Ohio 2nd Blog

I must say, I was not gonna watch the convention last night.  Most of the time the speeches are scripted, and is just a bunch of rah rah for the presumptive candidates.  However, I am glad I did.  Leach’s speech struck home with me.  As a Republican who is fed up with the party, and especially with the party crap in OH 2nd District, I must say he was dead on!

I can only hope Hillary can unite the party now.  I hope her speech gives everyone pause and makes all Dems understand…Unite or lose.

 And lastly from Day one….I can only hope the Republicans put on the same show of enthusiasm as the Dems did last night. 

Still undecided in Clermont!

I don’t write about this THING because if I did I would just rant and bring everybody down. So I’ll just give you one little rant. I’ll turn the spiggot on JUUUUUST a little bit for you to get a taste and then turn it off before I flood you all with the bile that eats at my soul.

Here’s what really pisses me off:

Go read this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

It’s entitled Obama to meet Energy Smart Debbie. Energy smart Debbie. How cool is this? This candidate has positioned herself as the voice of SMART ENERGY. I love it. She’s owning that position.

Guess who’s introducing Barack Obama tomorrow? And is she the “Health Care Smart” candidate? No, she’s the “Not Doing Ethically Questionable Medical Experiments” candidate and the “My Opponent Has Been Called the Worst Person in the World by Keith Olbermann” candidate. Why? Because her campaign is a stagnant pond that exists for no other purpose than to beg for cash. They bring absolutely nothing to the table.

You are running against the candidate that has less going for her than Bernie @ Weekend at Bernie’s and STILL she’s beating you. WHY??? And what’s worst… what makes it that much more of an insult to our collective intelligence as a species… you’re bragging about how she’s beating you in the polls… but only by so much… AND YOU WANT US TO GIVE YOU MONEY TO PAY FOR YOU???

I blame the staffers. I hate them. Sorry guys, but I really really do. Not just for this campaign, but in general. Pick up a bleeping shovel or a broom or something and start making yourself useful. How many times have I gone to a candidate’s event and seen staffers standing around doing nothing but looking too cool for the room. Here I am recording their candidate with my $100 mp3 player and they are just standing there. Not operating a camera so that they can make their stuff viral. Not recording it for a podcast that they can upload. NOTHING. They’re busy texting someone with their DAMNED BLACKBERRIES that I want to throw into the Ohio river. So cool, and SO USELESS. Can’t stand for this because it will piss off the unions. Can’t stand for that because you don’t want to tread on the Party’s toes. LOSERS. Professional Losers. GAHH!!!!!

I’ve begged. I’ve pleaded. I’ve spent a year with passive aggressive posts that tried to push them into something resembling a position on anything. NOTHING. FLATLINE. Why don’t I blog about the district? Because I’m tired of carrying the water for losers.

It’s not like you don’t have anything to work with. Your candidate is an MD. She’s incredibly smart, and she’s saved real lives. She’s made a difference. Who could ask for anything more?

Tomorrow your candidate is going to speak before the possible future President of the United States. No one will notice. No one will care.

You could make headlines. You could blow this race wide open and show your mentor professional losers over @ the DCCC that you are playing to win. You won’t win by kissing Obama’s ass like everyone else. You won’t win by talking about how much Schmidt sucks and how you are going to win.

When Obama gives a speech in front of people he doesn’t kiss their ass. He speaks truth to power knowing that it will piss people off. Why don’t you?

Health care in America is a death spiral of waste. America needs universal health care. We need it now. Barack Obama is wrong on this issue. Tell him. Tell him to his face. Show people that your candidate stands for something… that your candidate means something… that this whole thing isn’t some perverse vanity exercise/time waster.

But you won’t, and that’s why I don’t blog about the 2nd.

Brain Shavings seems to think that this clip from Bob Frantz’s radio show makes Senator Sherrod Brown look bad. (29′ in) Personally I love the way that our Senator gets respectfully angry, stays on offense, and doesn’t let Frantz ala Hannity couch personal attacks in his questions. I’ve only seen Sherrod unplugged in person a couple of times… once was at the Ambush at UD and once when I mentioned the Hackett bus to him. I enjoy seeing him be real. So much of politics is a mask.

