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Oct
20
[video] Matthews talks w/Sen. Klobuchar on Bachmann, anti-American, & whether socilaist=dirty word
Filed Under Barack Obama, Campaigning, Congress, Media, michele bachmann, Politics, WH2008 | 3 Comments
Also, here’s Matthews confirming Colin Powell’s take that MN Congresswoman’s interest in knowing who is anti-American and who is pro-American is nonsense:
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:26 pm October 20th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Congress, Media, michele bachmann, Politics, WH2008 | 3 Comments
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Oct
20
Analysis of McCain camp’s SW OH regional director’s fixation on 610 votes
Filed Under Courts, Elections, Jennifer Brunner, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | 2 Comments
Election law isn’t my forte but Modern Esquire, who blogs regularly at Buckeye State Blog, has written an excellent post on the relevance and meaning of the grand jury investigation initiated by Hamilton County, Ohio’s prosecutor and McCain campaign Southwest Ohio Chair, Joe Deters. I wrote about it here earlier today and last week here. I’m not proud to think that these analyses only make Ohio political operatives look even more obsessed than any of us might be right now, but if the shoe fits…
One caution: no one, Democrat or Republican, condones voter fraud, however, whenever or whereever it is perpetrated. But the actions of the Ohio Republican Party and politically-positioned individuals like Deters reminds Ohioans every day that our former Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, was the Bush campaign co-chair for Ohio, while he was our secretary of state – and no one in his party demanded that he step down from either role.
Modern’s post explains the Deters situation with great detail and at length, so I’m not going to re-publish it here, but I recommend reading it. His conclusion, however, I will re-publish:
Deters had no problem publicly announcing a “major case” about voter fraud involving “hundreds” of votes two weeks before the election even though grand jury investigations are normally kept strictly confidental and that he knew at the time that there was no way the investigation would be completed until after the election. An investigation that has uncovered nothing more than the possibility that 100 people may have moved before voting and another 166 couldn’t be found by sheriff deputies who apparently had nothing better to do than to track down voters who hadn’t done anything wrong but vote at a time the county prosecutor finds objectionable.
Maybe instead of a special prosecutor on one case, Hamilton County should consider a new prosecutor on all cases. This is criminal abuse of power. It’s impeachable, and it is simple inexcusable.
Hopefully, time will tell.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:11 pm October 20th, 2008 in Courts, Elections, Jennifer Brunner, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | 2 Comments
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Oct
20
[updated] Threats of violence, harassment, cyber attacks target OH Secretary of State
Filed Under Courts, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Jennifer Brunner, Law, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, Voting, WH2008 | 17 Comments
Full disclosure: I supported Jennifer Brunner in her run against Republican and then-incumbent Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell in 2006. I gave her a modest political contribution which you can find in public records and hosted a house party for her (which was actually incredibly pitifully attended – but that’s another story).
I also happen to like Brunner personally. I first met her at an interview in the winter of 2006 and as soon as it was over, the first question I asked her was, “How did you do it?” She’s the mother of three children, all grown up now (and were then as well) and married for many years to the same man. And she nodded, sighed and smiled before telling me about how she juggled, waited, worked, waited, worked more, juggled more and so on. When I meet impressive women, that’s almost always the first thing I want to know: how do you do it?
So I get pretty upset when I read things like this, on a blog post titled, “Republican Domestic Terrorism Against Ohio Secy of State”:
I knew it was bad when last week someone sent Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner a package in the mail containing an unidentified powder with the words scrawled on the packaging: “Death to Obama Supporters.” Due to state security protocols and observant mailroom staff and the Ohio Highway Patrol, the package never got close to Brunner. In fact, the nutjob who sent it mailed it to the wrong building, albeit a state building.
(That incident is described in this news report.)
Not much more information has been released from any source since I posted the one press release sent by the SOS, which you can read here, but I have e-mailed the communications people for the governor, the Ohio Democratic Party and the Ohio Republican Party for their statements.
The only other details I’ve found in the few articles out so far, besides stateements about death threats, security breaches and barrages of calls and e-mails jamming the offices, includes this:
[Communications Director Patrick] Gallaway also said a barrage of menacing e-mails had been sent to the office, and a receptionist on Friday filed police reports alleging phone harassment.
