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August 2008
Republicans grapple with Gustav
MINNEAPOLIS - Ohio Republicans who came to town for the Republican National Convention found themselves dealing with the specter of a hurricane that may yet devastate New Orleans not three years after the Bush administration was criticized for not wisely handling Hurricane Katrina.
A paddleboat cruise on the Mississippi River hosted by Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, became an impromptu fundraiser for those who will be flooded if the hurricane hits land. Fran DeWine, the wife of former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, thought up the idea as the DeWine family drove from their Greene County home to the convention.
The DeWines gave $1,000 and passed out pledge cards for other Republican delegates. The sponsors of the Voinovich event - First Energy, the American Chemistry Council, Abbott and Forest City Enterprises - promised to match whatever Republican delegates raised.
Republicans also planned for a modified schedule Monday, meeting from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., rather than well into the night. The modified schedule was aimed at accommodating some of the party business that must be done to nominate Sen. John McCain.
A planned reception in honor of State Auditor Mary Taylor was bumped up to 6 to 8 p.m. Monday.
Officials said they planned on modifying the rest of the week’s schedule according to what happened after the storm hit land.
“There is absolutely nothing we can control about this except our response,” said Ohio Republican Party Deputy Chair Kevin DeWine. He said the party would pray for the victims of the storm and raise money for those victims. He said scaling back the usually festive atmosphere at the convention was “the appropriate thing to do.”
Earlier in the day, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, admitted it would be “hard to discuss message of the convention and the message of the fall campaign given what we’re dealing with.”
“You’ll see a commitment on the part of the convention and all our delegates, alternatives and friends to take part in public service,” he said. “A part of that will be a significant fundraising drive to help those charities that are currently going to be stretched as a result of this impending disaster.”
Delegates said such a response was preferable to canceling the whole party outright.
“What we are doing here could be the future of the United States,” said John C. Willke, a Cincinnati honorary delegate and president of the International Right to Life Federation. “You don’t suddenly cancel it outright.”
Centerville Mayor Mark Kingseed, a delegate, said delegates can help raise money first and then look at organizing resources for hurricane victims next.
“Obviously, it was hideously mismanaged three years ago. We owe it to ourselves and to those there that we’re prepared to help them,” Kingseed said. - Jessica Wehrman, Scott Shepard of Cox Newspapers contributing.
TweetOhio delegates begin to pitch in
Ohio Republican delegates will begin raising money for hurricane victims while cruising the Mississippi River on a paddle boat with U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, on Sunday evening.
“We’re going to try to turn this into a positive,” said Fran DeWine, a delegate from Cedarville and wife of former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine. Pledge cards will be printed up and checks for the American Red Cross will be accepted.
Delegate Tom Moe of Fairfield County said, “We’re going to help these people out. We got a lot to celebrate but we’ll celebrate in a different way.”
The 170-member delegation will meet for breakfast Monday morning, though most of the official convention events have been scaled back or canceled. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is scheduled to be the breakfast speaker.
TweetGOP convention disrupted by Gustav
ST. PAUL — Hurricane Gustav has yet to hit New Orleans, but it has already wreaked havoc here at the headwaters of the Mississippi River where the Republican National Convention is set to get under way Monday.
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain informed a packed hall of reporters at 3 p.m. Sunday via satellite that while the convention will convene as scheduled, it will be stripped down to business essentials with no political rhetoric.
President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney announced earlier Sunday they were cancelling plans to address the quadrennial gathering on Monday.
Speaking to reporters from St. Louis, McCain said “we’re going to suspend most of our … activities tomorrow.
“It’s time to take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats.”
Campaign manager Rick Davis said the convention will open at 3 p.m. Monday in “abbreviated fashion.” The party platform will be adopted and various other housekeeping measures will be attended to.
“Tomorrow’s program will be business only,” he said. Davis said he expects the convention to conclude in less than three hours.
What will happen for the balance of the convention is up in the air.
The Ohio delegation will convene as planned for its daily breakfast meeting on Monday, but what happens after that has yet to be determined, according to a delegation sponesman.
“I hope and pray,” McCain said, “we will be able to resume our normal operation but, frankly, some of that is in the hands of God.”
Jeff Bruce is the journalist in residence at Wright State University. You can reach him at jeff@jeffbruce.net.
TweetObama pledges volunteer help for Gustav
Democrat Barack Obama is ready to activate his volunteers to help out if Hurricane Gustav wreaks damage when it strikes the Gulf Coast.
“…it becomes a question of what people on the ground need and once we determine that then we can activate our e-mail list of a couple of million people who want to give back,” Obama told reporters on Sunday, Aug. 31 in Lima.
First, Obama said he wants to find out what is going on and make sure not to solicit canned goods that aren’t needed or water that’s already available.
He said that he’d also tap into his contributors for financial help if the hurricane strikes.
TweetObama worships at Lima Lutheran church
Democrat Barack Obama’s first stop on the campaign trail on Sunday, Aug. 31, was at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in downtown Lima in heavily Republican Allen County.
Obama attended the hour and a half worship service, taking communion and participated in the passing of the peace with members of the mostly white congregation. He sat near the front of the church at the 10 a.m. service.
While the congregation clapped hands during the closing hymn - “We are Marching in the Light of God” -, the service was quieter than those at the United Church of Christ church that Obama attended in Chicago before breaking with the church’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright over racially inflammatory remarks that Wright made.
Members of the congregation were star-struck. Many didn’t know he was coming.
“It is exciting,” said Linda Mann, a retired school teacher. Obama “did real well,” she said. A Democrat, Mann said she supported Obama.
Curt Klinger and his wife Stacey and their two young children, Isabella, 1, and Geddes. 3, came to the service from nearby Ada and when they arrived “we just wondered why all the cameras” were there.
Klinger said he and his wife are independents and haven’t decided who to support for president.
“I enjoy listening to him speak,” said Klinger. “I wonder how much Washington, D.C” will keep him from changing things.
A crowd waiting outside the church chanted “yes, we can” as Obama exited and then worked the rope line.
Pastor Lars Olson said he had a visit Friday from people scouting out different churchs for a possible Obama visit but didn’t get the call that Obama was coming until 8:30 a.m., just an hour and a half before the service. He thought about changing his sermon - emphasizing Jesus’ teaching in Matthew that “those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
TweetGustav disrupts GOP convention plans
MINNEAPOLIS - Here at the headwaters of the Mississippi River, all eyes are turned south as Hurricane Gustav bears down on New Orleans where the river eventually pours into the Gulf of Mexico.
Convention planners are preparing for major alterations to the agenda, fearing that if the Crescent City suffers another Katrina, it would be bad PR for the Republicans to be seen partying as usual at their annual nominating convention.
The lineup of speakers has already been shreded. Sunday morning, the White House announced that President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have cancelled plans to attend the convention. They had been scheduled to speak on Monday, the opening day of the scheduled four-day gathering.
Further announcements are expected today, including the possibility that the convention will be truncated.
It was just over three years ago (Aug. 29, 2005) that Katrina, a Level 3 hurricane, slammed into the Gulf Coast, breaching New Orleans’ protective levees and drowning the city.
TweetGlenn to introduce Obama at Dublin rally
DUBLIN - You can tell the campaign for president is heating up.
Former U.S. Sen. and space hero John Glenn will introduce Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Obama’s vice presidential running mate, at Obama’s first major Ohio rally since he accepted the Democratic nomination on Thursday, Aug. 28, Obama’s campaign announced.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown also are scheduled to be at the rally on Saturday, Aug. 30, in Dublin, a Columbus suburb. By 6:30 p.m., nearly 20,000 people had arrived for the 6:45 p.m. rally in the football stadium of Dublin Coffman High School, Obama’s campaign aides said.
Glenn and Strickland both supported Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary but now back Obama.
Glenn, 87, the first American to orbit the earth and a four-term U.S. senator, frequently is called on in presidential campaigns to boost Democratic candidates. Former President Bill Clinton has said Glenn persuaded him to keep campaigning in Ohio in 1992 when Clinton considered giving up in the state.
They came from as far away as Zanesville and the Dayton area. Jennifer Alexander of Greene County said she supported Clinton in the primary but was for Obama now. Republican John McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin won’t help McCain with women voters wh supported Clinton, Alexander said.
“They could have picked off any woman off any street corner and it would have been more appealing to women,” she said.
Tweet“Sick Days” campaign goes to church
More than 1,000 churches across Ohio will highlight the paid sick day issue at services over the Labor Day weekend on Sunday, Aug. 31.
Ohioans for Health Families, the coalition backing a paid sick days proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot, announced the development on Friday, Aug. 29.
The proposal would require employers to provide seven paid sick days annually to full-time employees. Both Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and Republican legislative leaders oppose it.
Participating churches include 300 United Church of Christ congregations, 250 Presbyterian congregations, 250 Methodist congregations, 200 Lutheran churches and 200 Unitarian congregations, coalition spokesman Dale Butland said.
Activities will range from full sermons on the paid sick day topic at 300-400 churches to announcements about the issue at 700-800 other churches, said Butland.
“From the very beginning Ohio’s faith community recognized both the human need for paid sick days, as well as the family values aspect of the issue.
Treating workers and families fairly and with at least a minimum standard of decency is important to people of faith. And that is why public opinion polls consistently show that religious and evangelical voters are among the strongest supporters of the Ohio Healthy Families Act. They know that if Ohio is truly committed to family values, we need policies that truly value families,” said Butland.
TweetTurner’s at McCain event
The first hand that Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin shook hitting the stage at the Nutter Center Friday, Aug. 29, was Jessica Turner, the daughter of U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville.
Turner, his wife Lori, and two daughters are at the event. So are former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, who was on the short list for veep contenders and U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana.
TweetMcCain on Palin
“She’s not from these parts and she’s not from Washington, but when you get to know her, you’re going to be as impressed as I am. She’s got the grit, integrity, good sense and fierce devotion to the common good that is exactly what we need in Washington today,” Sen. John McCain, on his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
What do you think of McCain’s pick?
TweetEye On Ohio: Obama ‘Don’t Know Much’ ad
By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The ad: “Don’t Know Much,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Obama campaign.
Where to see it: It’s airing in battleground states, including Ohio. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Obama: “I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message.”
Male vocalist (to the tune of the Sam Cooke song “Wonderful World”): “I’m not up on the economy. Don’t know much about industry. Really can’t explain the price of gas. Or what has happened to the middle-class. But I know that one and one is two, and if I could be just like you, what a wonderful world this would be.”
Male announcer: “Do we really want four more years of the same old tune?”
Video: The centerpiece of the ad is a 2007 quote from John McCain: “Economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” It ends with photos of President George W. Bush and McCain embracing.
Analysis: This attack on McCain’s understanding of economics came the same day that McCain launched an attack on Obama’s foreign-policy experience. Obama’s ad is more lighthearted and — depending on your political point of view — annoyingly flippant or outrageously funny. It also plays into the refrain that McCain is seeking “Bush’s third term.”
The genesis of the ad is that McCain, in trademark candor, said that economic policy is not his strength. There are two accounts of that quote — both from newspaper reporters aboard the McCain bus in New Hampshire on Dec. 18.
Sasha Issenberg, writing in the Boston Globe’s Political Intelligence blog, suggested it was a self-deprecating remark: “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” McCain said. “I’ve got (former Fed Chairman Alan) Greenspan’s book.”
The Chicago Tribune’s Jill Zuckman had a slightly different version of the quote: “The issue of economics is something that I’ve really never understood as well as I should. I understand the basics, the fundamentals, the vision, all that kind of stuff. But I would like to have someone I’m close to that really is a good strong economist. As long as Alan Greenspan is around, I would certainly use him for advice and counsel. …
“All of us bring strengths and weaknesses to an office, and you want to complement your weaknesses. That’s not an admission of failure, it’s just the best way to govern,” McCain said.
Gregory Korte is a reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail: gkorte@enquirer.com.
TweetEye On Ohio: McCain ‘Housing Problem’ ad
By Jon Craig
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The ad: “Housing Problem,” 30 seconds.
Producer: McCain campaign.
Where to see it: It was released Thursday, Aug. 21, in battleground states, including Ohio. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: (Announcer) “Barack Obama knows a lot about housing problems. One of his “biggest fundraisers” helped him buy his million-dollar mansion. Purchasing part of the property he couldn’t afford. From Obama, Rezko got “political favors,” including “$14 million from taxpayers.”
“Now, he’s a convicted felon, facing jail.
“That’s a housing problem.”
(McCain): “I’m John McCain, and I approved this message.”
Video: The ad starts with a photo of Barack Obama smiling, encircled by a shadowy, telescopic border. Part of the black-and-white Chicago Sun-Times’ article states, “Tony” Rezko was “one of the biggest fundraisers” for Obama. A black-and-white image of Obama’s house makes the “mansion” look sinister.
More negative Sun-Times headlines appear, including, “Obama’s Letters for Rezko: As a state senator, Obama backed Rezko deal” and “Obama Surfaces in Rezko Case.” Then a black-and-white image of a smiling Rezko, followed by a photo of a jail cell door. The ad closes with Obama’s smiling face, but this time next to the words, “That’s a housing problem.”
Analysis: The Tony Rezko corruption case is one of Sen. Barack Obama’s liabilities. Obama has admitted he erred in getting involved in land deals with the major political fundraiser. Obama has made conflicting statements about whether he did any favors for the indicted businessman when he was an Illinois state senator, including helping secure taxpayer money used to build apartments for senior citizens.
But the same news articles questioning his relationship with Rezko include quotes from officials saying that no one specifically asked Obama to support the housing project. And real-estate experts say Obama did nothing illegal or improper.
Whether Obama did anything unethical or illegal has not been established. Several major newspapers, including the Sun-Times and the Washington Post, and independent sources such as PolitiFact and Factcheck.org, say he did not.
This ad aired after the Democratic National Committee released an Internet video criticizing McCain for not knowing how many houses he owns.
Jon Craig is a reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail: jcraig@enquirer.com.
TweetAnalysis: What Obama must do to win Ohio
DENVER - Barack Obama has won the Democratic nomination for president. Now he must win Ohio.
Ohio delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which concluded Thursday night with Obama’s stirring acceptance speech, have heard all week that the Buckeye State is the key to this election.
Had either of the last two Democrats who ran for president won Ohio, they would have been elected. But they blew it.
In 2000, Al Gore fled the state a few weeks before election day, figuring it was a lost cause as he trailed in the polls by double digits. Yet he ultimately lost by less than 4 percentage points. Had he not retreated, history might have been different.
In 2004, John Kerry campaigned hard in Ohio’s big cities, but, despite advice to the contrary, ignored the hinterlands. While he won the second most votes of any presidential candidate in Ohio history, George W. Bush edged him out with a superior grassroots effort.
But Democrats can win statewide. Witness the successful campaigns of Ted Strickland for governor and Sherrod Brown for the U.S. Senate.
I asked Strickland this week what he thinks Obama needs to do.
“Very soon after Barack Obama secured the nomination,” he said, “I went to Chicago and met with his campaign staff. I told them that there were two ways to run statewide in Ohio: One was the John Kerry way and the other was the Sherrod Brown, Ted Strickland way. And that I would recommend the Sherrod Brown, Ted Strickland way.”
Strickland made the decision to compete “in every county.” Even though he realized he wouldn’t win in every part of the state, he said he understood that “if you don’t compete you can have no real way of reaching the voters who would vote for you if asked.”
Obama’s advisors’ got the message. They’ve hired Aaron Pickrell, one of Strickland’s key aides and the manager of his 2006 campaign, to head up the Ohio presidential effort.
“In my judgment, what is going to provide the winning margin for Barack Obama is not the media and all of those electronic and print efforts to reach the voters, but it’s going to be the ground operation,” Strickland said.
“I think it will be a close election. I think it will be a hard-fought election. I think it will be decided by a fairly narrow margin. But I do believe we have all the elements in place for an Obama win.”
In a separate conversation, Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin echoed Strickland’s advice:
Obama must travel to the rural areas of the state, she said. “We’ve got to get Obama on the Strickland bus. He’s got to go. Half the battle is just showing up. “
The economy is the issue Obama must press, she said.
“Some of those Bush supporters, all they’ve got left is the bumper the sticker used to be on.”
And he will also have to overcome race as an issue among some white voters, she said. “We’ve got to get past that.”
Strickland concurred.
“Is race a factor in this campaign or will it be? I assume it will be because race is a factor in every aspect of American life today. It would be unrealistic to claim otherwise. But I believe the candidate that talks directly and convincingly about the economy, that’s the candidate that will win the presidency and that’s the candidate that will win Ohio. “
TweetJust in case you missed the news release…
The Republican National Committee had a bit of an email malfunction Thursday, Aug. 28, spamming reporters email accounts across the country.
About 80 emails, most of them news releases attacking Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, went out between 6:19 p.m. and 8:01 p.m. The news releases date back to July and have headlines such as “Dr. NObama” and “Obama’s Drilling Dilemma.”
Blair Latoff, spokeswoman for the RNC, apologized for the onslaught of old news releases. “Apparently our server dumped all the emails that we sent over a period of months all at once,” she said, adding that the party is working to correct the problem.
The emails arrive on the eve of Republican Sen. John McCain’s speech at Wright State University’s Nutter Center in Fairborn. There is rampant speculation that he will announce his vice presidential pick early Friday or during the speech.
One presumes the RNC will have the problem worked out fast enough that the email deluge won’t clog reporter’s email accounts and keep us from getting the news release we’re all waiting for: McCain’s announcement of a running mate.
TweetDemocrats rock INVESCO Field
DENVER - Democrats gathered in INVESCO Field, usually the home of the football Denver Broncos, to hear Barack Obama’s historic acceptance speech of the party’s presidential nomination.
It was the first outside acceptance speech in nearly 50 years - John F. Kennedy accepted the nomination at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles in 1960.
“John McCain is not a maverick. John McCain is a yes man,” Howard Dean, Democratic national chairman, said, warming up the crowd on Thursday, Aug. 28.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia reminded the Democrats that Thursday was the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech in Washington, D.C.
Obama was to speak at 8 p.m. Colorado time - 10 p.m . in Ohio. By 6 p.m. Colorado time most of the seats in the 76,000-seat stadium were filled with more people still filing in.
Sheryl Crow also warmed up the flag-waving crowd.
