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Nov
4
Media on a Roll With We See White People Stories
Filed Under Gender, intolerance, leadership, Media, Ohio, Politics | Leave a Comment
First up, Politico with John Boehner’s Boys: The New Power Club. Makes me want to say even more emphatically than I did this morning that Michele Bachmann should be allowed to assert herself without these kinds of editorial slant biases. Speaking of which, editorially, read the difference in tone about Boehner versus Bachmann. Hello in there, Politico? You need some help getting in touch with your feminine POV?
Then there’s Columbus’ The Other Paper, I see white people.
Seriously folks, Ohio is getting quite the reputation, between Boehner’s boys, I see white people and being rounded up with other “Muslimophobes.”
Is this really the niche you want to carve out?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:15 pm November 4th, 2010 in Gender, intolerance, leadership, Media, Ohio, Politics | Please comment
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Nov
4
Introducing The 2012 Project
Filed Under Campaigning, Elections, Gender, leadership, Politics, Women | 1 Comment
Just a few days before Tuesday’s general election, Mary Hughes, Founder and Director of The 2012 Project, spoke with me about the future of women in politics. Hughes’ organization is a national, non-partisan campaign to bolster the number of women in office by leveraging the boon of open Congressional seats brought about by decennial redistricting. In particular, we discussed women running for elected office post-redistricting, which is the basis for the effort’s name.
I kicked off her thoughts by asking what was the the catalyst for The 2012 Project.
There were two things:
First, I was invited in the summer of 2006 to a retreat at CAWP [Rutgers' Center for American Women and Politics]. There were about 30 of us invited, men and women, but the focus among participants – some who were scholars, some who were operatives like myself, some who were elceted women and then some who were active fairly high up in their political parties - was: what is happening to women’s participation as candidates? Read more
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:39 am November 4th, 2010 in Campaigning, Elections, Gender, leadership, Politics, Women | 1 Comment
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Nov
4
[updated] Should Nancy Pelosi Stay On In House Leadership?
Filed Under Congress, Gender, leadership, Politics, Women | 2 Comments
I’m very pleased to read that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is not done fighting. I also don’t want her to be done leading – for the sake of all women who look to see where they can go. This country, in fact, not just women, need the visible presence of a woman at the uppermost positions of power in Congress now more than ever. If she listened to her own words here, I don’t know how she could not come away with the same answer to everyone’s question about what she will do.
[Update: This Politico article indicates that even with their gains - due in no small part to new women from their side, Republicans still look to limit the number of women in leadership to one.]
I’ve been staring at the numbers – including the huge overall loss of women in the state legislatures and feel strongly that it is critical to have as many women as possible in as high and as visible positions as possible. While I honestly don’t “know” that much about Speaker Pelosi, the respect she deserves for what she has had to deal with in the last four years is beyond question.
I understand that there are many ways to slice the overall loss of women in the U.S. House, but we must look long-term too and prepare for what we can reasonably hope will be increases again in 2012, looking down the road at who will be there and in what places when that happens. This issue is nonpartisan (consider the approach of The 2012 Project, including Ohio’s own Jo Ann Davidson) and yet I can’t find blog posts, opeds or articles about the continued if not increased need for the high visibility of women in the House, now more than ever.
So I’m writing one. Read more
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:57 am November 4th, 2010 in Congress, Gender, leadership, Politics, Women | 2 Comments
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Nov
4
More Recognition for Ohio in Muslimophobia Round-Up
Filed Under intolerance, Josh Mandel, Ohio, Politics, Religion | 1 Comment
Ohio
Josh Mandel for State Treasurer: Mandel said in an ad that Boyce gave out jobs as favors, including one “he only made available at their mosque” and another “sensitive” job at the Treasury Department. The ad looks like it was trying to paint Boyce as a Muslim, even though he is Christian and had never been to the mosque in question. Boyce’s deputy, Amer Ahmad, is Muslim but both he and Mandel disputed the claims in the ad, including that the secretarial job at the Treasury was sensitive in nature. The ad stopped running after a week, but Mandel won anyway.
WON 54.9% / 40.2%
Be sure to check out what great company we have among those who fear or use fear as a means to their political ends.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:18 am November 4th, 2010 in intolerance, Josh Mandel, Ohio, Politics, Religion | 1 Comment
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Nov
4
[must-see video] George Takei Calls Out Anti-Gay School Board Member
Filed Under intolerance, Josh Mandel, leadership, Media, treasurer | Leave a Comment
Res ipsa baby, res ipsa. WARNING: There’s one word used a few times that is definitely name-calling. I don’t usually go for that at all, but in this context, well – you decide for yourself. I wonder if we could get George to do this for people who are Islamaphobic anti-Muslim. Please pass this video on.