“It’s getting kind of scary,” he said.
To immediately fingerpoint to the Republicans, especially because of their incredibly heightened rhetoric and constant pursuit of legal action in the absence of actual voter fraud or wrongdoing, is understandable, but wrong.
I only hope that the ORP not only comes out hard against these kinds of tactics but likewise instructs their supporters to do the same and to offer whatever assistance is necessary to make sure that all Ohioans who are legally registered to vote can do so without any hint of intimidation whatsoever.
UPDATE: Ohio Daily Blog notes appropriately:
This has gone far beyond anyone’s definition of acceptable political tactics. As State Sen. Teresa Fedor wrote at Glass City Jungle yesterday, the Republicans are “trying to destroy our election system just to win an election” (although I would add that their other goal of unseating Brunner in 2010 is also in the mix). This despicable assault comes a hell of a lot closer to “destroying the fabric of democracy” than anything ACORN has allegedly committed, even in John McCain’s feverish imagination.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:50 pm October 20th, 2008 in Courts, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Jennifer Brunner, Law, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, Voting, WH2008 | 17 Comments
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Oct
20
Obama 51%, McCain 49% – of votes in Nickelodeon’s Kids Vote
Filed Under Barack Obama, Elections, John McCain, Politics, Poll, Voting, WH2008, Youth | 5 Comments
Cable television station Nickelodeon just did their reveal of the Kids Pick the President Choice and, with 2 million votes cast, Barack Obama won, 51%-49%. More about the effort:
The under 18 crowd is not old enough to vote, but quite a few of our nation’s young people are old enough to have an opinion about who should be the next Leader of the Free World. Nickelodeon’s Kids Pick the President Web site is encouraging young people to take a look at the candidates, the issues and cast their vote. The results will be revealed on Nickelodeon on Monday, October 20 at 8:00 p.m. on a special 2008 Kids Pick the President program. Presidential candidates Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain have both appeared in TV commercials to promote this upcoming program.
New York Magazine published some of the message board comments kids left at Nick.com’s site for the event:
McCain may have been tortured but there are many other soldiers who gave their life/tortured. Does that make them President material? McCain is out touch and looks like he was awaken from the dead in order to run for President. Go Obama!!!!!!!brisingir1
Oh he was tortured. So he should president! That TOTALLY is a good reason for someone to be president! SIKE!!! That’s the worst reason I’ve ever heard. Vote for who is the best for this country, not because they have gone through some torture and miserable times in their life.
gogobamai went to church the other day and they where talking about how mccain is a good choice i agree.
mccain23
Because He wants to lower Taxes, Lower Gas, and Help us I also heard that Obama Might make a new Holiday. I dont know if thats true but still Obama works ALOT harder than Mcaine, And if Obama works that hard then he should be rewarded OBama Rocks
Briardog
Barak Obama should win! Mcaine is going to lose. But even if he won it would still be bad for us because they say that he is showing signs of Altimers Desease. Altimers Desease is when you forget things. So say that Mcaine was president. So if Mcaine died than Sarah Palin would take over. We don’t want that! I mean Soccer Mom’s Day! What the heck is that.
cody456654
who is totally sick of president commercials? I AM!!!!!!!! half the stuff isnt even true!
pink12345
Obama also won the Scholastic Election Poll but by a wider margin: 57%-39% of 250,000 votes cast. How accurate has that poll been?
Since 1940, the results of the student vote have mirrored the outcome of the general election all but twice: In 1948, kids voted for Thomas E. Dewey over Harry S. Truman. In 1960, more students voted for Richard M. Nixon than for John F. Kennedy. In 2000, a majority of student voters chose George W. Bush, mirroring the Electoral College result, but not the result of the popular vote.
No articles yet for the Nick vote effort but this is probably a good place to check if you’re interested.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:19 pm October 20th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Elections, John McCain, Politics, Poll, Voting, WH2008, Youth | 5 Comments
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Oct
20
OH Secretary of State site down, lawsuit kicked back to OH Supreme Court
Filed Under WH2008 | 5 Comments
I really wanted to title this, Insanity in Ohio, but that just seems so unfair.