TweetPolitics and the blogosphere
DENVER — Among the 15,000 or so journalists attending this year’s political conventions is a small army of bloggers that has been embraced by the parties.
Here at the Democratic National Convention, they’ve been operating at an 8,000-square foot headquarters dubbed The Big Tent, sponsored by the Daily Kos, Google, and other high-tech companies. They’ll pack the tent and move to St. Paul next week for the Republican convention.
Four years ago, bloggers numbered in the dozens at these quadrennial events. This year, the parties themselves are giving credentials to about 200 carefully selected bloggers, and hundreds more have been invited to share The Big Tent.
Nick DeCenzo and David Potts of Ohio are among the bloggers credentialed by the Democrats. They operate Buckeyestateblog.com, which draws more than 50,000 page views a month. That’s enough Web traffic to cover their costs through a small amount of advertising, they say.
DeCenzo, 29, from Cleveland, describes the site as a “democratic community blog” the purpose of which is “to help get Democrats elected.” He and his partner, Potts, 21, a student from the Marietta area, share their one credential to the Pepsi Center, taking turns observing events on the convention floor.
While one is in the arena, the other is likely to be found back in the tent. For their $100 registration fee, they get two meals a day, free Wi-Fi access to the Internet, free beer and smoothies and the occasional 10-minute massage.
They also get access to politicians bloggers otherwise might not be able to get near. An upstairs room in the tent is home to daily briefings. Politicians are drawn there by the promise of instant exposure on the Net.
It’s a quaint notion, but it wasn’t that long ago that journalists operated in a 24-hour news cycle, dictated largely by the printing schedules of newspapers and the nightly news. That was disrupted by the advent of cable news networks and exploded by the blogosphere.
“This really speeds up the news cycle,” DeCenzo says. “When you get a story that’s viral (like John McCain’s failure to remember how many houses he owns) it becomes instantaneous - jumping from blog to blog. It really compresses the news cycle.”
That’s both good and bad, say DeCenzo, whose day job is with a software company and whose only previous experience in journalism was in high school. Speed is the plus, of course, but the quality of many blogs “is not as good as a professional journalist.”
What keeps them going? “Basically, it’s a labor of love.”
Jeff Bruce is the journalist in resident at Wright State University. Email him at jeff@jeffbruce.net. More political news at daytondailynews.com/politics.
TweetOhio Dems honor “My Girl” Rep. Tubbs Jones
DENVER - Ohio Democrats celebrated the life of U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland as they gathered for their last breakfast meeting at the Democratic National Convention.
The Rev. Marvin McMickle, a Baptist minister, said on Thursday, Aug. 28, that he and Tubbs Jones, who died last week, both were fans of the Temptations. In Tubbs Jones’ honor, he recited the words to the group’s classic “My Girl.”
Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin joined other members of Delta Sigma Theta, in a singing tribute to their departed sorority sister.
Gov. Ted Strickland remembered a last meeting with Tubbs Jones.
“She gave me a hug. She kissed me on the cheek and she told me she loved me,” said Strickland said.
TweetProtest tourism
DENVER — All week long, battalions of black-clad cops in riot gear have loitered around downtown ready to confront anticipated anti-war demonstrators. They finally got their chance Wednesday.
Following a concert by Rage Against the Machine, which drew an estimated 8,000 people, about half of the concert-goers hit the streets for a march to the Pepsi Center where the Democratic National Convention was holding its roll call vote that would ultimately nominate Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president.
The blocks-long parade was funneled through the streets by police flanking the marchers on bicycles, horseback and squad cars. Police blockades stalled traffic, both car and pedestrian, throughout the downtown area, but unlike protests on Monday that resulted in 107 arrests, this demonstration was peaceful.
Lawyers for protestors detained earlier in the week have promised lawsuit for the “illegal mass arrests.”
On a personal note, my route to an appointment at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, convention headquarters, was blocked by the cops and marchers. On impulse, I waded into the parade and edged my way from one side of the street to the other, weaving in and out of chanting demonstrators, signs aloft.
When I got to the opposite curb, a cop on a bike tried to block my way. “Hey, I’m just crossing the street,” I told him. I slipped between his front wheel and the back wheel of the cop in front of him and didn’t look back.
So, for a brief moment, I got to share some of the excitement. Call it protest tourism.
TweetObama rally in Dublin open to public
DENVER - Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden will bring their “On the Road to Change” battleground state bus tour to Dublin, a Columbus suburb, for a rally open to the public on Saturday, Aug. 30.
Obama and Biden will begin their trip after Obama formally accepts the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday, Aug. 28, with Biden as his running mate.
Tickets are not required for the rally but an RSVP is strongly encouraged, the campaign announced on Thursday, Aug. 28. To RSVP, please visit the campaign Web site at www.oh.barackobama.com http://www.oh.barackobama.comhttp://www.oh.barackobama.com .
The rally is at Dublin Coffman High School, 6780 Coffman Rd, Dublin, OH 43017. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. and the rally is to start at 6:45 p.m.
Earlier Saturday, Sens. Obama and Biden will be joined by their wives, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, at the memorial service for Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones in Cleveland
On Sunday, Obama and Biden will hold a discussion on the economy in Toledo.
TweetEye On Ohio: RNC ‘Right’ ad
By Jonathan Riskind
The Columbus Dispatch
The ad: “Right,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Republican National Committee.
Where to see it: The Republican National Committee says it has paid between $2 million and $2.5 million to air this spot in “major markets in Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and western Pennsylvania.” View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Narrator: “Who has the experience to govern our nation?”
Hillary Clinton: “Sen. McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign. I will bring a lifetime of experience. And Sen. Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002.”
Narrator: “Barack Obama. He gives a great speech. But now Americans must ask ourselves: Should we elect the most inexperienced presidential candidate of our times? Or was she right?”
Video: The ad opens with photos of Barack Obama and John McCain with a “who has the experience” question written underneath. Then it goes to the clip of Hillary Clinton disparaging Obama’s experience during the Democratic rivals’ bitter primary fight. There are shots of Obama making a speech and people cheering, and the narrator poses the final question.
Analysis: This Republican National Committee ad, although legally an “independent expenditure” that can’t be coordinated with the McCain campaign, continues a theme sounded by McCain and Republicans almost from the minute Obama picked Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., as his running mate.
The GOP is more than happy to beat on Obama by using criticisms of him, and sometimes praise of McCain, by Biden and Clinton.
On the one hand, Clinton said it, no getting around that. And at the time, Democrats just knew that if Obama won the nomination, she had handed Republicans a campaign commercial. On the other hand, Clinton has made it clear that she believes an Obama administration would be far preferable to a McCain administration on issues such as abortion rights, the economy and education.
“I just want to make it absolutely clear we cannot afford four more years of George W. Bush’s failed policies in America, and that’s what we would get with John McCain,” Clinton told the New York delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. “Now I understand that the McCain campaign is running ads trying to divide us, and let me state what I think about their tactics and these ads: I am Hillary Clinton, and I do not approve that message.”
Jonathan Riskind is a reporter in the Washington bureau of The Columbus Dispatch. E-mail: jriskind@dispatch.com.
TweetEye On Ohio: McCain ‘3 a.m.’ ad
By Ellen Belcher
Dayton Daily News
The ad: “3 a.m.,” 30 seconds.
Producer: McCain campaign.
Where to see it: It’s airing in battleground states, including Ohio, and in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Narrator from Hillary Clinton ad that aired in the primary: “It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?”
Announcer: “Uncertainty. Dangerous aggression. Rogue nations. Radicalism.”
Clinton: “I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And, Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.”
Announcer: “Hillary’s right. John McCain for president.”
McCain: “I’m John McCain, and I approved this message.”
Video: The ad opens with footage from arguably Sen. Hillary Clinton’s most controversial — and maybe most effective — ad from the primary. A mother cracks the door to a dark bedroom of a sleeping child. The voiceover asks, “Who do you want answering the phone,” an unsubtle suggestion that Clinton is prepared to be president and Barack Obama is not.
The footage then shows tanks barreling over windswept ground, a missile being launched and hooded jihadists on the march.
Next, it’s back to Clinton saying Obama’s claim to fame is a single speech. Pay close attention and you’ll see Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland in the frame to Clinton’s left.
After showing type saying “Hillary’s right,” there’s a flattering portrait of McCain.
Analysis: The McCain campaign is mining and milking Clinton’s criticism of Obama during the primary for all it’s worth. This is at least its third ad featuring Clinton since Obama announced Saturday, Aug. 23, that he had chosen Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate. In the previous ads, he’s said Obama passed over Clinton for VP because she told the truth about him; in another, a former Clinton delegate declares she’s switched to backing McCain.
This ad began airing Tuesday, Aug. 26, the second day of the Democratic Convention and the day that Clinton was making her speech appealing for party unity. It’s the McCain campaign’s reminder that no matter what Clinton is saying now, once upon a time — and not long ago — her criticism of Obama was scathing.
Ellen Belcher is the editorial page editor of the Dayton Daily News. E-mail: ebelcher@daytondailynews.com.
TweetMcCain, Bush embrace to trail McCain from Dayton to convention
Democrats have bought billboards in more than 20 bus stops around Minneapolis and St. Paul to link presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain and President George Bush next week.
The ads show the two men embracing, the words “More Politics as Usual” and “Does this look like change to you?” written above and below the image.
More notably, Democrats will also buy a mobile version of the billboard, which they’ll trot out in Dayton on Friday, presumably the day when McCain will introduce his vice-presidential nominee to the country at the Nutter Center.
The mobile billboard is expected to follow McCain and his veep pick all the way to the Republican National Convention, which starts Monday.
TweetLexisNexis: Obama got more media play last week
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama received 47 percent more media coverage in the week leading up to this week’s Democratic National Convention than Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, according to a study by LexisNexis.
The coverage was likely spurred by increased coverage of the convention as well as Obama’s plans to announce a running mate, according to the analysis by LexisNexis’ Analytics 2008 election dashboard.
The study found that the tone of the media coverage garnered by both candidates continues to be fairly similar, according to the dashboard’s Media Coverage Sentiment Index.
An evaluation of the 5,214 stories about Obama during the period of August 18-24 in U.S. print, broadcast and online media outlets found that 33 percent of the coverage was positive, 38 percent neutral and 29 percent negative.
Of the 3,554 stories about McCain during that period, 36 percent of stories were positive, 32 percent neutral and 32 percent were negative.
TweetObama gets nomination without Ohio votes
DENVER - Barack Obama won one election without Ohio’s votes.
On Wednesday, Aug. 27, the Democrats officially nominated Barack Obama for president by acclamation before the Ohio delegation got a chance to cast its 162 votes.
The nomination came when Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Obama’s chief rival for the nomination, called for the nomination by acclamation and the convention roared its approval. Ohio’s delegation joined in the roaring as delegates shouted “aye” on the motion to nominate Obama.
Clinton spoke after first New Mexico and then Illinois yielded the floor to New York during the roll call vote. At that point Obama had 1,549.5 votes and Clinton had 341.5 votes. He needed 2,110 for the nomination.
Ohio was prepared to cast 130 votes for Obama and 22 for Clinton, said Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern.
Others in Ohio’s 162-member delegation either didn’t cast their votes in time or weren’t there, said Redfern. As for Ohio not getting to announce its votes, Redfern said.
“We’re disappointed, but it’s not about us.” He said he felt good and planned to have a “Budweiser.”
TweetStrickland calls special election for Tubbs Jones’ seat
Gov. Ted Strickland has called a special election to fill the unexpired term of U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Cleveland, who died on Aug. 20.
The general election will be on Nov. 18 and a primary, if needed, on Oct. 14, Strickland’s office announced on Wednesday, Aug. 27.
The winner will serve until the end of this year.
Separately, the seat will be up for grabs for a two-year term in the general election on Nov. 4.
Strickland said that he would like to have avoided the special election but that the law requires it.
“While I recognize the costs that would be associated with a special election, my staff has carefully reviewed this situation and concluded that the U.S. Constitution requires me to call one,” Strickland said in a prepared statement.
“My staff has also reached out to Attorney General Nancy Rogers, and she concurs. Put simply, in ACLU v. Taft, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals made it clear that a governor has a ‘mandatory’ obligation to issue a Writ of Election when a congressional seat is vacated.
“The court has said that every district should have representation, even when Congress isn’t expected to be in session, because Congress may need to hold unexpected, but important, votes at any time. Such a clear ruling in Ohio’s federal appeals court makes it extremely unlikely, in my judgment, that Ohio would prevail in a legal challenge if we decided not to call for an election in this case.”
TweetClinton releases convention delegates
DENVER - Democrat Hillary Clinton has released her delegates, giving them the official OK to support Barack Obama’s nomination for president.
Clinton’s action came on Wednesday, Aug. 27, hours before the roll call vote was to start. There is no guarantee all Clinton delegates will move to the Obama side but her move was seen as a part of the party’s continuing effort toward unity.
“I think we need to continue to bridge the gap between the two camps,” said Tom Ritchie of Dayton, a Clinton delegate who’s switched to Obama.
In the Ohio delegation, Clinton had 74 pledged delegates to 67 for Obama, a result of her victory in the March presidential primary.
TweetMcCain supporters gathering tonight to prepare to for Friday event
Republican presidential hopeful John McCain is coming to the Dayton area on Friday and the campaign is looking for volunteers to help make signs for the rally. The event will be at the Nutter Center in Fairborn on Friday.
If you want to volunteer tonight to help the campaign make signs, you can go to the following events tonight,
CENTERVILLE: 6 p.m. at Montgomery County Victory Center, 526 Miamisburg Centerville Road.
FAIRBORN: 7 p.m. at Erwin J. Nutter Center, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway.
LEBANON: 6 p.m. at 30 E. Main Street.
TweetTheir ears must be burning
DENVER - Neither Jane Mitakides nor Sharen Neuhardt are here at the Democratic National Convention, but their campaigns for Congress got a boost today.
Mitakides, seeking to oust Republican Mike Turner in the 3rd Congressional District, decided to stay home with family; Neuhardt, vying with Republican Steve Austria to fill retiring Dave Hobson’s seat in the 7th Congressional District, said she couldn’t take time off from fund raising.
But both women were acknowledged at a morning meeting attended by several hundred delegates to the convention.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, said Mitakides is “running against someone we need to sweep clean” and that Neuhardt “needs our help.”
Citing the Republicans 11-7 edge among Ohioans in the House, Kantur said, “We can’t wait to welcome them to our delegation.”
TweetLabor confronts racism in own ranks
DENVER - A national labor leader told Ohio delegates today that racism among union members presents a major obstacle to the presidential aspirations of Barack Obama.
“We’re going to have to fight with our own members,” said Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal workers and chair of the AFL-CIO’s political education committee.
The 13-million-member AFL-CIO has endorsed Obama over the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain.
“You know, there’s too many of our folks - and we’ve got polls and polls that show this - that are for McCain,” McEntee told delegates at their morning meeting.
“Too many of our people like John McCain. They like (his) Straight Talk Express even though its gone off the road and in the ditches. They like the fact that he was a hero. We’ve got to give him that. He was. But he’s not a hero for the American worker.”
But support of labor isn’t a given, McEntee said.
Obama “has to win throughout Appalachia to be president,” he said. “He’s got to go through Kentucky and West Virginia and Ohio and Pennsylvania and even parts of New York.”
And there, McEntee said, Obama will encounter objections from union members who will say “I can’t vote for him because he’s a Muslim” or “I’ve never voted for a Black.”
“That’s bullshit,” he said.
“It’s bullshit that you can’t vote for him because he’s black. We’ve got to get in our members’ faces and let them have it.
“We’ve got to wake up many of our own members. What we have to do, let me say, this, this is true of AFSCME, this is true of all of the unions, to get Obama elected, and Joe Biden, we’re even going to have to fight with our own members.”
TweetObama watch
DAYTON — Supporters of Sen. Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency will hold a “watch party” Thursday, August 28, during his speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The event kicks off with an 8 p.m. community block party in the parking lot of Thurgood Marshall High School and then moves into the gymnasium at 9 p.m. to watch Obama accept his party’s nomination.
The high school is located at 4447 Hoover Ave., Dayton, For information contact Nancy Kerr at 360-8521.
TweetClinton delegates deciding how to vote on roll call
DENVER - Hillary Clinton’s delegates in Ohio’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention are deciding whether and when to formally throw their support to Barack Obama.
Clinton was to meet with her delegates in the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 27, before the scheduled roll call vote and it was considered likely that she would release them.
At a breakfast meeting of the Ohio delegation earlier on Wednesday, Clinton delegates went in different directions on a sign up sheet for the roll call vote.
Tom Ritchie of Dayton said he had switched to Obama. Lana Moresky of Shaker Heights was wearing a “Hillary Supports Obama So Do I” button but said she still backed Clinton. Jerome Sutton of Yellow Springs signed up to support Obama but made it conditional by adding “if released.”
Sutton said he felt “morally obligated” to cast his vote for Clinton until she released him from the pledge
TweetMcCain campaign responds to Strickland
DENVER - Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has been leading the charge in bashing Republican John McCain here at the Democratic National Convention, always making sure to link McCain with President Bush.
The McCain campaign has been listening and after Strickland spoke to the convention on Tuesday, Aug. 26, McCain Ohio campaign spokesman Paul Lindsay released this response, harking back to Strickland observations before the governor became an Obama backer:
“Ted Strickland provided the wake-up call for Ohio families when he criticized Barack Obama and reminded voters of the ‘choice between a speech and a plan’
“No speech will change the fact that Ohioans can’t afford an Obama economic plan that would raise taxes on hard working families, seniors, and the small businesses that can lead us out of tough economic times.”
TweetObama, Biden to jump on the bus
DENVER - Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama and Joe Biden, his vice presidential running mate, will jump on a bus for a battle state tour “On the Road to Change” on Friday, Aug. 29, after the Democratic National Convention ends.
The first joint bus tour for the candidates, announced on Wednesday, Aug. 27, will go through Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, with the first stop in Pennsylvania. The candidates’ spouses, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, will be on the bus, too.
The trip is reminiscent of the bus trip that Bill Clinton and Al Gore took after their convention in New York City in 1992. Obama and Biden will compete for attention while Republicans hold their national convention in St. Paul-Minneapolis.
Obama and Biden and their wives are scheduled to be in Ohio on Saturday, Aug. 30, for a memorial service for U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Cleveland, who died on Aug. 20.