NB: Clint McCance resigned his position from the Arkansas school board on this he sat.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:38 am November 4th, 2010 in intolerance, Josh Mandel, leadership, Media, treasurer | Please comment
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Nov
3
Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2010 Highlights Women
Filed Under Blogging, Media, Women, Writing | Leave a Comment
Fascinating. Maybe they should talk to me about women who blog and…running for office.
From the first day of the report (it’s released over three days):
Another important trend is the influence of women and mom bloggers on the blogosphere, mainstream media, and brands. Their impact is perhaps felt most strongly by brands, as the women and mom blogger segment is the most likely of all to blog about brands. In addition to the conducting our blogger survey, we interviewed 15 of the most influential women in social media and the blogosphere.These changes are occurring in the context of great optimism about the medium: over half of respondents plan on blogging more frequently in the future, and 43% plan on expanding the topics that they blog about. Bloggers who get revenue from blogging are generally blogging more this year than they were last year. And 48% of all bloggers believe that more people will be getting their news and entertainment from blogs in the next five years than from the traditional media. We’ve also asked consumers about their trust and attitudes toward blogs and other media: 40% agree with bloggers’ views, and their trust in mainstream media is dropping.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:40 pm November 3rd, 2010 in Blogging, Media, Women, Writing | Please comment
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Nov
3
How Did Women Do in the 2010 Midterm Elections?
Filed Under Democrats, Elections, Gender, Government, Politics, Voting, Women | 1 Comment
For months working up to yesterday’s Midterm election races, headline after headline sported some version of “year of the woman” or “year of the GOP woman” or “Dem women face losses due to year of the GOP woman” or “Mama Grizzlies growl through year of the woman” or…you get the idea.
So how did women do?
Quick hits (information based on data from the Center for American Women in Politics)
U.S. Senate:
Neither the baseline number (17 total women in 2010, 15-17 in 2011) nor the balance of left and right (13 Ds, 4 Rs in 2010) will swing much. However, self-funders for the Senate, Linda McMahon (R-CT) and Carly Fiorina (R-CA) both lost. And two tea party favorits, Sharron Angle (R-NV) and Christine O’Donnell (R-DE) also lost.
U.S. House:
The preliminary guess is that the House total from 2010 (73) will only decline by three once the undecideds are called. However, the estimate right now shows a loss of nine Democratic women (from 56 down to 47) and a gain in GOP women (from 17 up to 23). One of the newcomers will be one of the few female GOP Young Guns, Kristi Noem for South Dakota’s at-large seat.
Governors:
There’s actually no net change — there were six women governors in 2010 and there will be six in 2011. The Democrat/Republican split will go from three and three, to four Republicans and two Democrats (both incumbents). The important thing to note here is that there were 37 governorships up for grabs this year and yet in the general election, only eight of those contests had women in them (albeit two of those were women v. women matchups). Still, if women are looking to make gains and get executive experience as they head to obliterate the White House glass ceiling, they need to field more candidates at this level. Read more
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:37 pm November 3rd, 2010 in Democrats, Elections, Gender, Government, Politics, Voting, Women | 1 Comment
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Nov
3
Election 2010 Wrap-Up Resources Post
Filed Under Blogging, BlogHer, Elections, Voting | Leave a Comment
Last night was pretty epic, and you know I’m not talking about the number of cookies, chips and cups of coffee I consumed while channel surfing in a room full of NE Ohio political bloggers (all who lean left, while our state went right!).
Where to begin the recap? This post at BlogHer where I provide a variety of links related to monitoring and looking back at races, including one of my favorite tools, the Washington Post’s Palin Endorsement Tracker.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:36 pm November 3rd, 2010 in Blogging, BlogHer, Elections, Voting | Please comment
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Nov
3
Election 2010: Ohio Statehouse Results
Filed Under Elections, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Women | Leave a Comment
Many thanks to Holly Robinson for producing these results for me. Note that the only seats “missing” are the State Senate even numbered districts – they run next year. You can run a report for whatever you want to see from the Ohio SOS office here.
