some resolution:

The Brown campaign did address this, as you know. As I explained to you over the Christmas holiday after you inquired through me, Sherrod has put forward a directive to his paid campaign staff that they cannot blog on any blogs other than his own. This is true whether they post anonmously (as many blogs, including the Cleveland AFL-CIO blog allows) or under their name.

UPDATE 2: Tim Russo @ Buckeye Politics responds.