TweetGlenn, Tubbs Jones featured in Clinton convention video
A video profile of Hillary Clinton that aired Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention prior to her speech featured two prominent Ohioans.
The video showed U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress, who died Wednesday in Cleveland.
The video also showed former Ohio Sen. John Glenn. Both supported Clinton during Ohio’s primary. Clinton paid also paid tribute to Tubbs Jones during her speech.
Photo: Hillary Clinton campaigning during the Ohio March primary with U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn.
TweetStrickland uses prime time to bash McCain, Bush
DENVER - Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland had 10 minutes of prime time at the Democratic National Convention and Strickland used it to bash Republicans John McCain and President Bush.
Strickland also said nice things about Democrat Barack Obama, McCain’s opponent for president.
“You know, it was once said that the first George Bush was … born on third base and thought he’d hit a triple,” Strickland said on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
“Well, with the 22 million new jobs and the budget surplus that Bill Clinton left behind, George W. Bush came into office on third base - and then he stole second. And John McCain cheered him every step of the way.”
He called McCain’s policies “stuck-in-the-past.”
“…while families are losing sleep trying to figure out some way to make their paycheck stretch through one more day, John McCain is sleeping better than ever,” Strickland said. “He’s sleeping better than ever because he thinks and I quote ‘Americas are better off’ thanks to President Bush.”
He cast McCain as out of touch with regular Americans.
“You know John McCain has no problem hitting the snooze button on the economy, because he’s never been a part of the middle class,” said Strickland.
“And I would say to him: Senator McCain, it’s time for your wake-up call. Because we just can’t afford more of the same.”
“It’s time for a change—and Barack Obama will bring the change we need,” said Strickland to cheers.
Strickland also led the crowd in a round of applause to honor the life and service of U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Cleveland, who died on Aug. 20 of a brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm.
TweetKucinich gets Dems worked up
DENVER - Cleveland Congressman Dennis Kucinich didn’t get far as a presidential candidate but the former Cleveland mayor still knows how to get a Democratic crowd fired up.
On Tuesday, Aug. 26, Kucinich had delegates to the Democratic National Convention clapping and stomping with some good old-fashioned Bush bashing.
“If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold. World records for violations of national and international laws,” Kucinich said.
TweetEye on Ohio: “Debra” ad for McCain
The ad: “Debra,” 30 seconds.
Producer: McCain campaign.
Where to see it: Airing in key battleground states, including Ohio.
Script: (Debra Bartoshevich): “I’m a proud Hillary Clinton Democrat. She had the experience and judgment to be president. Now, in a first for me, I’m supporting a Republican, John McCain. I respect his maverick and independent streak, and now he’s the one with the experience and judgment. A lot of Democrats will vote McCain. It’s OK, really!”
(McCain): “I’m John McCain, and I approved this message.”
Video: Debra Bartoshevich initially holds a Hillary for President placard. There’s a photo of Sen. Clinton with a pained expression at the start of the ad. The words “FORMER HILLARY DELEGATE” pop up to identify Bartoshevich.
She makes good use of hand gestures, waving, putting her right hand to her chin, then to her heart and finally as a whispering gesture on her final line. Meanwhile, Hillary signs get replaced by a red-white-and-blue GOP elephant image and John McCain.com and leadership placards. The words “experience,” “judgment,” “independent” and “maverick” flash briefly behind Bartoshevich. Images of McCain wearing a Navy cap, signing paperwork while seated at a stately looking desk and then smiling also scroll past.
Analysis: This ad makes efficient use of positive words and images to underscore why a lifelong Democrat might switch from supporting Clinton to McCain.
Bartoshevich, of Waterford, Wis., backed Sen. Clinton in the primary, then publicly said she might consider backing McCain. When she did, the Wisconsin Democratic Party kicked her out as a delegate. In July, Bartoshevich met with McCain. She also hosted a house party for him during a recent “McCain Nation” national organizing night.
Jon Craig is a reporter with the Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail: jcraig@enquirer.com.
TweetEye on Ohio: “Passed Over” ad for McCain
The ad: “Passed Over,” 30 seconds.
Producer: McCain campaign.
Where to see it: Airing on national cable stations.
Script: Announcer: “She won millions of votes. But isn’t on his ticket. Why? For speaking the truth. On his plans.”
Hillary Clinton: “You never hear the specifics.”
Announcer: “On the Rezko scandal.”
Clinton: “We still don’t have a lot of answers about Sen. Obama.”
Announcer: “On his attacks.”
Clinton: “Sen. Obama’s campaign has become increasingly negative.”
Announcer: “The truth hurt. And Obama didn’t like it.”
McCain: “I’m John McCain, and I approved this message.”
Video: A female voice asks a list of questions that are spliced together with film clips of Clinton on the campaign trail and at news conferences. Still pictures of Barack Obama, Clinton and Tony Rezko are interspersed.
Analysis: Within hours of Obama’s announcement that he had selected Sen. Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate, the McCain camp issued a TV ad commiserating with Clinton for being “passed over.”
McCain campaigners are not resting during a week that news should be dominated by the Democratic national political convention in Denver. It’s the first time that a female politician (Hillary Clinton) has been such a deciding force in national politics.
GOP organizers know that lots of Clinton supporters are not happy. So why not capture their attention with a clever TV ad pointing out that Clinton battled Obama?
And, they get to make some of the same points that they will be making for weeks to come: that Obama has not been specific in his rhetoric; that Obama entered into a land deal for his own home with a developer with a shady background; that Obama’s campaign has sharpened its focus, becoming more negative.
V. David Sartin is a reporter with The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. E-mail: dsartin@plaind.com.
TweetGov. Strickland goes “prime time” at convention
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is getting a prime time speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention at Denver on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
Strickland will speak at 9:45 p.m., Ohio time - which is 7:45 p.m. in Denver. Earlier Strickland aides had said the governor would speak at 6:30 p.m., Ohio time - 4:30 p.m., Denver time. The new time slot is just before Sen. Hillary Clinton is to speak.
Doug Kelly, executive director of the Ohio Democratic Party, said the change reflects Ohio’s status as the “number one battleground state in the country.”
“Ted Strickland is going to deliver a strong economic message of how the Bush-McCain economic policies have hurt Ohio and make a call for change in leadership,” said a delighted Kelly, who learned of the change from a Dayton Daily News reporter.
TweetGov. “Who?” excites Californians
DENVER - “What’s his name?”
That’s what Carol Garvey, an alternate in the California delegation to the Democratic National Convention, said after Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland spoke to the Golden State delegation on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
Although she couldn’t identify him, Garvey liked what Strickland had to say.
“He’s fabulous. I loved him. I even made notes,” said Garvey, 55, a retiree from San Jose. California Democratic Chairman Art Torres introduced Strickland as “truly a man of the people.”
”..if you believe that America is on the wrong track and headed in the wrong direction….if you believe we can do better, that we can provide health care for our people….then Barack Obama is our candidate,” Strickland said to rousing applause during his speech.
TweetCalifornia Clinton delegate “gagged”
DENVER - While Hillary Clinton’s supporters in the Ohio delegation to the Democratic National Convention have been relatively quiet about their problems with the Barack Obama campaign, that’s not the case in the California delegation.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland spoke to the California delegation on Tuesday, Aug. 26, and in the audience Clinton delegate Gloria Allred had a maroon napkin stuffed in her mouth - a gag, Allred said. It was hard to hear her through the gag but she made her case.
Clinton delegates in California haven’t even been able to meet to discuss how to handle Wednesday’s roll call vote and other issues, Allred said.
“I was not elected to be a potted plant,” said Allred.
After he spoke, Strickland said he expected things to go smoother in Ohio where he said folks took a more “common sense” approach to things.
TweetStrickland speech time changed; no watch parties
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s Democratic convention speech has been moved back three hours and will not start until 9:45 p.m. EST.
The watch parties scheduled at local Barack Obama offices in Dayton and Springfield have been cancelled.
TweetMcCain launches Clinton-like “3 A.M.” ad
Maybe Republican John McCain will pick Democrat Hillary Clinton as his running mate.
While Democrats gathered at their party’s national convention in Denver are trying to unite behind Barack Obama, McCain’s campaign has been fanning the flames of discontent among Clinton supporters.
His latest effort came on Tuesday, Aug. 26, with a new TV ad to be aired in key states - “3 A.M.” - which is patterned after a Clinton ad used against Obama in the primaries.
Here it is:
TweetAll eyes on Hillary today
DENVER — Today is put up or shut up time for Hillary Clinton.
While it is popular to criticize political conventions as “news-free zones,” the truth is the Clintons have added an uncommon element of drama to the otherwise highly scripted festivities.
Sen. Clinton takes the lectern in prime time this evening; her husband has been allocated a slot on Wednesday. Both are expected to call for unity of the party after the divisive primary. How enthusiastic that call will be and how it will be received by Clinton’s supporters has been the subject of great conjecture in the blogosphere, in print and on the airways.
Clinton’s remarks come in the wake of recent polls that show about a third of her supporters do not plan to vote for Barack Obama, such is the lingering bitterness after the hard-fought primary campaign.
But in 2000, when John McCain lost his primary bid to George W. Bush, disaffected supporters said they, too, would sit out the election, but ultimately showed up for the GOP nominee. There’s lot of time between now and November.
Still, a lot is riding on the senator’s speech this evening. As the influential political columnist Charlie Cook noted in the National Journal today:
“Whether for her own sake or her husband’s or their party’s, Hillary Clinton would be well advised to not only strongly and enthusiastically back Obama, but also admonish her advisers and supporters not to undercut her on this all-important mission. This is her chance to prove she’s a leader.”
The Obama and Clinton camps have been wrangling all week over how to manage the formal nomination and voting process on the convention floor Wednesday. Clinton is expected to formally release her delegates who are legally bound to vote for her. Whether a formal roll call will be held is still undecided at this time.
This drama has given irresistible fodder to the Republicans who have set up camp down the road from the Pepsi Center for their counter-convention propaganda operation. (The Democrats will mount a similar stunt during the GOP convention next week in St. Paul.)
In an ad released Monday by the Republicans, a former Clinton delegate is seen endorsing John McCain.
In response, Clinton told supporters: “I’m Hillary Clinton and I do not approve that message.”
Now the question is what will her message be, and how it be received by her loyalists, tonight.
TweetPoll: Obama, McCain deadlocked in Ohio
A new poll of likely voters in Ohio and two other key swing states emphasizes Democrat Barack Obama’s need to get a “bump” in approval from the Democratic National Convention now going on in Denver.
The Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll, released on Tuesday, Aug. 26, found likely voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida want a Democrat in the White House but haven’t decided that Obama is that candidate.
In Florida, likely voters prefer a Democrat by a 44 - 39 percent margin. Ohio voters want a Democrat 44 - 35 percent and Pennsylvania voters are prefer a Democrat 50 - 32 percent.
The results are different when Obama’s and Republican John McCain’s names are supplied.
Obama leads McCain 44-43 percent in Ohio, a virtual tie, and not much different from the 46-44 percent lead Obama had on July 31.
In Florida, McCain leads 47-43 percent in the new poll, not much different from the 46-44 percent lead he had on July 31.
Pennsylvania was the best state for Obama. He led 49-42 percent, the same lead he had on July 31.
The poll was taken from Aug. 17-24 so it did not measure much of the effect, if any, from Obama’s announcement on Aug. 23 that he had picked Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate.
For full poll results click here.
TweetOmarosa taking in Denver
Central State University graduate and Apprentice star Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth was seen taking in Denver, according to press reports.
The reality show favorite was seen at the hot Mile High City restaurant Mezcal.
She plans to return to Ohio to campaign for Barack Obama.
TweetDiverse points of view
DENVER - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown took a friendly swipe at the lack of diversity in the news media during a breakfast talk with delegates to the Democratic National Convention Monday.
“This is the most diverse political convention in the history of the United States,” he said. “Look around this room and you can see that.”
While the room wasn’t full, if it had been 50 per cent of the 186 delegates and alternates would have been women, 50 would have been black (27 percent), five Hispanic American (2 percent) and three Asian American (1.5 percent).
“I want my white, male middle aged friends at the media table who look like me, I want them to take note of the diversity,” Brown said to a roar of applause from the audience.
He was quick to note that “we also need a lot more diversity in the United States Senate.” Brown was right on both accounts:
If Barack Obama is elected president, there will be no blacks remaining in the Senate. There are two Hispanic Americans and one Asian American. While it isn’t an all-boy’s club, it’s close. There are only 14 women senators.
The diversity numbers in the media are not nearly as bad as the Senate, but they by no means are at parity with the general population.
The American Society of Newspaper Editors conducts an annual census of newsrooms. The latest count shows that only 13.5 percent full time journalists at newspapers are minorities, less than half the percentage of minorities in America.
ASNE’s survey is an outgrowth of the 1968 Kerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerner_Commissionner Commission report, which was critical of the lack of coverage of black communities and the lack of minority journalists in the wake of the Newark and Detroit riots.
Ironically, all of the speakers at the morning delegation breakfast were white, middle-aged males, like Brown and like the table-full of reporters he took a jab at.
Not all the reporters in the room were at the media table, though. There was at least one other journalist - a woman, Brown’s wife, Connie Schultz.
Jeff Bruce is the journalist in residence at Wright State University. You can reach him at jeff@jeffbruce.net.
TweetCops, cops, everywhere cops
DENVER - Somebody’s making a killing on body armor in this town. Everywhere you look, there’s Robocop with two or three of his buddies hanging out.
They’re on the streets and rooftops. On foot and on horseback. On motorcycles, even bicycles.
On Sunday, they were clustered en masse near the entrance to the Pepsi Center in a face-down with protestors. The upshot of that was to cause a more-than hour-long delay for delegates, media and convention volunteers trying to make their way through the security checkpoint.
The cops came to the party with automatic weapons, face shields, and Kevlar vests. The demonstrators were armed with signs, drums and body odor. But, hey, it was sizzling outside.
Eventually the protestors packed up and moved on to march downtown, and a small army of black-suited police greeted them there, too.
Extraordinary security has become the norm at political conventions. In 2004, during the first conventions after Sept. 11, it was at least as intense from my recollection, with SWAT teams on rooftops, bomb-sniffing dogs at subway entrances, massively guarded security checkpoints, and machine-gun toting cops on nearly every street corner.
It felt like a return to Soviet-era Eastern Europe.
To enter the convention grounds today, I stood in line with dozens of delegates, workers and journalists at a steel-gated checkpoint while Secret Service agents inspected credentials and rooted through purses, briefcases and camera bags. A few hundred yards later, yet another checkpoint, with metal detectors and more searches.
Think airport security on steroids with lots more cops and guns. Lots more.
Earlier, I had traveled to convention headquarters at a downtown hotel where my bags were tested for explosive particles before I could enter. All I wanted was breakfast and a few bumper stickers. Sheesh.
The entire area around the Pepsi Center is ringed with tall, steel barriers with police patrolling the interior and the occasional chopper doing airborne surveillance.
Is this overkill?
The history of political conventions has shown that things can quickly spiral out of control. Think the riots of 1968 in Chicago when thousands of police clashed with protestors who ignored orders to demonstrate in designated areas.
The name of the local group that organized Sunday’s demonstration: Recreate 68.
Jeff Bruce is the journalist in residence at Wright State University. You can email him at jeff@jeffbruce.net.
TweetSomebody’s got to pick up the tab
DENVER — And now a brief word from our sponsors…
The Ohio delegation to the Democratic National Convention began its first morning breakfast with words of thanks to the generous folks from Dominion, the Virginia-based energy company, which picked up the tab for a Sunday afternoon outing at Red Rocks Amphitheater.
There, conventioneers were treated to the musical delights of Sheryl Crow, the Dave Matthews Band and Sugarland.
And a tip of the hat was also offered to Swedish Match, an international corporation specializing in snuff, cigars, pipe and chewing tobacco and lighters. They’re sponsoring the nightly scotch and cigar reception that begins at midnight.
Other events being hosted for delegates include a welcome party at the posh Curtis Hotel’s Corner Bar, morning bloody Mary receptions, post-gavel parties at the ESPN Zone, LoDo’s Bar & Grill, and other nightspots, and various trinkets. And that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of the invitation-only parties held nightly all over town.
As party Chairman Chris Redfern introduced a series of speakers, including U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and state Treasurer Richard Cordray, a slideshow backlit the lectern with a revolving series of acknowledgements for the sugar daddies. They included the likes of Verizon Wireless, Norfolk Southern, Hewlett Packard, Nationwide, Microsoft, American Electric Power, Duke Energy, First Energy, State Street Consultants, Citizens Bank, Johnson & Johnson, the Ohio Association of Realtors, various law firms and others.
Thomas F. Farrell, chairman, president and CEO of Dominion, told delegates that by sponsoring their entertainment it “gives us opportunities to share our thoughts with you.”
In other words, lobby.
Wait, you say, aren’t there rules against lobbyists showering our elected officials with such largesse? Yes, but there are loopholes you could drive a beer truck through.
So, when Ashley Judd mingles with delegates at Planned Parenthood’s “Sex, Politics and Cocktail” party this week, it’s perfectly legal. A Willie Nelson concert? No problem.
And entertaining the delegates is hardly the biggest tab being picked up here, and, for that matter, in St. Paul when the Republicans gather there next week. While, loophole-riddled, there are limits on direct contributions to candidates. No such limits are imposed on contributions to political conventions, which cost tens of millions to put on.
So, while Barak Obama refuses to take money from political action committees or lobbyists and John McCain wrote the law that places limits on donations to political parties, both men, through their parties, are clearly in hock to a host of business interests, labor unions and other special interests.
And now, back to our regular programming…
Jeff Bruce is the journalist in residence at Wright State University. You can email him at jeff@jeffbruce.net. For more politics, point your browser to daytondailynews.com/politics.
TweetObama, Biden to attend Tubbs Jones memorial service
The first post-convention trip to Ohio for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his vice presidential running mate Joe Biden will be a somber one.
Obama and Biden both will attend the memorial service for Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the U.S. House member from Cleveland, on Saturday, Aug. 30, Isaac Baker, Obama’s Ohio campaign spokesman, said on Monday, Aug. 25. Their wives, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, will accompany them to the service.