Again – the Ohio House will be 57 Republicans, 42 Democrats. The State Senate will be 23 Republicans and 10 Democrats. A few of the races are very close – Connie Pillich’s being one of them; it’s heading to a recount. So perhaps there will be some changes, not sure. I’m also not clear yet on the total number of women in each chamber now, but the Senate appears to have picked up at least one female GOP senator. I’ll get to it, I’m sure.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:49 am November 3rd, 2010 in Elections, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Women | Please comment
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Nov
3
BREAKING PRELIM NUMBERS: HUGE drop in women in state legislatures: Dem losses, GOP gains
Filed Under Gender, Statehouse, Women | 1 Comment
Just looked at the numbers at the National Conference of State Legislatures. They caution that these are only preliminary numbers because of races yet to be decided but even so, there is a very clear DROP in the number of women in the country’s state legislatures (more than 100), with a VERY big drop in the number of Democratic women officeholders (more than 200) and a big increase in the number of Republican women officeholders (more than 100).
2010 2011
Total seats: 7,382 7,382
Total women: 1,808 1,693
Total Dems: 1,263 1,043
Total GOP 529 633
*minor parties not included
I’ll update this when the numbers firm up.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:45 am November 3rd, 2010 in Gender, Statehouse, Women | 1 Comment
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Nov
3
[updated] Election 2010 Results: Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Women, Turnout and Beyond
Filed Under CuyahogaCounty, Elections, Government, OH17, Ohio, Politics, Results, Statehouse, Women | Leave a Comment
I’m still blogging on deadline for a couple of outlets, wrapping up what can be wrapped up. But here are some important resources as you try to make sense of what’s happened, who is in, who is out. I’ll let you sit with it all like I am to think about what it will mean. I can’t locate any single source for all Ohio statehouse races – just on a county basis. Must be something out there but haven’t found it yet and have to move on!
Cuyahoga County Board of Elections results
Cuyahoga County Council and Executive race
Ohio Secretary of State Election results
CNN Election Results (good maps etc.)
Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics
National Conference of State Legislatures (see Ohio here, women here)
I’m working up posts related to who women fared and when I’m done and they’ve been published by my editors, I’ll post/link to them. It’s a mixed bag for women who ran for office, depending on what you’re interested in. However, self-funders did not do well at all with the possible exception still waiting to be seen in Florida – Rick Scott (R) who is in a still undeclared race with Alex Sink (D).
For information on voter turnout in Ohio, read here but the bottom line – it was low – at 48.7% it was lower than the last midterms in 2006 (56%) and way below the near 70% in November 2008.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:52 am November 3rd, 2010 in CuyahogaCounty, Elections, Government, OH17, Ohio, Politics, Results, Statehouse, Women | Please comment
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Nov
2
[videos] Lee Fisher For Senate Twofer
Filed Under lee fisher, Ohio, senate | Leave a Comment
So sad these have come out so late. But they are two of the best.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:56 am November 2nd, 2010 in lee fisher, Ohio, senate | Please comment
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Nov
2
O’Donnell-Palin Separated At Birth, Peas in a Pod, Mini-Me, Whatev
Filed Under Sarah Palin | 1 Comment
The images below give you the idea – the one of O’Donnell is from her voting this morning. She’s not sported the look before.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:53 am November 2nd, 2010 in Sarah Palin | 1 Comment
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Nov
2
Connie Schultz’ Cleveland.com Thread in Which I Am A Blogging Smarta$$
Filed Under Blogging, Gender, Government, Politics, Women, Writing | Leave a Comment
I just couldn’t keep it to myself again. I’m an information evangelist. No one should have as much fun as I have doing this.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:35 am November 2nd, 2010 in Blogging, Gender, Government, Politics, Women, Writing | Please comment
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Nov
2
Election 2010: Where I’ll Be Writing, What I’ll Be Writing About
Filed Under Blogging, Elections, Ohio, Politics | Leave a Comment
1. BlogHer.com
You can read more about each of the races mentioned at the post:
Governor’s races in Florida (Alex Sink-D), New Mexico (woman v. woman – Susana Martinez (R) v. Diane Denish (D)) and Oklahoma (also woman v. woman – Jari Askins (D) v. Mary “I’m great because I have children and you don’t” Fallin (D))
House races in Arizona (Gabrielle Giffords (D)), Florida (woman v. woman, Sandy Adams (R) vs. Suzanne Kosmas (D)), Kansas (Stephene Moore (D)), South Dakota (also woman v. woman, Kristi Noem (R) vs. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D))
2. Women and Politics (aka Women’s Campaign Forum)
Watch for articles on:
-how elevation of John Boehner to majority leader, if it should happen, would alter how the Congressional agenda embraces issues important to women and families
-what’s next after today for women in politics
-a pep talk to those women who do not win today
3. Live-blog at RH Reality Check starting tonight around 7:30pm.
4. Live-blog at Ohio Daily Blog
And here, at WLST, sometime later today, I’ll be posting a sequel to the Top 10 Things I Learned Running For Pepper Pike City Council with a post on the Top 10 Things I’ve Learned in 12 Months Since I Ran For & Won Office
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:28 am November 2nd, 2010 in Blogging, Elections, Ohio, Politics | Please comment
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Nov
2
Keep An Eye on Ohio Legislature-Will House Stay Blue?