First: The case that was removed from the Ohio Supreme Court to the federal court, that is identical to the voter registration-HAVA case filed by the Ohio Republican Party that the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of the Ohio SOS last Friday? It’s now been kicked back to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Second: The Ohio Secretary of State’s website is down (e-mail in the inbox):
Secretary of State Website Temporarily Taken Down for Security Purposes
Ohio State Highway Patrol will assist with investigationColumbus, Ohio – Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced on Monday afternoon that the state website has been set in a static mode with limited functionality as a precaution. The Ohio State Highway Patrol will assist with an investigation of one or more security breaches detected by the Secretary of State.
“Due to security concerns experienced by the Secretary of State’s website, full functionality of the website has been suspended to protect the integrity of state records and data. Full functionality will be restored when we are assured that all data has been protected to acceptable levels of security,” said Secretary of State Brunner.
“Our focus is and has always been to protect the vote of every eligible Ohio voter from any kind of fraud, be it voter registration fraud, illegal voting or vote suppression. This action has been taken to detect and prosecute any illegal breach of our voting infrastructure to maintain voter confidence,” said Secretary Brunner.
Unfortunately, this is not the first instance of direct assault on the operations of the Secretary of State’s office. In recent weeks, phone lines and e-mail channels have been barraged, even in the business filings section of the office, with menacing messages and even threats of harm or death. Last week, a suspicious package covered with threatening messages and containing an unidentified powder was mailed to the Secretary of State’s office via the previous location of the Client Services Center. These incidents are also under investigation.
The Secretary of State’s office will continue to work in the best interest of Ohio voters and the boards of elections as we continue our preparation for a successful election.
When I know more, you will too (and if you know more before me, well, let me know!).
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:20 pm October 20th, 2008 in WH2008 | 5 Comments
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Oct
20
OH prosecutor, McCain camp regional chair, recuses self from action he filed
Filed Under Courts, Law, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | 2 Comments
How ya’ll doing with your scorecard of Ohio voter & election law legal actions? Be sure to mark this one:
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters is asking that about 600 votes cast between Sept. 30-Oct. 6 be quarantined and not counted until Ohio officials look into allegations of voter fraud.
“There are stricter standards in Ohio to buy beer than to vote,” Deters said today.
“We know of certain voter fraud.”
…
Deters’ office began receiving complaints about possible voter fraud a few weeks ago.
Deters wants those 610 ballots to be set aside until they are proved to have been cast by legal Hamilton County residents.
Now, they are scheduled to be commingled with other early votes – including the vote cast today by Deters’ mother — by the end of the week.
Anyone see trouble already? If the complaints started to come in “a few weeks ago,” why did Deters wait until Oct. 17 to file anything? Not to mention, the Golden Week ended less than two weeks ago – that ain’t a few.
Likewise, it’s reasonable to assume that Deters, in his position as a McCain campaign chair for the Southwest of Ohio, should know that there would be objections to him filing the request and he should have taken this action at the start:
After complaints of partisanship, Deters took his office out of the [grand jury] investigation. Deters is the southwest Ohio regional chairman of the McCain for president campaign.
Of course, given the replacement, I’m really not sure how the partisanship thing is solved:
Mike O’Neill, 31, a former assistant Hamilton County prosecutor, was appointed special prosecutor today by Common Pleas Court Judge Norbert Nadel.
O’Neill was hired by then-Prosecutor Mike Allen and worked for Deters for a year before becoming a private attorney.
O’Neill and Deters suggested the investigation won’t be completed before the Nov. 4 election.
Addionally, today’s statement by Ohio Republican Party Deputy Director Kevin DeWine, in which he expresses concern for scaring Ohio voters, seems to indicate that he’s doing that projecting thing just like MN Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and John McCain.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:10 pm October 20th, 2008 in Courts, Law, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | 2 Comments
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Oct
20
Republicans, Democrats settle foreclosure voter suppression lawsuit
Filed Under Courts, Elections, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | Comments Off
And from Ohio’s neighbor, Michigan, comes news of a settlement over allegations that MI Republicans had a scheme to use foreclosure information as the basis of voter challenges. However, bickering continues regarding whether the Republicans ever had an actual plan to challenge voters based on foreclosure status. Michigan Messenger, where it all started, will be the best place to look for interpretations of each sides’ statements and contentions, but ultimately, making sure that such lists are not used as a way to challenge voters on election day is the most important result of the case. Ironically, this CNN report about the allegations aired today.
