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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > February > 29
Friday, February 29, 2008
The battle of the “3 a.m.” ads
Hillary Clinton’s newest political ad is not airing in Ohio, but only in Texas so far. According to the Associated Press, the ad, with its visuals of sleeping children, prompted an immediate denunciation Friday from Obama, who said it’s meant to scare people.
Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson contended the ad “speaks to what people really know in their hearts” about his candidate’s experience and, by inference, her opponent’s lack of it. “This is a legitimate matter for a presidential campaign,” he said.
In response, the Obama campaign released an new ad on Friday.
New Obama mailer…
It’s the final push here in Ohio, and the fight’s come down to NAFTA.
The Obama campaign this week sent out a new mailer on trade, accusing Clinton of flip-flopping on the issue.
Clinton, meanwhile, has disputed that she ever supported the trade agreement. During the Feb. 26 debate between her and Obama in Cleveland, she described herself as a “critic of NAFTA from the very beginning.”
“I didn’t have a public position on it because I was part of the administration,” she said. “But when I started running for the Senate, I have been a critic.”
She said some areas have benefitted from NAFTA, such as Texas, but said others - such as upstate New York and Ohio - have not.
She said if elected, she would have a trade time-out and spend part of that time trying to fix NAFTA to include core labor and environmental standards in the agreement. And she said she’d work to make the agreement more enforceable.
4 million Ohio voters expected to cast ballots
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner made lots of changes to prepare for the March 4 primary but one practice she has yet to vanquish is “sleep-overs” where poll workers in some counties are allowed to pick up voting machines on Friday and keep them until election day.
In recent years, a poll worker in Licking County had a machine at home, figured he wouldn’t have time to vote on election day, so he opened the machine and voted, she said. He got caught.
Brunner’s office has instituted a strict chain of custody procedure for all voting machines, which are now sealed with tape with serial numbers. Tampering with a voting machine is a felony, she noted. She hopes to eliminate sleep overs by the November election.
Brunner predicted voter turn out on Tuesday would hit 52 percent — about 4 million voters. She said about 10- to 20-percent of the votes would be cast by absentee ballot.
“The interest is so great in this election because of the particular candidates involved,” she said. “We’re seeing people vote who have never voted in a primary.”
Brunner’s office ordered county boards of elections to have paper ballots on hand in case voters preferred paper over electronic touch-screen machines.
“It’s up to individual preference. I myself will be asking for a paper ballot. I had an experience in the last election where my electronic ballot was different than another ballot in the precinct for the same race. I am more comfortable with a paper ballot,” Brunner said.
Brunner said the secretary of state’s office has improved communications with county boards of elections, distributed four million cards for poll workers to give to voters who want to comment about their voting experience, improved maintenance of the statewide voter registration database, and beefed up the web site to accommodate more than 60 million anticipated hits during the March primary.
She declined to predict whether timely results would be available in Cuyahoga County, where touch-screen machines have been recently replaced along with the board of elections members and top staff.
When asked what advice she has for voters on Tuesday, Brunner said, “Give yourself plenty of time to vote in case there are lines. We’re working hard to ensure there are not. Learn about the candidates and issues so you can make an informed decision.”
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Ohio’s most senior, most junior Republican House members back McCain
Reps. Ralph Regula and Bob Latta - the dean and the rookie of Ohio’s Republican congressional delegation, respectively - both announced their support for Sen. John McCain for president Friday, Feb. 29.
“While the Democrats offer veiled hope and empty promises, John McCain has the knowledge and experience necessary to lead our great country through challenging times,” Regula, R-Navarre, said in a statement released by the McCain campaign. “John McCain is the only candidate who is prepared to serve as commander in chief on his first day in the Oval Office.”
Earlier this week, Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, announced his support. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, has also endorsed McCain.
Regula represents the 16th Congressional District in northeast Ohio. Latta, R-Bowling Green, represents the 5th Congressional District in northwest Ohio.
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