Tubbs Jones, 58, died last Wednesday, Aug. 20, of a brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm. The Ohio delegation to the Democratic National Convention had a moment of silence in her honor at their breakfast in Denver on Monday.
The memorial service is at 11 a.m. at the Cleveland Public Auditorium.
Chris Redfern, the Ohio Democratic chairman, told the breakfast gathering that they will pay special tribute to Tubbs Jones, the first black woman from Ohio to serve in Congress, on Thursday, the last day of the convention.
“She was an extraordinary leader,” said Refern. Buttons honoring Tubbs Jones will be distributed for delegates to wear, Redfern said.
“She was the kind of person you liked to be around,” said Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray, who spoke at the breakfast.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, who served in the House with Tubbs Jones, said that Tubbs Jones would be proud that her son Mervyn Jones, Jr. was attending the convention despite his grief.
TweetDemocrats’ Web ad ties McCain to Bush
While Democrats in Denver were getting ready to whoop it up for Barack Obama, their presumptive presidential nominee, the Democratic National Committee wants to keep Republican John McCain in the news - not in a positive way, of course.
The DNC on Monday, Aug. 25, launched a new Web ad, “Totally in Agreement”, tying McCain to President Bush, part of the Democrats’ continuing strategy.
Here’s the ad:
TweetMcCain ad features former Clinton backer
While Democrats in Denver at the party’s national convention are trying to show that backers of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are coming together, Republican John McCain’s campaign is doing his best to show that they’re not.
McCain’s campaign on Monday, Aug. 25, launched a new TV ad, “Debra”, to air in key states.
It features Debra Bartoshevich, a “lifelong Democrat” and “Hillary Clinton Democrat”, who now backs McCain, not Barack Obama, for president. Here’s the ad:
TweetSight lines
DENVER - When Ohio’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention plop themselves into their seats at the Pepsi Center, they may have to stretch their necks a bit to get a good sight line of the podium.
Not that Ohio doesn’t have favorable seating. Au contraire. The Dems and the GOPs know they have to suck up to Ohioans, so important is this battleground state. No, Ohio delegates will find themselves with the best seats in the house.
Except.
Except for Katie Couric’s seat.
On Sunday, journalists were able to tour the convention floor. When I arrived, they were doing mic tests, running a mock roll-call vote. A few minutes into the test, Bob Schieffer and Jeff Greenfield of CBS showed up and climbed atop a small set in the middle of the convention floor where they will do their newscasts.
They doffed their jackets, allowed microphones to be taped to the sides of their faces, endured brushing and dabbing by beauticians, and put up with a bevy of photographers firing strobes in their faces.
I was with my wife and the Dayton Daily News’ Anthony Shoemaker exploring the vacant Ohio delegation seats, and we were, of course, star struck.
Then Couric wandered onto the set. Several immediate impressions: She was very courteous to the camera and makeup people trying to get her ready. She was tanner than I thought she might be in real life (it’s not all makeup). And she was wearing gold flip-flops.
“She’s a lot prettier in real life than on TV, my wife, observed. I am way, way too smart to have reacted to that. But she is.
More to the point, she’s right in the sight line of Ohio’s delegates. Not that there will be objections. After all, a huge point of modern political conventions is the publicity they drum up for the ticket, courtesy of the networks and the thousands of other journalists here to cover this heavily scripted affair.
And it isn’t every day that you not only get to attend a political party’s national nominating convention and at the same time have a backstage pass to how it all ends up on TV.
Jeff Bruce is the journalist in residence at Wright State University. Email him at jeff@jeffbruce.net. For more political coverage, point your browser to daytondailynews.com/politics.
TweetTwo local delegates get late start after airplane problem
Two Dayton-area delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver got a minor scare on Sunday.
Delegates Marcia Knox and Tom Ritchie’s 8:30 a.m. flight from Dayton International Airport was forced to return to Dayton about 20 minutes after takeoff due to a heat sensor issue, according to Ritchie.
Knox and Ritchie arrived in Denver at around 1 p.m. on another flight.
Ritchie is AFSCME Ohio Council 8 director of field services and organizing. Knox is AFSCME Ohio Council 8 regional director.
AFSCME, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is the largest public employee and health care workers union in the United States.
TweetBiden says hello to Obama supporters
Just in case they didn’t know him, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware has introduced himself to Democrat Barack Obama’s supporters. Biden is to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Wednesday, Aug. 27.
Biden, introduced Saturday, Aug. 23, as Obama’s vice presidential running mate, on Sunday, Aug. 24, sent this video greeting via e-mail:
TweetLet the parties begin
DENVER — With thousands of journalists descending here for the Democratic National Convention, the city of Denver wants to use that opportunity to tell the world what a cool place the Mile High City is.
And there’s nothing like a little beer to lubricate the sales pitch.
Saturday evening, convention sponsors hosted a “Celebration with Altitude” at Elitch Gardens, a miniaturized version of Kings Island located near downtown next to the Pepsi Center where most of the convention activities will take place.
It was the big kickoff of a week filled with parties attracting rock stars, delegates, lobbyists and the media. The major sponsors were The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News with Coors supplying what appeared to be at least several acre feet of malted beverage.
Big media splashes like this are typical for conventions, Super Bowls and other high-profile events. They give sponsoring communities a chance to show off.
“With over 15,000 members of the media covering the convention, there has never been a larger spotlight on our city, said Harry Whipple, president of the Denver Newspaper Agency, which publishes the Post and the Rocky, when the party was announced. “We want to make sure that spotlight shines bright and captures all the vitality that Denver has to offer.”
Elitch Gardens was closed to the public for the event, and members of the media were bused in from around the Denver area to the invitation-only party, which drew about 9,000 ticketed attendees.
Party-goers jammed the lines for thrill rides with terrifying names like the Tower of Doom, Mind Eraser and Boomerang. Then there was this circular cage on bungee cords that flung screaming partiers halfway to Pike’s Peak (or so it seemed) then back down, up and down, the sight of which gave me vertigo.
“Want to try it?” asked a friend.
“There’s not enough Coors in the world.”
Big attraction: A dude in a Captain Morgan getup, parading about the park surrounded by his Captain Morgan girls, handing out tee shirts and pins touting “Captain for President: Putting the party back in politics.”
The wife and I scored pins, but the shirts were long gone. I did, however, put a football through a swinging donut hole to win a gigantic stuffed Batman, only to discover when I got back to our hotel, a good half-hour from downtown, that his head is falling off.
My guess is more than a few people awoke today feeling like their heads are falling off, too.
Jeff Bruce is the journalist in residence at Wright State University. He can be reached at jeff@jeffbruce.net. For more news about the Democratic National Convention, point your browser to daytondailynews.com/politics.
TweetDems may change caucus, primary system for 2012
Democrats fussed and fumed with each other all year about their caucuses and primaries and there still are lots of hard feelings about what happened in Michigan and Florida, particularly among Hillary Clinton supporters.
To prevent more squabbling in 2012 - and to make Clinton supporters feel better - the party’s Rules Committee is proposing a commission to look at when caucuses and primaries are held, among other things.
Former Ohio U.S. House member Mary Rose Oakar of Cleveland, a co-chair of the Rules Committee, said on Sunday, Aug. 24, called the review of the system a “very challenging experience.
There are some things the Democrats want to avoid, said Oakar, who’s in Denver for the Democratic National Convention.
“They don’t want primaries to be around New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day,” said Oakar.
TweetOhio delegates play HIDE ‘n SEEK in Denver
If Ohio’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention are in a partying mood, they’ve picked the right hotel.
The Curtis hotel in Denver is a pop culture hotbed. One of the meeting rooms where Ohio delegates will gather is called “HIDE ‘n SEEK.” The fifth floor is all about pictures of rock ‘n roll “one hit wonders.”
When you get off the elevator at the 11th floor where Dayton Daily News reporters are staying, the elevator voice welcomes you to the “Chick Flick” floor with Chick Flick posters on the wall. Thelma and Louise welcome you off of the elevator.
If delegates get bored, they can check out board games including Chutes and Ladders, Uno, Sorry and Pictionary.
Caption: The Curtis hotel is the host hotel in Denver for the Ohio Democratic delegation. Photo by Anthony Shoemaker
Caption: Ohio politicians in Denver for the Democratic Convention may get a scare on the 13th floor of the host hotel, The Curtis. The floor is decorated in images from horror flicks. Photo by Anthony Shoemaker
Caption: At the host hotel for the Ohio Democratic delegation in Denver, The Curtis, funny signs welcome visitors to the restroom. Photo by Anthony Shoemaker
TweetMcCain using Democrats words against Obama in latest ads
Almost as soon as Sen. Joe Biden was named Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s running mate on Saturday, Republican candidate John McCain had an ad ready using Biden’s past statements against Obama.
Well it’s a new day and time for another McCain ad featuring a Democrat.
In McCain’s new ad “Passed Over,” the star is Hillary Clinton. The synopsis from McCain: Clinton spoke the truth about Obama during the heated primary and Obama’s feelings were hurt so he didn’t choose her for the ticket.
With 18 million voters in her pocket, Clinton voters appear to be this year’s swing voters. Here’s’ the ad…
TweetRomney foes launch Web site
While all the hoopla seems to be focused on Barack Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as his running mate, Republican John McCain still has that job to do.
The social conservatives who don’t like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (pictured) now have a Web site devoted to persuading McCain that would be a bad choice. Click here to see http://www.socialconservativesagainstromney.com.
McCain plans a big rally on Friday, Aug. 29, at the Nutter Center at Wright State University and could be accompanied by his running mate - whether it’s Romney or somebody else.
TweetStrickland lauds Biden’s (relatively) humble roots
Ohio Gov., Ted Strickland, who knows a thing or two about humble roots, on Saturday, Aug. 23, applauded Joe Biden for having them.
Here’s a prepared statement from Strickland (pictured) about Biden’s selection as Barack Obama’s running mate.
“Joe Biden is an outstanding choice for vice president. His foreign policy knowledge is unparalleled, and his humble Pennsylvania roots give him a deep understanding of the challenges facing Ohio families.
Ohioans will have a clear choice this Fall—four more years of failed Bush economic policies under John McCain, or a new direction that will bring the the real change we need to Washington with an Obama-Biden ticket.”
Humble roots are a relative thing, apparently. Strickland grew up in Duck Run in southern Ohio in a house with an outside shower and plowed the fields behind horses.
Biden, according to “The Almanac of American Politics”, was born in Scranton, Pa. and grew up in the suburbs of Wilmington, Del., in a middle class home. His father was a car salesman and one grandfather was a state senator. Now 65, Biden has first was elected to the U.S. Senate when he was 29.
TweetHillary gives Biden her OK
Sen. Hillary Clinton, the woman whom lots of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention wanted to see as Barack Obama’s running mate, gave her congratulations to the man who got the job - Delaware Sen. Joe Biden.
“I want to congratulate Joe Biden on becoming the vice presidential running nominee. Joe is a friend and colleague, a strong experienced leader and a devoted public servant.
“I look forward to not only seeing him in Denver next week but on the trail as I work to help Barack Obama and Joe Biden along with many other Democratic candidates campaign this fall,” Clinton, a senator from New Yorkl, said to her supporters in an e-mail message to her supporters on Saturday, Aug. 24.
TweetRedfern: Expect to see lots of Biden in Ohio
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., could provide a connection to blue-collar voters that will help Democrat Barack Obama in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.
That’s how Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern was talking on Saturday, Aug. 24, as he arrived at the Curtis Hotel in Denver where the Ohio delegation to the Democratic National Convention is staying.
Ohioans should expect to see lots of Biden, born in Scranton, Pa. and the son of a car salesman, on the campaign trail, Redfern (pictured) said.
“He’s a compelling choice because of his vast knowledge of domestic and foreign affairs,” said Redfern.
TweetOwens on Biden
Montgomery County Democratic Party chair Mark Owens approves of Sen. Barack Obama’s pick for a running mate, he said Saturday, Aug. 23.
“He’s experienced, he’s good on foreign affairs, he’s good on domestic affairs - he’s what he was looking for,” Owens said. “He complements Sen. Obama.”
Owens said Biden’s working-class background will attract Ohioans who may have initially preferred Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., as the Democratic nominee.
“When you look at Sen. Biden’s background, he’s from a working class background, he worked his way up, he’s a strong family guy,” he said. “He’s the kind of guy Ohioans respect and like.”
TweetBoehner on Biden
Here’s the statement from House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, on Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., Sen. Barack Obama’s pick for Democratic vice-presidential candidate:
“Americans looking for a pair of candidates who are ready to fix a broken Washington aren’t going to find them on the Obama / Biden ticket. In Joe Biden, Barack Obama has not only found a running mate who doesn’t believe he’s ready to be President, he’s proven his opposition to an ‘All of the Above’ energy reform strategy to lower fuel costs for families and small businesses.
“John McCain’s comprehensive energy reform plan is supported by a broad and bipartisan majority of Americans who are tired of struggling with high gas prices and soaring utility bills. And he’s taken the bold step of calling on Speaker Pelosi to bring Congress back from its break to vote on House Republicans’ American Energy Act. McCain is a real reformer and the only candidate in this race who is ready to lead.”
TweetBiden reaction from local lawmakers
It wasn’t yet 9 a.m. before local lawmakers and political analysts began weighing in on Sen. Barack Obama’s vice-presidential pick, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.
“He was one of my top choices,” said state Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, who said Biden’s foreign policy credentials - he is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - will help seal up concerns about Obama’s foreign policy experience.
Luckie also cited Biden’s more than 30 years in the Senate as helping shore up concerns about Obama’s relatively short tenure there. He predicted a “humungous” bump in the polls as a result of Obama’s pick. “This is going to be such a positive thing - it’s going to bump Sen. Obama so far that McCain will never catch up.”
Chris Duncan, chair of the political science department at the University of Dayton, said Biden’s working-class credentials would help attract some of the Democrats who had initially preferred Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. over Obama. He also cited Biden’s experience as a plus for Obama.
“This is a good solid pick for him,” Duncan said.
But former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, McCain’s Ohio chair, pointed to comments Biden made during the Democratic primary questioning Obama’s experience. McCain’s campaign leapt on those comments Saturday morning, quickly sending out a commercial emphasizing those comments.
“I think the Obama campaign has a problem,” DeWine said, saying Biden’s comments are “rather embarrassing for the campaign.”
TweetMcCain gives Biden no honeymoon
Republican John McCain wasted no time trying to bring Democrat Joe Biden into the presidential campaign - on McCain’s side.
Democrat Barack Obama announced his selection of Biden, the Delaware senator, as his running mate just after 3 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23, with a text message. My e-mail from Obama arrived later, at 5:05 a.m.
An e-mail from the McCain campaign had arrived at 2:29 a.m. anticipating Biden’s selection and trying to use Biden’s past criticism of Obama against the Democrats.
The McCain campaign also launched a new TV ad - to run in “key states” - using Biden’s criticism of Obama and praise of McCain.
Here’s what the statement from McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said:
“There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden. Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing — that Barack Obama is not ready to be President.”
When Obama and Biden appear jointly later on Saturday in Springfield, Ill., Biden, no doubt, will have nice things to say about Obama.
Stay tuned to what Obama and Biden say about McCain’s running mate - whenever he picks one.
Here’s the new McCain ad:
TweetNBC: Bayh, Kaine out of Veep contention
NBC is reporting that Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine are out of contention for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential pick.
This, after a Kansas company reported they were making Obama/Bayh bumper stickers.
Who knows?
TweetVeep speculation, part I
Politico is reporting that a Kansas company is printing up Obama-Bayh bumper stickers.
Does this mean presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, D-Ill., will pick neighbor to the east, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., as his vice-president?
Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, we’ll know by Saturday, when Obama and his pick are scheduled to appear in Illinois for their first joint appearance.
TweetEye on Ohio: “Seven” ad for Obama
The ad: “Seven,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Obama campaign.
Where to see it: It’s airing on national cable stations.
Script Barack Obama: “I’m Barack Obama. And I approve this message.”
Male announcer: “Maybe you’re struggling just to pay the mortgage on your home.
But recently, John McCain said, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.” Hmmm.
Then again, that same day, when asked how many houses he owns, McCain lost track. He couldn’t remember. Well, it’s seven. Seven houses. And here’s one house America can’t afford to let John McCain into.”
Video: Starts with a shot of Obama speaking to a smiling older woman. Fades to black.
Then the video features shots of a child, wearing a bike helmet walking into a middle-class brick house, leaving her bike in the front yard. It cuts then to McCain meeting with President Bush, then a shot of a house with a foreclosure sign, featuring McCain’s quote about the strong economy.
It cuts then to a shot of McCain, with the screen reading “How many houses does McCain have?” The ad then shows script saying, “McCain unsure how many houses he owns.” The quote is attributed to Politico.
It then cuts to a black screen reading “Seven. Worth 13 million dollars.”
It closes with a shot of the White House. The script at the bottom of the screen reads, “John McCain. We can’t afford more of the same.”
Analysis: So much for a new brand of politics. Since McCain fumbled an answer to a question about his real-estate holdings, McCain and Obama have gone back and forth about the issue in increasingly nasty fashion. The ad is based on a question posed by Politico reporters Aug. 20. Asked about his real-estate holdings, McCain came up short. “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you,” he told reporters. He was apparently confused about how many condominiums he owned. His staff later told Politico that there are at least four — in Arizona, California and Virginia. Newsweek estimated this summer that the McCains own at least seven properties. The commercial cites tax records from those three states in determining the cost of their property. Meanwhile, McCain shot back quickly by attacking Obama’s pad, a three-story Chicago house with a wine cellar. Republicans sent out a press release accusing Obama of paying $300,000 less than the asking price for his mansion while convicted political fundraiser Tony Rezko paid full price for a vacant lot next door on the same day. Rezko later sold part of that land to Obama. The McCain campaign also pointed out that one of McCain’s homes during his lifetime was a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam. The ad makes a few personal digs at McCain. By running an ad emphasizing his inability to answer what appears to be a simple question, it implies that he’s too old to remember things such as property. McCain will be 72 later this month.
Jessica Wehrman is a reporter for the Dayton Daily News. E-mail: jwehrman@coxnews.com.
TweetAppeals Court: Ohio Dems violated election law
An Ohio appeals court has ruled that the Ohio Democratic Party and state Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern violated state election law by using misleading campaign material in 2006.