I hope the case serves as a warning to the Ohio Republican Party: Ohio SOS Brunner has already said that voters whose homes are in foreclosure should not be excluded from voting with regular ballots.
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is reminding local elections boards that voters who have homes in foreclosure should not be prohibited from casting ballots for the Nov. 4 presidential election.
Brunner advised officials Wednesday that a voter’s registration status cannot be challenged simply due to involvement in a foreclosure.
Brunner says returned mail that can’t be forwarded is also insufficient for a challenge, and that all challenged voters are entitled to a hearing.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:20 pm October 20th, 2008 in Courts, Elections, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | Comments Off
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Oct
20
OH SOS Brunner successfully gets latest GOP lawsuit sent to Fed court
Filed Under Cleveland+, Education, Gambling, Humor, Nancy Rogers, Research, Rosemary Palmer, WH2008, Women | Comments Off
The fun never ends. I wrote about the latest voter mismatch suit here (it was filed Friday by an individual but an individual who is a GOP fundraiser and has ties to five of the seven Ohio Supreme Court justices).
Today, the Plain Dealer reports that a request from the Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, to move the case from the Ohio Supreme Court to federal court, because of HAVA being a federal law and the underlying issue of the case, has been granted.
[The Ohio] Attorney general’s office spokesman Jim Gravelle said [Ohio AG Nancy] Rogers exercised her right to have the case moved to another court and that it has already been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith.
“From this office’s standpoint, the Ohio Supreme Court case no longer exists,” said Gravelle.
But the state court just minutes ago issued a revised schedule for the Myhal case, still requiring Brunner to respond to the case by the end of today and moving up the request for briefs and evidence from Friday to Wednesday.
And Judge Smith’s law clerk, Stephanie Rawlings, said it is possible that the judge could determine that removal was improper and send the case back to the Ohio Supreme Court. It appears Brunner is not anticipating responding to the Supreme Court. Rawlings said Smith could have a decision today on whether he will accept the case.
Smith, who was appointed to the bench under President Ronald Reagan, is the same judge who took the case two weeks ago when it was originally filed by the Ohio Republican Party. He sided with the Republicans then and issued a temporary restraining order against Brunner. That order was dismissed Friday by the U.S. Supreme Court.
More as it develops, in addition to new calls by the Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Senator Sherrod Brown and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman for the McCain campaign to stop the robocall smears that others such as Republican Senators Norm Coleman (MN) and Susan Collins (ME) have asked to have stopped.
FYI: John McCain, appearing with Chris Wallace yesterday, said that he will not be stopping the calls [emphasis mine]: Read more
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:41 pm October 20th, 2008 in Cleveland+, Education, Gambling, Humor, Nancy Rogers, Research, Rosemary Palmer, WH2008, Women | Comments Off
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Oct
20
[video update] GOP’s Bachmann sticks to fears of “troika of the most leftist administration”
Filed Under Barack Obama, Congress, Government, michele bachmann, Politics, Republicans, WH2008 | 6 Comments
Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann continues to try and defend what she said on MSNBC’s Hardball three days ago.
In an interview this morning on KMSP-TV, Channel 9 [the local Fox channel], the east metro Republican said her comments Friday on MSNBC’s “Hardball” during an interview with host Chris Matthews were “completely misconstrued.”
“I did not suggest the word ‘anti-American,’ ” she said. “I said the media should look into [Obama’s] views,” adding that the national press has “appalling lack of curiosity” about where the Democratic presidential candidate stands on the issues.
On Friday, Bachmann was asked by Matthews whether she believes that Obama may have anti-American views. She replied, “Absolutely. I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views.”
Again, you can read the transcript and watch the video for yourself here.
UPDATE: Here’s the KMSP-TV, Channel 9 video.