I don’t think that the right is going to win many seats deflecting to trivia. Eventually somebody is going to have to deal with the steaming pile of crap that our President left on the White House lawn.

One of the reasons why I’m kept at a comfortable distance from many of our more partisan Democratic allies is that I like to keep good relationships with Republicans. I work hard to stay in the loop and go overboard to try and respect their perspective even though I disagree with it. I’m about as liberal as they come, but that and $4.10 still only buys me a venti carmel macchiato.

So a little while ago I heard something that impressed the hell out of me. One of Jean Schmidt’s secret weapons seems to be that she’s kept surprisingly good relationships with quite a few on top of the Hamilton County Democratic Party food chain. Hey… she’s bringing in the pork… people go back a long way.. there are many enemies of her enemies… and as long as the spice flows, who cares?

Congresswoman Jean Schmidt is Congresswoman Jean Schmidt because of lack of hustle by Hamilton County Democrats. For some reason they always seem to be focusing on the 1st when go time rolls around. Her public persona may be that of “Mean Jean”, but I’m not so sure that local Democratic powerbrokers see it that way.

Isn’t politics a wonderfully complex game?

Jerid, the new watchman over at Buckeye State Blog, has announced that it’s the last day of the New Hampshire Project, one of the most interesting ideas that I have seen come out of the progressive blogosphere this year.

It would be interesting to see a recap of his trip.

UPDATE: and here it is. The recap has something that is almost never seen in the wilds of the blogosbogs… a thread with nice comments from both Tim Russo, and Tim Tagaris. Catch it while you can.

With the Enquirer’s Politics Extra “blog” putting up six posts on Roxanne Qualls returning to political life in the last fours days even I am starting to worry about there being a liberal bias in the media. I guess it’s good to see that veteran Democrats are returning to active duty in Southern Ohio now that the waters have become more inviting. Better late then never.

Also, Bill Sloat has an interesting post on the fundraiser being hosted by Vernal G. (Skip) Riffe III for newbie Democrat Steve Black. It would seem that like the Phoenix, the ghost of Vern Riffe has flown out of the ashes on wings of gold. Given the bizzaro power structures that make up the eastern portions of the fighting 2nd this is an interesting piece to add to the puzzle that is Stephen L. Black.

I will give one friendly warning to candidate Black. Scioto county is Jim Parker country. You’d better start knocking on a hell of a lot of doors if you want to have a chance against the Parkinator.

Toledo Blade > Brown pushes insurance plan for children at UT med school

From a global perspective, we have a society who considers children’s health care to be an expense rather than an investment.

Richard Stansley, chairman of the University of Toledo Board of Trustees.

Two years ago Blogosphere Day was the event that kicked off Paul Hackett’s record online fundraising efforts. Blogosphere Day lit the fuse but it wouldn’t have been possible without the technology of ActBlue behind it. That’s why it’s so appropriate that this year Blogosphere Day is supporting ActBlue itself. So if you love what this blog is about, and you love how we’ve changed things in the 2nd district please show some love to the organization that made it as powerful a phenomena as it has been.

Over @ Daily Kos Senator Dick Durbin has posted a diary on the event. @ Huffington Post General Wesley Clark has a diary on the event.

Tim Tagaris, who’s been one of the main people behind making online fundraising so effective, diary about it on Open Left.

Here’s some history:

• Mother Jones’ timeline of the special election
• Some history of the first Blogosphere Day
• The Open Party Committee

Buckeye State Blog has posted a response from the Steve Black campaign to their story of his frequent donations to Republican candidates.

Modernesquire over @ Buckeye State Blog has been going over Ohio 2nd Democratic candidate Stephen Black’s campaign donations and has turned up such Ohio Republican heavy hitters as Mary Taylor (06), Greg Hartmann (06), Jim Petro (01, 03 & 04), Bob Taft (01), Ken Blackwell (01), Betty Montgomery (01), and Joe Deters (01).

Given how hard Paul Hackett was hit for once switching sides and picking a Republican ballot in a primary, I’m sure that this will stir up a few people. Still, he did donate to Vic Wulsin in 06

I’m certain that some will see this as a plus for someone running in the once safe Republican 2nd. Still, it’s not going to help things in the primary.

It’s certain that the Black campaign saw this line coming, so it will be interesting to see how they play it.