In a 2-1 decision, the 10th District Court of Appeals on Thursday, Aug. 21, cited “clear and convincing evidence” that the Democrats made false statements by illegally misrepresenting its candidates as incumbents.
“This ruling is a victory for fair and honest elections in Ohio,” Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Bennett said in a press release. “You can’t twist Ohio’s election laws to write your own rules, whether its lying on campaign material or distributing absentee ballots illegally in 2008.”
The ruling upheld earlier decisions from the Ohio Elections Commission and the Franklin County Common Pleas Court in Columbus.
The Ohio Democratic Party intends to appeal the ruling to the Ohio Supreme Court, Democratic Party spokesman Alex Goepfert said.
TweetDayton Dems join in bashing McCain and his houses
Dayton Democrats are joining in the bashing of Republican John McCain and McCain’s multiple residences.
McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, caused a stir when he said he couldn’t remember how many houses he owns. Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign says the number is eight - “one for every year of the disastrous Bush administration he (McCain) pledges to continue.” A story in “USA TODAY” on Friday, Aug. 22, says McCain has 12 residences.
At 11 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 22, Democrats in Dayton will hold a press conference to discuss the issue, which they say shows how out of touch McCain is with working families.
Montgomery County Recorder Willis Blackshear and Dayton City Commissioner Dean Lovelace will be at the press conference in the 100 block of Delaware Street in the Santa Clara neighborhood, said a press release from Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Similar events will be held in Youngstown and Toledo.
Republicans say Obama has his own housing problem - convicted felon Tony Rezko helped Obama buy his million dollar Chicago mansion.
TweetTubbs Jones appeared at fundraiser with Neuhardt Monday
One day before U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones was hospitalized for the aneurysm that ultimately claimed her life, she held a fundraiser for Miami Twp. Democrat Sharen Neuhardt in Shaker Heights, near Cleveland.
Neuhardt, who met Tubbs Jones earlier this year at a reception in her honor, invited Tubbs Jones to the fundraiser. “She was lovely,” said Neuhardt, who is running against state Sen. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek in the race for the open 7th Congressional seat.
She said Tubbs Jones talked forcefully about the need to elect strong Democratic women, and was supportive of presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, despite endorsing Hillary Clinton in the primary election. Tubbs Jones conveyed Clinton’s support for Obama to the crowd of mostly women.
“She was laughing and joking about all the things she would do in my district,” Neuhardt recalled. “She was doing what she loved best - talking to people about issues she was so passionate about.”
On Wednesday, Neuhardt’s fundraiser dropped an envelope on her desk. Inside was a check from Tubbs Jones and a note. “I wish you good luck in your campaign and I hope to stand with you in Congress come January 2009.”
Neuhardt said having Tubbs Jones help her in her campaign was “a gift.”
TweetEye On Ohio: Obama’s ‘Three Times’ ad
By Jonathan Riskin and Jack Torry
The Columbus Dispatch
The ad: “Three times,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Obama campaign.
Where to see it: It is airing in Ohio and other key states. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Narrator: Can we really afford more of the same?
John McCain’s tax plan:
For big corporations — $200 billion in new tax breaks.
Oil companies — $4 billion.
Companies shipping jobs overseas — keep their tax giveaways.
While 100 million Americans … get no tax relief at all.
For the change we need … Barack Obama.
A plan that cuts taxes for middle-class families three times as much as John McCain would.
Barack Obama. President.
Obama: I’m Barack Obama. And I approve this message.
Video: The spot opens with a man, seemingly in his 60s and middle class, looking soberly into the camera as the narrator asks the opening question. It then goes to footage of Sen. John McCain, and to a shot of a corporate meeting and gas station prices as the ad makes its charge that McCain’s economic plan gives tax breaks that are too large. The ad then shifts to shots of Obama with ordinary-looking people and touts his tax plan’s breaks for the middle class.
Analysis: This is the latest installment in the “my tax cut is bigger than yours” argument raging between Obama and McCain. Obama wants to end the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for individuals with incomes of more than $200,000 and families making more than $250,000. He also plans a $1,000 tax break for what his campaign says would be “95 percent of workers and their families.” McCain wants to extend all the 2001 and 2003 tax reductions, which are scheduled to expire in 2010.
The 2001 and 2003 tax laws reduced income-tax rates for everyone, cut taxes on married couples, and slashed the federal tax on dividends and capital gains. Most tax analysts believe that McCain’s plan would provide greater tax benefits to wealthier Americans. But conservative economists argue that raising taxes on any income group when the economy is sluggish slows economic growth.
In addition, McCain wants to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. That allows Obama to accurately say that McCain would reduce taxes on corporations, including oil companies. But McCain’s reason for proposing a cut in the corporate tax rate is to encourage U.S. companies to invest more in the United States rather than abroad. McCain argues that many U.S. competitors are lowering their corporate tax rates and that America must follow suit.
Jonathan Riskind and Jack Torry are reporters for The Columbus Dispatch. E-mail: jriskind@dispatch.com and jtorry@dispatch.com.
TweetStrickland urges No vote on sick leave
Gov. Ted Strickland worked to avoid a fight between business and workers over paid sick days but now that those negotiations failed he is urging Ohio voters to say No to the mandatory sick leave ballot issue on Nov. 4.
The proposal would require businesses with 25 or more employees to give full-time workers at least seven paid sick days a year. Ohio would be the first state to approve such a proposal.
On Thursday, Aug. 21, Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher issued a joint statement: “While we would hope that all Ohio businesses would make paid sick days available to their employees whenever possible, we believe that this initiative is unworkable, unwieldy and would be detrimental to Ohio’s economy, and we will be opposing it and asking Ohioans to oppose it as a result.”
They had a message for the business interests that oppose it and the labor groups that support it: “We call upon both sides to avoid portraying Ohio as unfriendly to business and economic development.”
TweetFlags to belowered for Tubbs Jones
Gov. Ted Strickland will order the flags on public grounds across Ohio to be lowered to half-staff from sunrise Friday to sunrise Monday in honor of U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, his press secretary said.
As of 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, the flags at the Ohio Statehouse were still flying high and there had been no word from Strickland’s office on when they would be lowered. This comes after Strickland’s office issued a statement about Tubbs Jones’ death on Wednesday, Aug. 20, four hours before she actually died of a brain aneurysm.
TweetMcLin remembers Tubbs Jones
Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin had hoped that next week’s Democratic National Convention would involve a little down time with the woman she called “the sister I never had.”
Instead, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones died Wednesday, Aug. 20 from an aneurysm, and McLin finds herself grieving a woman she considered a hero.
The two met when Tubbs Jones, D-Cleveland, ran for the state Supreme Court and McLin was finishing out her father’s term in the state General Assembly. They grew thick as thieves over the years, and McLin, also a Democrat, took particular delight in inviting her buddy over to crash the Dayton Development Coalition’s annual fly-in.
“I loved for her to come over and shake things up,” she said. “They’d be marching all these Republicans in and I’d text Stephanie and say ‘Stephanie, come on over.’”
Tubbs Jones would show up in the back of the room, and before long, she’d be delighting travelers from Dayton, McLin recalled.
“I feel like I’ve lost my sister,” she said.
TweetMcCain, Obama agree on presidential debates
Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have agreed to three presidential debates and a fourth debate for the vice presidential candidates. All debates will start at 9 p.m. and last for 90 minutes.
The schedule, announced on Thursday, Aug.21:
First Presidential Debate
Date: Sept. 26
Site: University of Mississippi, Oxford
Topic: Foreign Policy and National Security
Moderator: Jim Lehrer
Staging: Podium debate
Vice Presidential Debate
Date: Oct. 2
Site: Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
Moderator: Gwen Ifill
Staging: To be decided after nominees picked
Second Presidential Debate
Date: Oct. 7
Site: Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee
Moderator: Tom Brokaw
Staging: Town hall debate, moderator will call on members of audience and draw questions from Internet.
Third Presidential Debate
Site: Hofstra University, Long Island, New York
Topic: Domestic and Economic Policiy
Moderator: Bob Schieffer
Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table
TweetMouthpiece on the move
Jessica Kershaw, who has served in Sen. Sherrod Brown’s press office since he took office in January 2007 has a new gig: She’ll serve as spokeswoman for Sharen Neuhardt, a Yellow Springs attorney and Democrat who is hoping to replace Rep. David Hobson, R-Springfield, who is retiring this fall.
Neuhardt faces state Sen. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek.
Kershaw isn’t the only fresh face in the Neuhardt office; campaign manager Jim Alexee was recently replaced by Drew Tappan, who in 2006 served as campaign manager for Columbus-area congressional candidate Bob Shamansky.
TweetU.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones has died
Tubbs Jones, 58, D-Cleveland, was found unconscious in her car Tuesday, Aug. 19; she was hospitalized for an aneurysm.
She served as congresswoman for her northern Ohio district beginning in 1999 and was chair of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, known as the House Ethics Committee. Before that, she was a judge and Cuyahoga County prosecutor.
She was close friends with Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin. This year, she made a surprise visit to members of the Dayton Development Coalition during their visit to Washington after McLin sent her a text message inviting her to stop by.
She is the second Ohio lawmaker to die in a year; U.S. Rep. Paul Gillmor, R-Old Fort, died last September from injuries sustained in fall down the stairs.
Colleagues were quick to offer words of condolence.
“Stephanie was that rare person who filled whatever room she entered, whether she was in our home for dinner or leading a crowd of thousands at the Cleveland Convention Center,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. “She was beloved to Connie and me, and to our children. I cannot imagine the House of Representatives without Stephanie Tubbs Jones. We pray for her family, friends, and staff in this time of breathtaking loss.”
“Stephanie was a conscientious public servant, full of life and enthusiastic about her work for the citizens of Ohio ’s 11th district, including my family,” said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio. “I always marveled at the astounding positivity with which she lived her life after facing such personal challenges over the years.”
“Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a passionate representative who worked tirelessly to make Cleveland a better place for her constituents,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester. “Working out of neighboring offices in the Longworth House Office Building, Stephanie and I forged a friendship out of our shared belief that one person can make a difference. We were friends who, through the years, shared many laughs even as we engaged in legislative battles from opposite sides of the political aisle. “
Said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, “She was my mom in Congress.”
Even Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate offered words of condolence. Tubbs Jones backed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary, but supported Obama after he won.
“Stephanie was an extraordinary American and an outstanding public servant. It wasn’t enough for her just to break barriers in her own life,” he said. “She was also determined to bring opportunity to all those who had been overlooked and left behind - and in Stephanie, they had a fearless friend and unyielding advocate. It was an honor to serve with Stephanie in Congress, and I know her legacy will live on in all those who walk the trails she blazed and walk through the doors she opened. Our hearts and prayers are with all those who knew and loved her.”
TweetTickets for local McCain rally available
Tickets for Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s Aug. 29 rally at the Nutter Center at Wright State University are available at several locations around Dayton. Doors open for the event at 9 a.m.
The local visit is getting a lot of attention since it is the day after the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
It’s possible McCain could announce his pick for his vice presidential running mate or appear with his running mate at the Fairborn visit.
You can reserve tickets online here or at the following locations.
Montgomery County: GOP Victory Center at 526 Miamisburg Centerville Rd., 10 am - 9 pm M-F; 10 am - 4 pm Sat. Or call 528-7888.
Montgomery County: Republican Party headquarters, 369 W. First St., Suite 201, Dayton. Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to noon; Sunday 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Or call (937)461-1776
Montgomery County: Republican Party 2008 Pig Roast and Picnic at Greg Hanahan’s home, 13900 Ohio 725, Germantown. Saturday, Aug. 23, starting at 4 p.m.
Greene County: Victory Center, 3317 Seajay Blvd., Beavercreek, 10 am - 8pm M-F; 10 am - 6 pm Sat. Or call (937) 431-5000
Warren County: GOP Headquarters, 30 W Main St, Lebanon, 3pm - 7 pm M-F, 10am - 2 pm Sat. Or call (513) 932- 6089
Butler County: Victory/GOP Headquarters, 5964 Golf Club Ln, Hamilton. Phone: (513) 893- 5262. 10am - 9 pm M-F, 11pm - 5 pm Sat.
Clark County: GOP Headquarters: 102 E. Main St., Springfield. M-F 12-6. Saturday: 10-2. Phone: (937) 360- 1455.
Darke County: Tropical Isle, 619 S. Broadway, Greenville, 9-6 M-F. Phone: (937) 548- 8511.
Miami County: Miami GOP Headquarters, 121 S Market St., Troy. Start Saturday: 10-2, M-T: 6-8pm.
Preble County: Preble County GOP Headquarters, 112 E. Main St., Eaton. M-F 9:30am to 5:30pm. Phone: (937) 336- 5705.
Richmond, Ind.: Wayne County GOP Headquarters, 22 S 10th St., Richmond.
TweetStrickland’s effort to reach “sick days” compromise fails
Gov. Ted Strickland’s effort to find a compromise to keep a mandatory paid sick days proposal off the Nov. 4 ballot has failed.
“While important members of the business community and the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) participated in good faith discussions, it was, unfortunately, not possible to achieve a compromise acceptable to a sufficient portion of the business community and the proponents to cause its removal from the ballot,” Keith Dailey, Strickland’s spokesman, said in a prepared statement on Wednesday, Aug. 20.
Asked whether Strickland will support the ballot proposal - backed by some of the governor’s key allies in organized labor - Dailey said Strickland would speak to the issue over the next few days.
The proposal would require businesses with 25 or more employees to give fulltime workers at least seven paid sick days a year. Ohio would be the first state to approve such a proposal.
TweetMitakides brings Turner sparring partner into the district
As if Democrats aren’t needling Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, enough about an Aug. 18 Mother Jones article raising questions about his business dealings, now they’re bringing former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Larry Korb into the district.
Jane Mitakides, the Democrat running for the 3rd Congressional Seat currently held by Turner, has planned a 1 p.m. discussion Thursday, Aug. 21, on the veterans issues at AmVets Post 33, 400 Warren St.
Korb, who taught at the University of Dayton years ago, clashed with Turner in July 2007 at a House Armed Services Committee, where Turner asked repeated questions about Korb’s credentials. Turner said he felt Korb’s testimony was partisan; Korb later said he felt attacked.
See the clip of the exchange embedded on this left-leaning blog:
TweetMcCain rally tickets available
Tickets for Republican John McCain’s Aug. 29 rally at the Nutter Center at Wright State University are available through county Republican parties in the Dayton area.
Here’s what we know so far.
Greene County
Tickets will be available starting at noon on Thursday, Aug. 21, at Greene County Republican headquarters in Beavercreek, according to the county party’s Web site.
The Greene County headquarters is at 3317 Sea Jay Drive in the Lofino Shopping Center.
Information required for tickets includes: name; address; home phone; cell phone and e-mail address, the Web site said.
Montgomery County
Tickets also are expected to be available Thursday, Aug. 21, through the Montgomery County GOP but details still are being worked out, said Greg Gantt, Montgomery County GOP chairman. For more information, call 1-937-461-1776 or click here.
Clark County
Tickets will be available on Monday, Aug.25, from noon to 6 p.m. at the Clark County Republican headquarters in Springfield, said Linda Smith, Clark GOP county chairwoman. The headquarters is at 120 N. LImestone St. in the Shawnee Place Apartments. Call Smith at 937-360-1455 with questions.
Butler County
Butler County GOP Chairman Tom Ellis is encouraging supporters to call the headquarters in Hamilton to get on a list for tickets. The number to call is 1-513-893-5292.
“We want them to call right away. Our list is growing as the hours go by,” said Ellis.
Butler County is likely to start distributing the tickets on Monday, Aug. 25, said Ellis.
The McCain rally is set for noon on Friday, Aug. 29, and it’s possible that McCain could announce his pick for VP at the event.
TweetUpdate: Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones in critical condition, not dead
Doctors are now saying that Jones, D-Cleveland, is in critical condition, with limited brain function. We’ll continue to post as we learn new details.
TweetNo info yet on tickets for local McCain event
We know Republican presidential candidate John McCain is coming to the Nutter Center on Friday, Aug. 29 for a major event. What we don’t know is how the public can attend.
In an earlier story in the Dayton Daily News, we know that the McCain campaign signed contract to Wright State University to rent the Nutter Center for an event at noon on Friday, according to Stephanie Gottschlich, a spokeswoman for the university.
Once we have ticket information, we will have it on DaytonDailyNews.com
TweetObama taps barber and beauty shops for outreach effort
There’s no place like a barber shop or beauty salon to catch up on what’s going on.
Now Democrat Barack Obama wants to use the shops and salons to get out the vote - for him, of course.
His presidential campaign announced on Wednesday, Aug. 20, that 250 shops and salons across Ohio are participating in a plan to use them as organizing outposts to distribute campaign literature, voter registration forms and signs.
Rich’s Distinguished Cuts, 2343 Catalpa Drive, in Dayton is participating.
Owner Rich Kidd said that he was impressed with Obama’s rise from humble beginnings.
“It shows me the American dream is still alive,” said Kidd. “…It shows me everyday, ordinary people can do extraordinary things as displayed within this campaign.”
TweetAFL-CIO makes politics an Olympic sport
The AFL-CIO is trying to use the Olympic games in China to bash Republican John McCain.
The labor federation announced on Wednesday, Aug. 20, that it’s sending mailers to the households of 50,000 union swing voters in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania highlighting what it calls “McCain’s unwavering support of unfair trade with China.
“America’s athletes are coming home. But thanks to John McCain, 2.3 million American jobs aren’t,” the mailer says,
TweetVoters favor drilling for oil offshore
Likely voters across the country are increasingly worried about gas prices and by a whopping 62-32 percent margin favor drilling for oil in currently protected offshore areas.
In the Quinnipiac University national poll released on Wednesday, Aug. 20, support for drilling offshore transcended party lines. Republicans backed it 82-12 percent while Democrats were for it, 50-43 percent and independents supported it 60-36 percent.
The economy, at 44 percent, was the issue most frequently mentioned as the most important problem facing country but 10 percent said it was th energy crisis or gas prices - the highest ranking for energy cost in seven years of national polls.
By a narrow 37-32 percent margin, voters said Democrat Barack Obama has a better plan than Republican John McCain for handling the energy crisis and making American less dependent on foreign oil.
For full poll results, click here.
TweetTubbs Jones hospitalized
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Cleveland Democrat and close friend of Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin, has been hospitalized, is reporting.