Here is how the phrase “anti-American” entered the exchange between Bachmann and Matthews [emphasis added]:
MR. MATTHEWS: I mean, we’ve got a lot of problems in this country. Why is this [Obama's connection back in the 1990s with Bill Ayers] so important that it’s being pushed out on telephone calls to all the key states now with two weeks to go?
REP. BACHMANN: It’s important because we look at the collection of friends that Barack Obama has had over his life, and usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us. And it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama’s true beliefs and values and thoughts are — his attitudes, values and beliefs with Jeremiah Wright on his view of the United States –
MR. MATTHEWS: Okay –
REP. BACHMANN: — which is negative; Bill Ayers, his negative view of the United States. We’ve seen one friend after another. It calls into question his judgment, but also what is it that Barack Obama really believes? And we know that he’s the most liberal senator in the United States Senate, and that’s just after one year after being there. He’s the most liberal. Joe Biden is the third most liberal. You’ve got Harry Reid who’s liberal, Nancy Pelosi who’s liberal.
MR. MATTHEWS: Right. What’s the connection?
REP. BACHMANN: You have a troika of the most leftist administration in the history of our country.
MR. MATTHEWS: If you have liberal views, does that mean you have anti-American views? What’s the connection? I don’t get the connection. What’s the connection between liberal and leftist and anti-American?
REP. BACHMANN: Anti-American is the point, because –
MR. MATTHEWS: I mean, if you’re liberal, are you anti-American?
REP. BACHMANN: Well, the liberals that are Jeremiah Wright and that are Bill Ayers, they’re over-the-top anti-American. And that’s the question that Americans have. Remember, it was Michelle Obama who said she’s only recently proud of her country. And so these are very anti-American views.
So, after Matthews asks Bachmann twice to explain why she is connecting Obama and Ayers with stating that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are liberals, and offers up the phrase “anti-American,” Bachmann repeats the phrase anti-American twice (and several more times during the rest of the interview – she never rejects that phrase as being inappropriate in any way but rather embraces it) and at the end of the interview suggests that the media should look into, not just Obama’s views, but all members of Congress to see if they hold “anti-America” or “pro-America” views. Specifically:
REP. BACHMANN: What I would say — what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think people would love to see an expose like that.S
Again, here’s what Fox 9 News says Bachmann said this morning:
This morning, Bachmann went on to explain that she is concerned about the prospect of having a “radical liberal in the White House” in Obama combined with liberal Democrats in control of Congress.
Bachmann added that what she believes are Obama’s most extreme positions are a health care plan akin to “socialized medicine” and a tax proposal that would “spread the wealth around.”
Okay, but yesterday morning, when she was on WCCO with Esme Murphy, Bachmann said that she is concerned about Barack Obama’s associations – which is also what she said to Matthews.
A statement from her campaign is mentioned in the Fox coverage:
“This has all been a political spin version of the children’s game of telephone.” And Bachmann, “never called all liberals anti-Americans, but that’s what the media hype has turned it into.”
You know – yeah, sometimes. But not this time. The video, the transcript and the fact that Bachmann has repeated at least two more times pretty much what she said to Matthews re: her fears of Obama and the “liberals” in Congress really discredits the spin from her campaign on alleged spin from elsewhere.
Seems to me that Bachmann possesses a whole lot of fears and is projecting them onto “all Americans” whom she thinks would welcome an expose of who is pro and who is anti-American in our Congress. I for one don’t welcome McCarthyism back into the American landscape and would urge Bachmann to quit the fear-mongering behavior.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:13 am October 20th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Congress, Government, michele bachmann, Politics, Republicans, WH2008 | 6 Comments
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Oct
20
[updatedx2] Mayor of Cleveland, 30 suburbs, to endorse Peter Lawson Jones
Filed Under Campaigning, Cleveland+, Democrats, Elections, Ohio, Politics | Comments Off
From the inbox:
Mayor Frank G. Jackson and Thirty Suburban Mayors
Set to Endorse Peter Lawson JonesCleveland City Hall Announcement Scheduled for Monday, October 20
WHO: The Honorable Frank G.Jackson
Mayor of ClevelandMayors of Thirty Cuyahoga County Cities and Villages
The Honorable Peter Lawson Jones
President, Cuyahoga County Board of CommissionersWHAT: Endorsement Announcement and Press Conference
WHEN: Monday, October 20, 2008
2:00-3:00 pmWHERE: Cleveland City Hall (FRONT STEPS)
601 Lakeside Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44114WHY: Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson and his mayoral counterparts from thirty communities located across Cuyahoga County will publicly announce their support for the reelection bid of County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones at a press conference scheduled for Monday, October 20, 2008 at 2:00 pm. The event will take place on the front steps of Cleveland City Hall.