Filed Under Elections, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse | Leave a Comment
National Conference of State Legislatures is one of my favorite resources. They have a great place here to check on the balance of power in the Ohio statehouse as the election results develop. Remember – the House blue balance is just 53-46. So we have our own anxieties here, not just in DC. Ohio is considered one of 11 top battleground state legislatures by NCSL.
Interestingly, however, Tea Party and “conservative constitutionalists” should note – if they “get” what they say they want in individual races – Kasich and a blue to red House chamber, they’ll end up with what they claim they don’t want – which is all power vested in one party (not to mention our still heavy R Ohio Supreme Court).
What then, tea party? These kinds of conundrums at odds with what the tp folks say they want are going to come up over and over again given what they’re running on – rejectionism. When the folks they bring in who were not incumbents are then incumbents, how will they stick by them since they’ll then be incumbents?
Whatev. Let’s get through today first!!
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:05 am November 2nd, 2010 in Elections, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse | Please comment
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Nov
2
Election Day Nuts & Bolts Information
Filed Under CuyahogaCounty, Ohio, Politics, Voting | Leave a Comment
Linking all over – from Ohio Daily Blog:
Need a ride to the polls? Can’t find your polling place? Witnessed voter intimidation?
Let us help!
The Ohio Democratic Party has set up a helpful hotline to address your Election Day voting concerns.
1-877-OHIO-DEM (1-877-644-6336)
If you’d like to look up your polling place on your own, please feel free to use this handy website (which is much more user-friendly than the Secretary of State site, and allows you to print a sample ballot tailored to your county before you head to the polls):
http://www.fightforohio.com/vote.
Please do your part today to keep Ohio blue, and VOTE!
Cuyahoga County Board of Elections website for today’s vote including polling location information and way more.
Ohio Secretary of State’s office website, including a page where you can send feedback about your voting experience.
Do NOT skip the judges’ races -hmm!? Go to Judge4Yourself.com and get the lowdown.
If I find more resources, I’ll post them. Election results for the County and races within the County will be at the link above for the County BOE.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:33 am November 2nd, 2010 in CuyahogaCounty, Ohio, Politics, Voting | Please comment
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Nov
1
[video] Fear Not; Embrace the Politics of Empathy & Ethical Passion
Filed Under anti-semitism, democracy, Ethics, intolerance, leadership, Media, Politics, Religion, Social Issues, Voting | Leave a Comment
A wonderful writer and someone I consider a friend, Suzanne Reisman, posted this excellent entry, Please Refuse to Let Fear Drive Your Politics, just a day after I posted Reject Josh Mandel Supporter’s Fearmongering Campaigns.
Anyone who files to run for office should have to watch this excellent short video about the role and danger of fearmongering and read this amazing sermon that includes these passages:
You [Jews] know what it is like to be vulnerable. This collective memory leaves us not with a vague responsibility to be holy people, to live with integrity and try to be sensitive to the suffering of others. It leaves us with a series of direct commands designed to concretize an economy of empathy.
An empathic consciousness does not take away our right to disagree – even vehemently – but it ensures that we do so with love, compassion and deep human understanding. It compels us to remember that the strongest bond between human hearts is the shared experience of suffering.
…
There is a reason why American Jews historically vote against our own best interest. It’s
because we understand that history is bigger than our momentary whims. It’s because we
recognize that our powerlessness and suffering is meaningless if it has not transformed us into a people who speak and act for the voiceless and the invisible.
Read more about the campaign here. Embrace radical empathy and ethical passion – I love that.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:45 pm November 1st, 2010 in anti-semitism, democracy, Ethics, intolerance, leadership, Media, Politics, Religion, Social Issues, Voting | Please comment
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Nov
1
[video] Palin criticizes Obama for blowing it in less than 2 years, but she quit even trying just after 2 herself
Filed Under Barack Obama, Politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin | Leave a Comment
Mirror mirror on the wall: Sarah Palin says about President Obama: we gave you two years and you “blew it,” but Palin herself didn’t make it as Governor of a state that is smaller than Cuyahoga County when she quit after (nominally) more than two years in office herself.
Try being and staying in the arena, folks.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:48 am November 1st, 2010 in Barack Obama, Politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin | Please comment
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