The Politico report, taken from a Cleveland TV station, reports that police found her unconscious behind the wheel of a moving car. Police tried to pull her over at 9 p.m. Tuesday but got no response. They finally managed to get the car stopped in a field.
Tubbs Jones’ condition has “stablized,” but little information was available.
TweetMore letters between DHL chief, McCain
Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, who urged Frank Appel, chairman of Deutsche Post World Net, the parent company of DHL, to meet with DHL employees, got a response, Monday, Aug. 18
“I am very aware that the plan will have significant impact on the people working at the air hub,” Appel wrote, referring to a proposal that would allow UPS to take on DHL’s domestic air freight -Â a possibility that could cost upwards of 8,000 jobs. “However, there is no alternative to taking this drastic measure.”
Appel said he’s talked with Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and U.S. Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr., but did not mention any plan to meet with DHL workers as McCain and Turner had urged.
He also said DHL has committed to fund a triple-digit million-dollar amount on planned severance, retention and health benefits for ABX, ASTAR, and DHL employees. DHL Express U.S., he said, currently loses $1.3 billion annually. “The DHL family and I personally deeply regret that this unavoidable and irreversible decision will cause severe hardships to many families in Wilmington and Ohio,” he wrote.
McCain promptly wrote back Tuesday, Aug. 19, reiterating that he wanted Appel to visit Wilmington.
“It is very important that you hear first-hand the concerns of the local stakeholders in this matter before any final decisions are made,” he wrote, adding that “thousands of citizens stand to be severely impacted by your decision and as such, I again urge you to schedule a forum before any contractual agreement is executed and allow local community members to share with you directly their concerns.”
TweetClean energy rally today
MoveOn.org will deliver a report to the local presidential campaign headquarters of Sen. John McCain and hold a rally at Dave Hall Plaza in downtown Dayton at 5 p.m. today, Aug. 19.
The report by the Center for American Progress looks at tax breaks and subsidies the organization says McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, wants to give to oil companies.
The event is one of 130 Rallies for Clean Energy that the group is holding around the country.
TweetTo Veep or Not to Veep: Portman will be at Nutter Center either way
Regardless of whether former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman is Sen. John McCain’s vice-presidential pick, he will be at next Friday’s McCain rally at the Nutter Center at Wright State University, according to Rob Lehman, a longtime Portman aide.
Lehman also said that Portman will be at the Republican National Convention in two weeks in Minneapolis. But he would not discuss whether or if Portman is in talks with McCain about being the vice-presidential nominee.
Portman, of Terrace Park, is a former U.S. trade representative and former director of the Office of Management and Budget. He also served Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District from 1993 to 2005. He’s also been repeatedly mentioned as a possible vice-presidential contender.
TweetNo more ‘sleepovers’ allowed
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner issued a directive on Tuesday, Aug. 19, that will end the practice of allowing poll workers to take voting machines home overnight in the days leading up to the election.
Yes, that’s right: poll workers in 20 counties had been taking voting machines home — a practice quaintly referred to in the past as “sleepovers.”
Brunner said it just didn’t fit with the goal of promoting confidence in the election.
The secretary of state offered federal funds to county boards of elections to help pay for secure storage and transportation of the machines in the days leading up to the Nov. 4 election. Brunner’s office budgeted $100,000 for the effort.
Brunner also set minimum storage requirements for the machines including temperatures between 50 and 90 degrees, relative humidity between 35 percent and 85 percent, and no drinks or leaky roofs nearby.
TweetOpponents say sick day proposal would cost 75,000 jobs
Opponents of a paid sick day ballot proposal have released a study that finds the plan would result in the loss of an estimated 75,000 Ohio jobs over five years.
The study, released on Tuesday, Aug. 19, also found that it would cost employers about $1.17 billion annually to pay for the plan. In addition, Ohio companies would lose $9.4 billion in sales from 2008-2012 as the result of the sick day requirement, the study found.
The ballot proposal would require businesses with 25 employees or more to give full-time workers at least seven paid sick days each year.
Dale Butland, a spokesman for the ballot proposal, sharply criticized the report.
The study was released at a Statehouse press conference by the Ohio chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business. Click here to see the full study.
It was prepared by Bruce Phillips of the NFIB Research Foundation.
Butland said the study was not independent and that some of the conclusions “appear ridiculous on their face.” They are contradicted by independent studies that conclude paid sick days would save employers money, Butland said.
Meanwhile, Gov. Ted Strickland is continuing to try to find a compromise to keep the issue of the Nov. 4 ballot.
However, Roger Geiger, vice president and executive director of the Ohio NFIB, said Strickland was talking only with “elitist” businesses. Geiger said he expects the issue to be on the ballot.
TweetWright State will get Hobson’s papers
Rep. David Hobson, R-Springfield, is spending part of this month sorting through his papers with the plans of giving them to Wright State University after he retires at the end of this year.
Both Wright State and Ohio State expressed interest in keeping his papers, but Wright State got the edge because it teaches a course in archiving, Hobson said.
“Wright State has Tony Hall’s papers and the Wright Brothers’ papers…so I thought it would make a nice gift,” he said.
TweetMcCain can blow out 72 candles at Nutter Center
If John McCain comes to the Nutter Center at Wright State University for a big rally on Aug. 29 - and it seems almost certain that he will - somebody should bring a birthday cake with 72 candles.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee turns 72 that day. The birthday party- rally could turn into an announcement party for a vice presidential candidate but McCain campaign aides wont’ even confirm that the rally is scheduled, let alone comment on VP possibilities.
Rob Portman, the former Cincinnati-area congressman and former U.S. budget director, is among those being considered for the number two spot on the McCain ticket.
TweetNew poll: McCain better qualified to deal with Russia
By a 2-1 margin, likely voters across the country believe Republican John McCain is better qualified to deal with Russia than Democrat Barack Obama.
In a Quinnipiac University poll released on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 55 percent said McCain was better qualified to deal with Russia, while 27 percent gave the nod to Obama.
Overall, Obama leads McCain 47-42 percent nationally in the poll, compared to the 50-41 percent lead that Obama had in a July 15 Quinnipiac poll.
“In dealing with Russia, even a large minority of Democrats think McCain would do better than Obama,” Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release.
A Public Policy Polling poll released on Sunday, Aug. 17, showed McCain and Obama deadlocked at 45-45 percent in the presidential race in Ohio.
For full Quinnipiac poll results, click here.
TweetPoll: Voinovich has 30 percent approval record
Public Policy Polling, the outfit that found Republican Sen. John McCain pulling even with Democrat Barack Obama in a poll released Sunday, August 17, also found this: Republican senior Sen. George Voinovich has a 30 percent approval rating with Ohio voters.
Thirty-eight percent of voters disapproved of Voinovich’s performance, and 11 percent were undecided.
The poll matched him up with Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Cleveland Mayor Frank Johnson, and the results are mixed for Voinovich: He trails Fisher 40-38, but leads Jackson 42-32.
Good news for Voinovich, though: He isn’t up for re-election until 2010.
The telephone poll was taken between Aug. 12 and Aug. 14, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent.
TweetMcCain considers major Dayton rally
Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign has tentative plans for a major rally in Dayton on Friday, Aug. 29, Greg Gantt, Montgomery County Republican chairman, said on Monday, Aug. 18.
The Nutter Center at Wright State University is expected to be the rally site, said Gantt. No starting time has been set but noon has been talked about, he said.
Asked if the rally could be about a vice presidential running mate for McCain, Gantt said: “I’m thinking how cool that would be.”
Rob Portman, the former U.S. House member and federal budget director, is among those mentioned as a possible running mate for McCain.
The rally would give McCain an opportunity to squash any positive bounce that Barack Obama gets from the Democratic National Convention in Denver which ends on Thursday, Aug.28.
It also would help rally GOP troops in Ohio as McCain heads to St. Paul- Minneapolis for the start of the Republican National Convention on Monday, Sept. 1.
Paul Lindsay, McCain’s Ohio campaign spokesman, declined comment.
TweetMcCain pulls even with Obama in Ohio
Republican John McCain has pulled even with Democrat Barack Obama in Ohio after trailing Obama in June and July polls.
Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, N.C., released a poll on Sunday, Aug. 17, that showed McCain and Obama deadlocked. 45-45 percent, with 10 percent undecided. For full poll results, click here.
In July poll, Obama led 48-40 percent and in a June poll the Democrat was ahead, 50-39 percent.
Party unity appears to be an issue for Obama in Ohio. The 25 percent of the Democrats who either support McCain or are undecided are disproportinately white, middle-aged and female - representative of the voters who backed Hillary Clinton in Ohio’s Democratic primary
“Ohio is one state, along with Pennsylvania and Michigan, where Barack Obama owuld probably be well served by some joint appearances with the Clintons,” Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said in a press release.
“Democrats have a party ID advantage in Ohio but that won’t do much for them unless the voters in their party actually vote for their nominee.”
The poll surveyed 950 likely voters from Tuesday, Aug. 12, to Thursday, Aug. 14, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
TweetGlenn gives his thumbs-up to Obama’s space agenda
Former Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, spent part of his Sunday afternoon stumping for Sen. Barack Obama’s space agenda. On a conference call with reporters, Glenn backed Obama’s plans for NASA, saying Obama’s plans represent a reversal from funding cuts during the Bush administration.
“I’m looking forward to working very closely with Barack Obama after he’s president,” said Glenn, adding he hopes that Obama adds more than the one shuttle flight per year he’s committed to in his space plan.
If elected, Obama said he would: - Re-enact the National Aeronautics and Space Council to oversee and coordinate the civilian, commercial and military space programs and report to the president. - Go to the moon by 2020 as a precursor to going to Mars. - Add another shuttle flight to help accelerate the development of the next generation space vehicle. - Complete and enhance the International Space Station so it can host the innovative scientific and technological research projects it was intended to facilitate. - Emphasize NASA research to study climate change and advance aeronautics research. - Expand public/private partnerships to develop new technolgoy - Expanded education.
Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth when he piloted the Friendship 7 around the earth in 1962. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1974 to 1997.
TweetEye on Ohio: “Punch” ad for Obama
The ad: “Punch,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Barack Obama campaign.
Where to see it: It’s airing on Ohio TV stations.
Script (Chris Fisher): “If DHL — if something happens — it’s going to be like a ghost town.”
(Ed Rutherford): “I thought I was doing a good job providing for my family. And to have that taken away….”
(Male announcer): “In Washington, John McCain helped pave the way for foreign-owned DHL to take over an American shipping company. McCain’s campaign manager was lead lobbyist for the deal. Now, thousands of Ohio jobs at risk.”
(Rutherford): “It’s tough times. When it’s a foreign entity, coming in and sucker punching us. That’s how this felt.”
(Obama): “I’m Barack Obama and I approved this message.”
Video:The commercial opens with interviews with Wilmington-area workers whose jobs depend on the DHL hub. McCain is shown getting off a plane. A headline from the Los Angeles Times flashes: “DHL Deal Gone Sour Haunts McCain in Ohio.” Obama is shown speaking to a crowd.
Analysis: It’s possible for every fact in a political ad to be true, but the sum total to be misleading. Such is the case here. • True: Sen. McCain did help kill a Senate amendment that would have discouraged the German-owned DHL from taking over Airborne Express. • True: DHL paid McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, $185,000 to lobby against that amendment, according to lobbyist disclosure reports. • True: In May, DHL announced it would contract with UPS to fly its packages, which would result in the loss of 8,200 Ohio jobs at DHL’s Wilmington hub. Now, connect the dots: 8,200 jobs may be lost because of McCain. It’s impossible to know whether the Ohio jobs would be more secure under an American-owned DHL. The same foreign owners made significant investments — and added 1,000 jobs — in Wilmington after buying Airborne Express. And it’s not like the lost jobs are going overseas: Unlike manufacturing, the delivery of packages in the United States is a service that can’t be outsourced. In fact, UPS has said that the DHL deal will result in an unspecified number of additional UPS jobs in Louisville. Factcheck.org, an independent political truth squad at the independent Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, said the ad “paints a false picture.” Still, it’s a powerful argument for those who are likely to be out of work. Ed Rutherford, 47, of Morrow, is a pilot for ASTAR Air Cargo Holdings, an American-owned DHL contractor. An Obama supporter who considers himself a political independent, he said he believes his job would be safe if DHL were an American-owned company. “What I would like to get across is that McCain did come up to Wilmington and had a private meeting with some business leaders and other people to see what he could do to save our jobs. I certainly appreciate his current efforts to do what he can,” he said. His appearance in the Obama commercial was “not really an anti-McCain statement, but just to say that this is a tough time for a lot of us here,” Rutherford said. Twice in the ad, Rutherford fought tears. “He was surprised that he choked up,” Mary, his wife, said. “But that was real.”
Gregory Korte is a reporter at the Cincinnati Enquirer. Email: gkorte@enquirer.com.
TweetEye on Ohio: “Taxman” ad for McCain
The ad: “Taxman,” 30 seconds.
Producer: McCain campaign.
Where to see it: It recently began airing in battleground states, including Ohio.
Script Narrator: “Celebrity? Yes. Ready to lead? No.
“Obama’s new taxes could break your family budget. The press warns the ‘taxman cometh.’ Obama’s taxes mean ‘higher prices at the pump.’ Obama’s taxes a ‘recipe for economic disaster.’
“Higher taxes. Higher gas prices. Economic disaster.
“That’s the real Obama.”
McCain: “I’m John McCain, and I approved this message.”
Video: The ad opens with footage of Obama before a huge crowd and camera flashes while people chant his name. It cuts to video of a family with two young children and a stack of bills on the table, a worried-looking white couple standing at a window, and a young couple. Each scene has ominous quotes from newspaper editorials along the bottom of the screen. Then it goes to a smiling Obama and flashes, “Higher Taxes,” “Higher Gas Prices,” “Economic Disaster.” It ends with a photo of McCain, with softer lighting and music.
Analysis: Once again, the McCain campaign is branding Obama as a celebrity and a tax-hiker. Viewers are hit over the head with the suggestion that Obama lacks substance and that he is dangerous. The narrator warns that Obama’s new taxes could break your family budget, but leaves out the part that the families most likely to see tax increases under Obama would be making more than $250,000 a year. In fact, Obama and McCain offer starkly different approaches to tax policy. Obama has proposed extending the Bush tax cuts for all but the wealthiest Americans, and he wants to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, expand the child-care tax credit and eliminate taxes for senior citizens making less than $50,000. McCain’s tax policy calls for cutting taxes for all income groups, extending the Bush tax breaks for everyone, including the wealthy, and chopping corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 25 percent. After the “Taxman” ad was unveiled, the Obama campaign responded that Obama will cut taxes for the middle-class, while McCain will give new tax breaks to big business.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter in the Columbus Bureau of the Dayton Daily News. Her e-mail address is lbischoff@DaytonDailyNews.com.
TweetThe name’s spelled J-E-R-R-Y
If all you know about Jerry Springer is his tawdry television show, you might think it a little peculiar that a serious candidate for Congress would invite him to become the face of her campaign.
That’s in essence what Democrat Jane Mitakides did this week when Springer showed up at her Washington Twp. home for a fund raiser in her effort to unseat Republican Rep. Mike Turner in the 3rd Congressional District.
The tabloid talk show host had barely crossed the threshold when Laura Bischoff of the DDN asked the most pertinent question of the evening: Does your presence, in balance, help or hurt? You can listen to his answer on Laura’s podcast. Scroll down the podcast directory and you’ll also come across the Republican Party’s predictable (but still funny) rejoinder.
I first met Springer four years ago at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. He was not the whack job I thought he would be. Just the opposite. He comes across as sincere, intelligent, articulate, informed and passionate about issues near and dear to Democrats. The top of his list during his talk at Mitakides’ house: health care reform and education.
Spend a few minutes with Springer and it’s easy to see how he became mayor of Cincinnati, and you can’t help but wonder what might have been if he’d stayed in politics.
But, he says, he never left. “Every single week, unless I’m out of the country, I do something political.” Mostly that involves barnstorming, writing checks and helping Democrats raise money.
“I happen to be an American citizen. I take that very seriously having been an immigrant. Trust me I’m not in politics to make money. This isn’t going to make me famous. I’m as serious as I can be as a human being. I love this country and every day that I’m breathing I take citizenship really very seriously.”
As for the Turner campaign’s statement that it was “pitiful” that Mitakides brought him to Dayton, Springer replied:
“He should be debating her. If he wants to come on ‘America’s Got Talent’ and debate me, that’s fine.”
Funny stuff, but the question lingers: Is inviting Springer into the campaign a plus or a minus for Mitakides?
The standard used to be that it didn’t matter as long as you spelled the name right.
With a name like Mitakides, and with her need to build name recognition, that might still hold true.
Jeff Bruce is the Journalist in Residence at Wright State University. You may email him at jeffbruce@aol.com. For more election news, go to the Dayton Daily News home page, click on News, then Politics.
TweetFormer U.S. Rep. Bob Ney released from federal custody
You never know who you’ll see at the corner of Broad and High streets right in the middle of downtown Columbus.
About 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15, I saw and talked with former Ohio Congressman and now ex-con Bob Ney, who was released earlier in the day from a federal halfway house in Cincinnati after serving 17 months of a 2 1/2-year sentence in connection with trading his influence for golf trips, donations and other gifts from once-powerful lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Republican Ney told me he lost weight in prison and had given up drinking and smoking. He talked affectionately about a new grandchild. He also said he had a job with Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News Service.
TweetEye On Ohio: Obama’s ‘Book’ ad
By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The ad: “Book,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Barack Obama campaign.
Where to see it: It’s airing in 16 states, including Ohio. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Obama: “I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message.” Male announcer: ” ‘Economics,’ by John McCain: Support George Bush 95 percent of the time. Keep spending $10 billion a month for the war in Iraq, while the Iraqis sell oil for record prices, giving Iraq a $79 billion oil surplus and hurting our economy. “Barack Obama’s plan: End the war responsibly; better schools; no more tax breaks for oil companies. Barack Obama: the middle-class first.”
Video: The “book” conceit builds the ad around a concocted economics textbook — “authored” by McCain and with, according to a badge on the cover, “forward by George W. Bush.” Five “chapters” illustrate McCain and Bush together, troops in Iraq, oil drilling and closed factories. In typical comparison-ad fashion, the black-and-white negatives turn to color after 20 seconds, as the narrator switches to Obama’s platform.