I’ve written to find out if they’ll provide a list of the mayors in advance. Nothing seems to come up in any searches.
UPDATE: No response from the M+R people but here’s WCPN’s report and the Plain Dealer says it’s 32 mayors (though last night on the news I heard 17, whatever) but no one has a list. I also can’t find a campaign website for Jones. I’m e-mailing the PD reporter to see if they’ll share (if in fact they have a list).
UPDATEx2: Look what just came into my inbox, not 20-30 mins after that last update?
CUYAHOGA COUNTY MAYORS WHO HAVE ENDORSED PETER LAWSON JONES’S
REELECTION BID (as of October 20, 2008)Dan Pocek, Bedford
Fletcher Berger, Bedford Heights
Leonard Spremulli, Bentleyville
Cyril Kleem, Berea
Sam Alai, Broadview Heights
Ken Patton, Brooklyn
Mike Procuk, Brooklyn Heights
Frank Jackson, Cleveland
Ed Kelley, Cleveland Heights
Eric Brewer, East Cleveland
Bill Cervenik, Euclid
Tom Longo, Garfield Heights
Don Payne, Glenwillow
Robert Nash, Highland Hills
Ed Fitzgerald, Lakewood
Jo Ann Toczek, Linndale
Jeffrey Lansky, Maple Heights
Gary Starr, Middleburg Heights
Derrick Kinder, Newburgh Heights
Thomas O’Grady, North Olmsted
David Smith, North Randall
Robert Stefanik, North Royalton
Gary Gottschalk, Oakwood Village
Dean DePiero, Parma
Daniel Ursu, Richmond Heights
Earl Leiken, Shaker Heights
Georgine Welo, South Euclid
Kevin Patton, Solon
Randy Westfall, Valley View
Marcia Fudge, Warrensville Heights
Yolanda Broadie, Woodmere
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:38 am October 20th, 2008 in Campaigning, Cleveland+, Democrats, Elections, Ohio, Politics | Comments Off
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Oct
20
[update] Remains of the Day, Election 2008 Edition, 10/19/08
Filed Under Barack Obama, Blogging, Campaigning, Elections, John McCain, Media, Ohio, Politics, Race, Sarah Palin, Sexism, Social Issues, Voting, WH2008, Women | 4 Comments
1. Update on this post, from the Los Angeles Times:
The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario late last night on suspicion of voter registration fraud.
State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California.
Jacoby’s arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department comes after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by his firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM. The voters said YPM tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters. The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the GOP.
2. If you want to follow good, varied and multi-media news as it happens from Ohio, try Marc Kovic’s Capital Blog. He’s with the Dix news corp but does a really good job of posting video and primary source documents for everyone to read and follow.
3. A local Ohio clothing store in an upscale suburb is offering 15% off your purchase if you cast a straw ballot for Obama, McCain or undecided. This is legal, yes? I wonder what they’ll do with the ballots – should we mess with them, just for fun? And if I print out a whole bunch, could I get 15% off more than once, in addition to stuffing the ballot box?
4. For readers who are familiar with my claims that a McCain/Palin ticket engenders what it means to remain insular, the Salt Lake Tribune agrees with me:
The Salt Lake paper complained that “out of nowhere, and without proper vetting, the impetuous McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. She quickly proved grievously underequipped to step into the presidency should McCain, at 72 and with a history of health problems, die in office. More than any single factor, McCain’s bad judgment in choosing the inarticulate, insular and ethically challenged Palin disqualifies him for the presidency.
5. Ohioans’ views of the Plain Dealer endorsement of Obama: Have Coffee Will Write, Ohio Daily Blog, Blogger Interrupted.