Analysis: Two staples of this campaign are (1) the war in Iraq, and (2) the economy, especially gas prices. Obama’s ad attempts to connect those dots through a Government Accountability Office report released last week. The GAO said Iraq will earn $67 billion to $79 billion in oil profits this year — mostly because of a global increase in oil prices. (The Obama campaign, of course, picked the higher number.)
“This substantial increase in revenues offers the Iraqi government the potential to better finance its own security and economic needs,” the GAO concluded.
Was the report partisan spin? Nope. Two senators — a Democrat and a Republican — requested it from the nonpartisan congressional watchdog agency. And the Bush administration’s own Treasury Department says the report “presents a credible picture of Iraq’s cumulative budget surpluses.”
The ad’s implication, however, is that Iraq should be in a position to finance its own reconstruction — without U.S. help. And that’s where there’s disagreement.
The report could be used as an argument for continued U.S. military involvement in Iraq. It noted that “violence and sectarian strife remain major obstacles” to rebuilding.
“The high level of violence contributes to a decrease in the number of workers available, can increase the amount of time needed to plan and complete capital projects, and hinders U.S. advisers’ ability to provide the ministries with assistance and monitor capital project performance,” the report said.
Which view does McCain take? He has yet to explain how the GAO report applies to his positions on Iraq and energy. Instead, his campaign released a rebuttal of the ad that focused instead on McCain’s opposition to (and Obama’s support of) the 2005 energy bill that gave tax breaks to oil companies.
Gregory Korte is a reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail: gkorte@enquirer.com.
TweetDHL hearing set
The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure announced the date for a hearing on a proposal that would allow UPS to take on DHL’s domestic air freight. The proposal could cost the region more than 8,000 jobs.
The hearing, according to the committee, is set for 2 p.m. Sept. 16.
TweetMcCain backers to chat with Cindy McCain tonight
John McCain backers from around the state will participate in a grassroots “McCain Nation” organizing session tonight, Thursday, Aug. 14, part of a national effort to galvanize McCain supporters from around the nation to recruit volunteers, organize grassroots activities, make voter contact phone calls and register new voters.
Thursday night’s events will feature McCain’s wife, Cindy McCain and a McCain senior adviser participating in a conference call at the Ohio events.
Locally, three events are scheduled: One will be held at the Golden Lamb Restaurant in Lebanon, at 27 S. Broadway; One will be at the Dayton Bicycle Club, 131 West 3rd Street., and one will be in Xenia, at the Greene County Fairgrounds Assembly Hall, 120 Fairground Road. Depending on the location, the sessions will begin at 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m., but the conference call with Cindy McCain will begin at 7:40 p.m.
TweetWho should Obama pick for his VP?
Barack Obama’s expected to name his vice presidential running mate after he ends his Hawaiian vacation and before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Monday, Aug. 25.
Will Obama try to unify the party by picking Sen. Hillary Clinton? Or will he tap Sen. Joe Biden for his foreign policy expertise? Or could it be Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine to give Democrats a chance to win a southern state?
Here’s your chance to give Obama some advice. If you’re candidate isn’t on the list, pick “other” and write in his or her name. Add a comment on why your pick is best.
We’ll try to provide an opportunity to give Republican John McCain the same kind of advice before the Republican National Convention.
TweetMcCain fires off letters after Wilmington visit
Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who visited Wilmington last week to meet with workers affected by a DHL proposal that could cost the region more than 8,000 jobs, spent this week sending letters on the issue.
The first, co-signed by U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, urged Frank Appel, chairman and CEO of Deutsche Post to visit Wilmington.
“While we are in no way passing judgment on the merits of the proposal, we do urge you to visit Wilmington, Ohio, in the very near future and take the opportunity to hear first-hand the many important issues of concern to the affected community.”
McCain also fired off a missive to Sens. Herbert Kohl, D-Wisc., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the respective chairman and ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antirtust subcommittee, urging them to hold an antitrust subcommittee hearing on the proposal. Both men had earlier written the Justice Department expressing concerns about the deal, which would allow UPS to take over DHL’s domestic air cargo.
“While I am in no way passing judgment on the legal merits of the proposed transaction, I do support your call for the agreement to be subject to a thorough federal antitrust review by the Department of Justice,” he wrote.
Both letters are dated Aug. 12.
Obama’s spokesmen said McCain’s letter isn’t good enough.
“Ohio workers desperately need a president who will stand up for them - not just pay lip service when the TV cameras are rolling,” said Obama spokesman Isaac Baker. “Unfortunately, John McCain is saying one thing to Ohio families and something else to DHL. It’s hard to imagine he will be very effective in stopping the DHL deal if he’s not even willing to say the deal is bad for Ohio. Sen. Obama has been very clear: this deal is wrong for workers, wrong for consumers, and wrong for America.”
And here’s McCain spokesman Paul Lindsay firing back:
“If Barack Obama is determined to continue exploiting impending job losses for his own political gain, that is his choice,” he said. “John McCain does not believe this is a partisan issue, and he will continue to do everything in his power to help the residents of Wilmington.”
TweetPayday lenders pay big bucks for TV ads
Wanna know why it seems that every time you turn on the TV you see either swimmer Michael Phelps or that farmer guy in the payday lending commercial?
Well, Phelps is the newly crowned “Greatest Olympian Ever.” The payday lending industry, though, is shelling out nearly $100,000 a day to get their commercial on the airwaves in Ohio. They’re pushing to get 241,365 signatures from voters by Aug. 31 to block one of the toughest anti-payday lending laws in the nation from taking effect.
The Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending, which lobbied for the new law, said the pay lending industry’s campaign committee spent $382,127 on TV ads in Ohio between Aug. 8 and Aug. 12. “That’s nearly $100,000 a day pushing a toxic loan product under the guise of personal financial freedom,” coalition spokeswoman Suzanne Gravette Acker said.
The coalition alleged this week that the payday lenders are using misinformation and illegal tactics to trick people into signing the petition, including telling Ohioans that it will lower the interest rates on payday loans. The law slashes permitted annual interest rates to 28 percent, down from 391 percent.
The payday lenders said if their petition circulators are misbehaving, they want to know about it so they can take action.
Anyone who signed the petition but wishes to remove their names can call John Campbell at 614-477-5042 or e-mail him at campayneteam@gmail.com. Campbell represents the payday lenders.
The coalition is urging people to ask for proof that their names were removed from the petition.
TweetPoll: Cordray holds lead in AG race; Strickland has high approval
Democrat Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray holds a 44 to 26 percent lead over Republican Mike Crites in the race for Ohio Attorney General - but that’s with three-fourths of voters polled declaring they don’t know much about either candidate, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday, Aug. 22.
“Neither State Treasurer Richard Cordray nor former U.S. Attorney Mike Crites are well-known to Ohio voters at this point, although both are seen very positively by the minority who know them,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Cordray is ahead because he is slightly better known from being elected statewide previously and because being a Democrat is a plus this year.”
Nineteen percent of Ohioans viewed Cordray favorably, while 4 percent view him unfavorably, according to the poll.
Crites, meanwhile, is viewed favorably by 11 percent of Ohioans and unfavorably by 3 percent.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, meanwhile, also enjoyed favorable ratings in the poll, with a 60 percent approval rating, up from 55 percent June 4. Twenty-five percent viewed him unfavorably in the poll released Wednesday.
The General Assembly, meanwhile, did not fare as well - they had a 42 to 41 percent approval rating.
Elsewhere, 69 percent of Ohio voters support a ballot proposal to require companies with 25 or more employees to offer seven paid sick days a year, with 27 percent not supporting that proposal.
The same voters who said 59 percent to 32 percent that Ohio’s economy has been hurt by too much government regulation do not apparently believe that about this proposal. Fifty-eight percent said they didn’t think passage of the proposal would encourage companies to leave Ohio.
The poll was taken from Aug. 5 through Aug. 11. It has a plus or minus 2.7 percentage point margin of error.
TweetVoinovich writes German Chancellor Merkel about DHL
Sen. George Voinovich is applying a little diplomatic pressure on the DHL situation.
Voinovich, along with fellow members of the Ohio congressional delegation, Wednesday, Aug. 13, sent a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel complaining about a proposal by DHL to abandon its Wilmington air hub and allow UPS to handle its domestic shipping.
The letter after the jump:
August 13, 2008
Her Excellency Dr. Angela Merkel Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Willy-Brandt-Straße 1 10557 Berlin Germany
Chancellor Merkel:
We are writing to bring a very serious situation involving Deutsche Post World Net and its U.S. subsidiary DHL Express U.S. (collectively “DHL”) to your attention. On May 28, DHL announced it intended to cease its business relationship with ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo. Instead, DHL announced it intends to enter into a 10-year agreement with United Parcel Service, Inc. (“UPS”) for air transportation services, which if consummated, will result in DHL abandoning a hub in Wilmington, Ohio, resulting in the loss of over 8000 direct jobs and tens of thousands of indirect jobs.
DHL’s announcement to partner with UPS is problematic for a number of reasons. First, we believe the contemplated business relationship between DHL and UPS raises significant and troubling competition issues. Indeed, we find it very troubling as to why a company in a concentrated market would turn to one of its chief competitors to find cost savings. As a consequence, we are deeply concerned about the potential for anticompetitive conduct to occur, and we have raised these issues with both U.S. and EU competition authorities.
Second, we are concerned that DHL’s decision to abandon the Wilmington facility and the surrounding communities will have consequences in the United States beyond the immediate devastating impact to the Wilmington area. Americans are starting to rethink their views on the benefits of global investment and the interconnected global economic system. If DHL’s actions towards Wilmington are indicative, continued erosion in public support for international investment and the global economy is the likely result.
You should note that during meetings with government officials, DHL’s senior management indicated that the state of Ohio, the Wilmington-area workers, ABX Air, and ASTAR Air Cargo were all high-quality partners in the operation of the Wilmington facility. The stakeholder commitment to DHL also entailed a significant financial component. The state of Ohio, city of Wilmington, and Clinton County have invested over $400 million into the Wilmington area in support of this hub. In spite of all of the substantial stakeholder commitments to DHL, the company plans to abandon Ohio without giving the stakeholders the opportunity to work as trusted partners to help DHL to succeed.
Moreover, DHL’s treatment of the stakeholders in recent months can be described as nothing less than appalling considering the long and friendly relationship between our two nations and the businesses that operate in both countries. For example, in what can charitably be described as a major error in protocol, DHL made its announcement about the Wilmington facility while it was hosting the Mayor of Wilmington in Germany. When it made this announcement, DHL gave no advanced notice to Wilmington’s Mayor or other Ohio political and business leaders.
We raise this issue with you not only out of concern for the Ohio workers that will be impacted by this decision, but also because we are concerned that such dismissive treatment by such a significant German company will not be easily forgotten in the United States. The situation and DHL’s indifference could easily undermine U.S. views on matters such as completing the next stage of the Open Skies, how foreign investment into the United States is viewed, and general U.S.-German trade relations. The attention the DHL proposal has drawn from both Presidential campaigns serves to confirm the urgency of this situation.
We understand that there is some surprise about the opposition to this transaction. Our reaction should not come as a surprise. In fact, we understand a similar situation arose in Germany related to the closing of a mobile phone manufacturing facility and the loss of German jobs, and the reaction was equally as strong. At a minimum, in the worst-case scenario, we believe DHL has a social obligation to provide substantial assistance with regard to severance packages, health care coverage, and the redevelopment of the Wilmington facility. DHL owns the Wilmington air facility, and we believe it entirely appropriate for DHL to return the airport to the community, provide the requisite assistance for the city to redevelop this important asset, and allow the community to mitigate this devastating loss should DHL decide not to reconsider its decision.
As a result of the concerns we describe above, we believe it is important that you are aware of this situation. We hope that DHL will reconsider this decision and work with its American partners. We would appreciate your bringing to DHL’s attention the international aspect of the decision and would be more than happy to work with your designee if you believe it would be helpful.
Sincerely,
George V. Voinovich
Sherrod Brown
John Boehner
David Hobson
Jean Schmidt
Tim Ryan
Betty Sutton
Zack Space
Patrick J. Tiberi
Charlie Wilson
Jim Jordan
Steve Chabot
Michael Turner
Robert E. Latta
cc: Ambassador Klaus Scharioth Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr.
TweetMcCain likes “Dancing Queen” while Obama is “Ready or Not”
Blender magazine has the musical scoop - the top 10 songs of Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.
Musically, the only thing the two presidential candidates have in common is Frank Sinatra, although each prefers a different Sinatra song.
Here are the lists:
McCain
“Dancing Queen” ABBA
“Blue Bayou” Roy Orbison
“Take a Chance on Me” ABBA
“If We Make It Through December” Merle Haggard
“As Time Goes By” Dooley Wilson
“Good Vibrations” Beach Boys
“What a Wonderful World” Louis Armstrong
“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” Frank Sinatra
“Sweet Caroline” Neil Diamond
“Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” The Platters
Obama
“Ready or Not” Fugees
“What’s Going On” Marvin Gaye
“I’m On Fire” Bruce Springsteen
“Gimme Shelter” Rolling Stones
“Sinnerman” Nina Simone
“Touch the Sky” Kanye West
“You’d Be So Easy to Love” Frank Sinatra
“Think” Aretha Franklin
“City of Blinding Lights” U2
“Yes We Can” will.i.am
TweetDem “Register for Change” buses rolling into Ohio
Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean and the Democrats’ “Register for Change” bus tour is rolling into Ohio.
The voters registration effort is scheduled to be in Cincinnati on Wednesday, Aug. 13 and in Columbus and the Cleveland area on Thursday, Aug. 14.
Here’s the schedule:
Wednesday in Cincinnati Time: 5:15 p.m. Place: Laborers International Union Hall, 3457 Montgomery Rd. Actor/producer Kal Penn will join Dean.
Thursday in Columbus Time: 8:30 a.m. Place: Columbus State Community College, 550 E. Spring St. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Ohio House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty and actor/producer Kal Penn will join Dean.
Thursday in Cleveland Time: 2 p.m. Place: Campaign for Change office, 13100 Shaker Boulevard, Shaker Heights Actor/producer Kal Penn will join Dean.
TweetStrickland to speak on economy at Dem convention
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said he’ll discuss the economy when he speaks to the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has asked him to speak but Strickland said on Tuesday, Aug. 12, that he doubted that his speech would be in prime time. Sen. Hillary Clinton, whom Strickland supported in the Democratic primaries, is scheduled to give the main speech on that Tuesday.
Strickland and Obama campaign staffers participated in a conference call to outline Obama’s grassroots strategy in Ohio, including staffing 43 field offices. Some of the offices will be in Republican strongholds such as Troy in Miami County and Middletown in Butler County. Even if Democrats don’t win those counties, they can do better than John Kerry and other past Democratic candidates did, said Strickland.
“I have never seen a presidential campaign in Ohio come anywhere close to where this campaign is organizationally and in terms of having actual man and woman power in the field…,” Strickland said.
Republican John McCain’s campaign, however, isn’t impressed.
“Barack Obama’s uphill battle among rural voters started with his 83 county loss during the primary, and it has only grown steeper with his support for higher taxes and his failure to provide solutions to our energy crisis,” McCain campaign spokesman Paul Lindsay said in an e-mail.
“John McCain knows how important Ohio is in this election, which is why he will continue traveling throughout the state to discuss his plans to create jobs and provide relief at the pump.”
TweetEye on Ohio: “Embrace” ad for Obama
The ad: “Embrace,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Obama campaign.
Where to see it: It begins airing today on national cable stations.
Script (male announcer): “For decades, he’s been Washington’s biggest celebrity. John McCain.
“And as Washington embraced him, John McCain hugged right back. The lobbyists — running his low-road campaign. The money — billions in tax breaks for oil and drug companies, but almost nothing for families like yours. Lurching to the right, then the left, the old Washington dance, whatever it takes.
“John McCain. A Washington celebrity playing the same old Washington game.”
Video: There are lots of shots of McCain with President George W. Bush. They hug, affectionately butt heads, and Bush even kisses McCain on the head. There’s also video of McCain with Letterman, Leno and on “The View” and “Saturday Night Live.” McCain is shown with lobbyists — at least that’s how the Obama campaign identifies them — and aides and in front of an oil rig.
Analysis: This is an Obama-strikes-back ad. You called me a celebrity? I’ll call you one. Take that.
In his earlier ad, McCain used video of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears to cast Obama as a well-spoken, but unprepared, empty suit. The Obama ad wants people to know that McCain has had his own fling as the media’s favorite politician, although it’s a stretch to say that McCain’s been “Washington’s favorite celebrity” for decades.
But that’s not the real point the ad is trying to make.
The goal is to drill home the message that McCain and the very unpopular President Bush are head-butting, kissing cousins, politically speaking, and that electing McCain would be the same as giving Bush and the fat-cat oil and drug companies four more years.
This is a problem for McCain, a direct assault on his self-proclaimed reputation as a Washington maverick, beholden to no one but the voters and, as McCain puts it, “the country we love.”
The ad might try to do too much. Bush is unpopular, so it makes sense to try to link McCain with him. But Letterman, Leno, “Saturday Night Live” and “The View” aren’t exactly on the same celebrity low road as Britney and Paris.
William Hershey is Columbus bureau chief for the Dayton Daily News. E-mail: whershey@daytondailynews.com.
TweetConservative think tank wants to let the sunshine in
The Buckeye Institute, the Columbus-based conservative think tank, wants to let the sunshine in on state and local governments.
On Monday, Aug. 11, the group announced a new Web site, OhioSunshine.org.
The goal is to fill it with state and local government budgets, public employee contracts, public records policies and related information. It’s a “wiki” Web site which means its available to anybody who wants to post information on it.
“We like to say that there are 11 million pairs of eyes to ensure good government in Ohio,” said Mike Maurer, head of the Buckeye Institute’s Center for Transparent and Accountable Government.
TweetAFL-CIO joins McCain bashing over DHL
The AFL-CIO has joined in bashing Republican John McCain for lobbying work that McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis did for DHL.
The labor federation announced on Monday, Aug. 11, that it’s sending mailers to more than 100,000 “union swing voters” asserting that McCain “turned his back on Ohio.”