6. Scott Piepho, a law professor, blogger and former prosecutor did a nice round-up of the court cases that have involved Ohio’s Secretary of State Brunner. He includes a link to an article written just four months ago by an OSU law expert who predicted the very kind of wrangling we’re now witnessing, What Happens When Voters Don’t Match.
7. The Columbus Dispatch offers this simple (maybe overly simple?) Q&A called, “Q&A Voting Fraud.”
8. Just for fun, because I can’t be bothered with trying to count such lists at the end of a…well, you know, nothing ever seems to really end, lately. Anyway – here’s a list of all endorsements for John McCain and here’s one for all endorsements of Barack Obama. Obsess away.
9. Ohio – come on, for those of you who have never visited or lived here, what do you really think? Don’t answer that. Regardless, here’s a heartwarming blog entry about Perrysburg, Ohio which is a town that apparently could have been voted Town Least Likely To…have an Obama office, but as the photos demonstrate, not only do they have an Obama office, but it has…drum roll please: WHITE PEOPLE IN IT! Imagine that! In Ohio! (Sarcasm alert) Yes, Virginia, even though there is definitely racism in Ohio? There are also are an awful lot of people who could careless what the color of someone’s skin is when deciding whom to vote for.
Bonus note on Perrysburg: John McCain rallied not too far from there today, but seems as though they had a little trouble counting how many arrived. This headline hyperlink looked like this:
but leads to an error page:
But if you go to the actual website, you’ll see that the number of attendees has been scaled back by 3,000:
No, I don’t usually go looking for anything like that but when I saw the first hyperlink and got to an error page, I just by habit went to the source and there I found an article about the rally with 7K people.
10. This actually feels a little dated given how quickly election narratives seem to move, but it’s only five days old: former Mayor of Cleveland Jane Campbell (a Democrat and Obama supporter) writes about how women don’t vote on gender.
11. Slipping in this tiny tribute to Media Bloggers Association founder Robert Cox – his On the Media appearance a couple of weeks ago.
12. An article about a report that says children are aware of white male monopoly in the White House.
13. Steve Schmidt just really creeps me out – I don’t know how else to say it.
14. A column on When Hate Wins.
15. If you’ve been assuaging concern about Sarah Palin’s far-right views, particularly on personal matters, by believing that those views might control what she’d do, but she would never inflict them on a nation of 300 million people who aren’t much like Alaskans? Think again:
Brody: On Constitutional marriage amendment , are, are you for something like that?
Palin: I am, in my own, state, I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I wish on a federal level that that’s where we would go because I don’t support gay marriage. I’m not going to be out there judging individuals, sitting in a seat of judgment telling what they can and can’t do, should and should not do, but I certainly can express my own opinion here and take actions that I believe would be best for traditional marriage and that’s casting my votes and speaking up for traditional marriage that, that instrument that it’s the foundation of our society is that strong family and that’s based on that traditional definition of marriage, so I do support that.
16. “A cold calculated political decision” – Those are John McCain’s first words this morning describing how he feels about his selection of Sarah Palin for his VP.
17. I am not an American. Be sure to read the comments and read Dave Winer’s piece (which came first).
18. Are Palin supporters sexist? Or have we crossed some line that, since it’s really what the McCain/Palin campaign want, since it engenders voter support, then we are, in some odd way, condoning sexism?
19. West Virginia white men saying they vote for the person without regard to color, and tales from North Carolina where some white post-church lunchgoers show less than a southern friendliness to Obama.
All for tonight.
UPDATE on #15: I knew this was coming because in the back of my fatigue-addled mind, I could have sworn that Palin’s now-stated position on a federal gay marriage ban was opposite John McCain’s stance. If anyone comes across a tally of how many issues they disagree on and how many Biden and Obama disagree on, I’d love to see that. Also, Palin clearly pushes the “I’ll have to talk to him about that I can change their minds” thing far more than I’ve ever heard Biden even suggest such a thing. This New Yorker piece on how Palin got to where she is highlights her ambition and I read it as supporting her approach in thinking that she will just change McCain’s mind. But that’s me.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:19 am October 20th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Blogging, Campaigning, Elections, John McCain, Media, Ohio, Politics, Race, Sarah Palin, Sexism, Social Issues, Voting, WH2008, Women | 4 Comments
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