According to reports, Davis - and McCain - helped German-owned DHL secure the 2003 deal that allowed DHL to acquire Airborne Express. Now DHL is trying to turn its air freight business over to UPS which would mean the loss of 8,000 jobs in Wilmington. McCain and Davis should do more to try to stop this, critics have charged.
The AFL-CIO also has launched an e-mail campaign calling on members and labor activists to contact McCain’s Ohio campaign and ask McCain to fire Davis.
Republicans say that Democrats and their allies are trying to politicize the DHL issue and instead should join forces with McCain to try to help the community.
Tweet“Barns for Obama” campaign starts
Barack Obama may come across as a city slicker but he wants Ohio voters to know that he can be a down on the farm guy.
That’s the message of “Barns for Obama,” the Democrat’s effort to reach out to rural Ohio voters.
The campaign will reach out to rural Ohioans statewide to encourage voters to paint their barns with the Obama logo .
It includes a video of a barn painting in northern Trumbull County in northeastern Ohio that promotes the Obama campaign.
Here’s the video:
TweetGOP lashes back on DHL issue
Republicans don’t think much of two new Democratic Web videos criticizing Republican John McCain and his campaign manager Rick Davis for the lobbying ties Davis once had to German-owned DHL.
Democrats say Davis and McCain should do more to keep DHL from turning its air freight operations over to UPS, at the cost of 8,000 jobs in Wilmington.
Here’s what Blair Latoff, Republican National Committee spokeswoman, had to say:
“The Democrat Party of Ohio and Barack Obama are more intent on politicizing job losses than they are seeking solutions to improve our challenging economic times.
“While Barack Obama was playing to the cameras, John McCain was giving straight talk to Ohioans about his plans to both save and create jobs.
“Maybe Barack Obama should take John McCain’s lead and meet with the hardworking families of Wilmington who risk job loss.”
TweetDem videos blast McCain on DHL
Democrats clearly believe they can make political gains by blasting Republican John McCain on the lobbying ties his campaign manager Rick Davis had to German-owned DHL.
Ohio Democrats on Sunday, Aug. 10, released a Web video, “Wrong Choice,” criticizing both McCain and Davis on the issue and the Democratic National Committee released one of its own, “Job Killing John.”
Democrats cite news reports that Davis - and McCain - in 2003 helped secure the deal that allowed DHL to acquire Airborne Express. DHL now wants to hire UPS for its air freight operations, which would eliminate 8,000 jobs in Wilmington. Davis and McCain should do more to stop the deal, Democrats says.
Last week while campaigning in Ohio, McCain declined to respond directly to the Democratic charges but said everybody should work together to try to keep the jobs in Wilmington. Here are the videos - first from Ohio Democrats and below that from the DNC.
TweetHouse GOP: Memories of the way we were
This from our colleague, Marilyn Geewax at Cox Newspapers’ Washington bureau:
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced Friday that Republicans would continue the protest they began Aug. 1. They have been demanding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., end the August recess to allow a vote on oil drilling. Although the microphones are off, GOP members plan to continue speaking next week from the House floor to call attention to their cause. “All we’re asking for is an opportunity to have a debate and a vote on our plan,” Boehner told reporters.
Earlier in this decade, when Republicans ruled the House, Democrats pleaded many times for a vote on raising the minimum wage. Republicans blocked such votes until 2006, when they finally allowed a wage vote, but only as part of a package that would have repealed the estate tax, a deal-killer for Democrats. “That was not a straight vote,” recalled Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank.
Asked about the Republican leadership’s long wage-vote prohibition, Boehner said the leaders did allow a vote on the package with the estate-tax cut. “Eventually they did,” he said. “And that’s the beauty of the American system of government.”
TweetPay day lenders hit airwaves
The payday lending industry has already spent more than $800,000 on their quest to collect 241,365 signatures for a ballot issue. It looks like they’re willing to dig deeper into their pockets by airing a 30-second TV ad.
The ad features a salt-of-the-earth looking farmer standing beside his Chevy pick up truck and criticizing politicians for taking away jobs and freedom.
The farmer says:
“I’ve been studying this Pay Day Issue. And you wouldn’t believe what our politicians have been up too. They’re riskin’ six thousand good payin’ Ohio jobs by passin’ laws that would shut um down.
“If this old truck here breaks a belt before payday, I can borrow a hundred bucks, replace that belt, and repay ‘em a hundred fifteen on payday. And that should be my choice.
“So, if you get a chance to sign a petition that’ll give us back our financial choices and protect six thousand good payin’ jobs - you do it. ‘Cause if they won’t protect our jobs and our financial choices - we will.”
In June, Gov. Ted Strickland signed a new law that limits consumers to four payday loans a year with a maximum annual interest rate of 28 percent. Typically, people taking out short term loans from payday lenders pay $15 on a $100 loan for two weeks, which works out to a 391 percent annual interest rate.
The payday lenders are seeking to repeal the interest rate cap through a ballot initiative. The law takes effect Sept. 1 unless the lenders get 241,365 signatures from Ohio voters to put it on the ballot.
The ballot issue is opposed by Strickland and Republican legislative leaders, as well as other groups.
TweetObama releases radio ad blasting McCain on DHL
One day after the Ohio Democratic Party released a web ad trying to link Sen. John McCain to DHL’s proposal to allow UPS to carry its U.S. air cargo, Sen. Barack Obama is blasting McCain on the same issue in a new radio ad.
You can hear the ad here.
Here’s the script:
Announcer: July 9, 2008. Portsmouth, Ohio. Here’s what John McCain said about DHL’s plans to eliminate 8,200 Ohio jobs.
JOHN MCCAIN (from Ohio town hall): I gotta look you in the eye and give you straight talk. I don’t know if I can stop it or not or if it will be stopped.
Announcer: But there’s something John McCain’s not telling you: It was McCain who used his influence in the Senate to help foreign-owned DHL buy a U.S. company and gain control over the jobs that are now on the chopping block in Ohio.
And that’s not all: McCain’s campaign manager was the top lobbyist for the DHL deal…helped push it through. His firm was paid $185,000 to lobby McCain and other Senators.
Now 8,200 Ohioans are facing layoffs, and foreign-owned DHL doesn’t care.
JOHN MCCAIN (from Ohio town hall): I gotta look you in the eye and give you straight talk.
Announcer: John McCain. Same old politics. Same failed policies.
BARACK OBAMA: I’m Barack Obama, candidate for President, and I approved this message. Paid for by Obama for America.
TweetDayton resident a finalist in Dems’ YouTube competition
Brian Beach of Dayton is one of the five finalists for the Democratic National Convention Committee’s online video contest with YouTube.
Contestants were asked to answer the question: “Why are you a Democrat in 2008?”
The winner will be announced Aug.14, a DNCC press released said on Friday, Aug. 8.The winner will attend the convention and see his or her video played at the convention in Denver, the release said.
The winner also will go on the campaign trail for a day as a member of the traveling press poll to record a video of Barack Obama, the Democrats’ presumptive nominee for president.
Click here to see the finalists’ videos.
TweetSocial conservatives don’t want Romney for VP
They’re calling themselves Social Conservatives against Romney and the name speaks for itself.
Members of the fledgling group, who come from Butler, Warren, Greene and even Cuyahoga counties, don’t want Republican John McCain to pick Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, as his vice presidential runningmate.
“He’s been back and forth on issues,” Jane Maines of Butler County said on Friday, Aug. 8.
The issues that Romney has back and forthed on include abortion and gay rights, she said.
Maines has her own favorites for VP, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee right at the top of the list.
TweetMcCain calls Hilton video “hilarious”
Republican John McCain likes to say he can take a joke, even at his own expense.
As he rumbled through Ohio on Thursday, Aug. 7, on his “Straight Talk Express” bus, McCain was asked about the Paris Hilton video that calls the GOP candidate for president the “wrinkly, white-haired guy.”
“Hilarious” was McCain’s response. In case you’ve missed it, here it is:
Do Dems think McCain’s a maverick? Depends when you asked
This week, John McCain’s campaign put out a Web ad featuring leaders of the Democratic party saying very positive things about the Republican presidential candidate.
In the clip, Barack Obama VP shortlister Joe Biden even said he would run with McCain. John Kerry, Russ Feingold, Hillary Clinton and even Obama are featured in the ad praising the “maverick.” The ad features some pretty old video of most of these Democrats, except Clinton.
The Democrats quickly responded with an ad featuring the same Dems attacking McCain. Take a look at the two Web ads…
TweetFeisty McCain blasts Obama, Congress
Sen. John McCain was in a feisty mood, almost combative.
The Arizona Republican cast himself as the independent-minded underdog in the presidential race, beholden to no one except the American people.
“I understand who I work for, I don’t work for a party….I don’t work for myself. I work for you and the country we love, that’s who I work for,” he told a cheering town hall meeting Lima on Aug. 7. He was to campaign later in Wilmington and then attend a fundraiser in Butler County to cap off a two-day campaign swing.
In Lima, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, introduced McCain, who was joined by his wife Cindy.
McCain immediately lashed out at Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, his Democratic opponent. Obama, not he, voted for President Bush’s energy bill, McCain said. McCain called the bill “corporate welfare” for big oil companies.
“I know he hasn’t’ been in the Senate that long….Voting for something means that you supported it. Voting against it means you opposed it,” said McCain.
McCain also blasted the Democratically-controlled Congress for taking a five-week recess without voting on a comprehensive energy bill.
“When I’m president of the United States, I’ll call ‘em back into session and I’ll keep ‘em there” until they pass a bill, he said.
During the question and answer session, he talked about his plans for immigration reform. Some conservatives have criticized him for joining with Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts on a 2007 plan that failed. On Thursday, Sheriff Richard K. Jones of Butler County ran a half-page ad in the Cincinnati Enquirer, blasting McCain on immigration.
“Our borders are broken. We have to secure our borders first,” McCain said. The next step is establishing a temporary worker program and than a “humane and compassionate” solution must be developed for dealing with illegal immigrants here.
TweetODP releases web ad on John McCain and DHL
The Ohio Democratic Party put out a new web ad Thursday, August 7, accusing presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain of not doing enough to save 8,000 jobs at risk because of a proposal by DHL to hire UPS to fly DHL’s U.S. cargo.
The ad features video of McCain’s recent exchange with a woman at a town hall in Portsmouth, Ohio and reporting from The Plain Dealer. McCain was scheduled to meet with DHL workers Thursday as part of his campaign trip to Ohio.
The Plain Dealer reported earlier this week that McCain’s campaign managerRick Davis lobbied on behalf of DHL to overcome Congressional opposition to allowing a foreign company to take over Airborne, and that McCain intervened to help the deal go through.
UPDATED: Here’s response to the ad from Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for McCain:
“John McCain is meeting with the community in Wilmington today to hear their concerns, not Barack Obama.”
Here’s the ad:
TweetMcCain promises “straight talk” on DHL
When Republican John McCain meets with people in Wilmington on Thursday, Aug. 7, who are trying to save at least 8,000 jobs at DHL’s Wilmington hub, McCain will talk about how he might help save the jobs.
McCain, however, said on Thursday, Aug. 7, that he’ll also tell them that saving the jobs might not be possible.
“I also have to tell the truth,” he told a group of Ohio journalists as his “Straight Talk Express” bus rumbled from Marion en route to a town hall meeting in Lima. He said he was not sure the job loss could be prevented.
McCain, an Arizona senator, said he would discuss how he could help with an investigation of the anti-trust implications of Germany-base Deutsche Post’s plan to replace two cargo airlines in Wilmington by switching to United Parcel Service, causing the job loss.
Whatever happens, McCain said, the need is critical to boost the economy by investing in nuclear power plants, clean coal technology and improved job training at area community colleges.
He brushed off Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s suggestion that McCain and his top campaign advise Rick Davis should do more to help solve the DHL problem because Davis made hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying Congress to allow the deal to go through that let Deutsche Post buy Airborne Express to form DHL’s U.S. business. The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported on Davis’ connection to DHL.
Brown, an Ohio Democrat, suggested McCain send David to Germany to intervene. “I’m not going to respond…” said McCain.
He said such comments were why Congress has a “9 percent approval rating.” What’s needed is for everybody involved to work together and he has a record of working across the aisle, McCain said.
TweetPayday lending law should be kept, leaders say
The new payday lending law is good for consumers and should be kept on the books, according to Gov. Ted Strickland, Senate President Bill Harris and House Speaker Jon Husted.
The three political leaders said Thursday, Aug. 7, that if a referendum seeking its partial repeal makes it on the ballot, they’ll strongly oppose it.
Strickland brushed aside cries from the payday lending industry that 6,000 good paying jobs would be lost if the law is allowed to stand.
“We believe that is absolutely untrue,” he said at a Statehouse press conference. Many of the 1,600 payday lending stores have already applied for licenses to continue making loans under the new rules. The law includes a 28 percent cap on annual interest rates instead of the typical 391 percent annual rate.
Husted, R-Kettering, called small loans at 391 percent annual interest rates a “defective product” that needed to be recalled.
The law takes effect Sept. 1, unless the pay day lenders manage to collect 241,365 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters by Aug. 31. They are seeking to repeal part of the new law. The payday lenders have already spent more than $800,000 on the campaign and are expected to spend millions more.
“We are never going to be able to match the $16 million or whatever the number is they raise but with truth on your side, that’s worth a lot of money in my book,” said Bill Faith of the Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio, which lobbied for the law.
Voters may see five other ballot issues in November: A constitutional amendment to affirm property owners’ rights when it comes to ground or surface water on their land. A constitutional amendment to move the deadline for placing initiatives or referendums before voters. An authorization for the state to borrow $400 million for environmental conservation and clean up projects. A constitutional amendment to allow a casino in Clinton County. A law mandating that employers with 25 or more workers provide seven paid sick days a year.
The first three issues will be on the ballot. Signatures to place the casino and sick leave issues on the ballot are currently being checked against voter records. Backers for both those issues turned in roughly twice the required signatures.
TweetEye On Ohio: Obama’s ‘Pocket’ ad
The ad: “Pocket,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Obama for America.
Where to see it: It’s airing in several key states, including Ohio. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Announcer: “Every time you fill your tank, the oil companies fill their pockets. Now Big Oil’s filling John McCain’s campaign with $2 million in contributions because, instead of taxing their windfall profits to help drivers, McCain wants to give them another $4 billion in tax breaks. “After one president in the pocket of Big Oil, we can’t afford another. “Barack Obama: A windfall profits tax on Big Oil to give families $1,000 rebate. A president who will stand up for you. Obama: “I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message.”
Video: The video begins with shots of people filling their tanks at gas stations, then cuts to McCain. Then it’s back to shots of high gas prices, lines of traffic and McCain. Grim, serious music plays behind a grave-sounding commentator. Over these shots is text: $143 billion in profits over the last year, $2 million in oil contributions, $4 billion new tax breaks for oil, all citing sources in smaller text below.
Then it’s a shot of President Bush which slides over to reveal McCain, standing next to him. The ad then cuts to Barack Obama talking to a rally, a crowd of people, individuals in a restaurant booth, then standing before a big, placard-wielding crowd. There’s text here, too: $1,000 energy rebate and NewEnergyForAmerica.com, a site that highlights Obama’s energy plan.
Analysis: Once again, the presidential debate parallels the congressional debate: Republicans say that Democrats are too worried about hugging trees to drill for new sources of oil, and Democrats counter that Republicans are in the pockets of oil companies and that’s why they want to drill.
This ad, timed to coincide with the release of Obama’s New Energy for America Plan, which would give middle-class families a $1,000 rebate funded by a windfall profits tax on oil companies, highlights the latter argument and also throws in a visual dig reiterating their argument that a vote for McCain is actually a vote for a third Bush term.
If we’re going to be picky, McCain didn’t actually receive $2 million from oil companies — companies themselves are barred from contributing directly to a candidate. Rather, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, McCain has received $1.3 million from individuals who represent or work for oil or gas companies or political action committees that represent them. (He got the most money from retirees, according to the center: more than $18 million.)
The center, in a fact sheet on its Web site, said that Obama’s campaign appears to have added its $1.3 million figure with one from a Washington Post story reporting the amount of oil and gas money given to a separate fundraising organization that is giving money to McCain, the Republican National Committee and various state parties, to get the $2 million figure.
“The Obama campaign’s method for calculating the total amount that McCain’s campaign has collected from the oil and gas industry may result in some double-counting,” according to the center.
Oil and gas didn’t make Obama’s top 20, according to the center. Still, oil and gas interests gave Obama $394,465.
McCain’s campaign also retorts that Obama voted for a 2005 energy bill that included billions for oil and gas production. McCain voted against that bill. An Obama spokesman told the Associated Press that the Illinois Democrat voted for the bill because it invested in renewable energy.
Obama’s claim that McCain wants to cut taxes for oil companies by $4 billion also doesn’t tell the whole story. McCain actually has proposed cutting the tax rate on all U.S. businesses — including oil and gas companies — from 25 to 35 percent.
Jessica Wehrman is the Dayton Daily News Washington correspondent. E-mail: jwehrman@coxnews.com.
TweetButler County Sheriff Jones to “greet” McCain
Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones doesn’t think much of fellow Republican John McCain’s views on immigration and McCain will find that out on Thursday morning, Aug. 7. McCain is expected in Butler County for a fundraiser.
Jones told the Dayton Daily News on Wednesday, Aug. 6, that he is running a half page ad in the Cincinnati Enquirer on both Thursday and Saturday, Aug. 9, with this script:
“Sen. McCain Why haven’t we heard from you on immigration?
Are you avoiding this American issue???
We are all EARS”
Jones, who has gained a national reputation with his efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, said McCain has avoided the issue and is alienating his conservative base.
TweetPayday loan with your bus ride? Ummm…maybe not.
Officials at the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority have been brainstorming ideas to raise revenues as they continue to cope with rising costs and flat sales tax revenues.
The ideas are all over the map: from more traditional ones like lobbying for more federal funding or increasing advertising sales, to some that are less traditional. Among them: provide indoor rental storage, become the downtown Dayton parking authority, offer grocery delivery services or become the Greyhound agent for Dayton.
RTA officials have already scuttled one of those “non-traditional” bright ideas: open a payday loan service.
Those hugely controversial, high-interest loan companies typically charge a 391 percent interest rate on a two week loan. After first opening the door to the industry in 1995, the Ohio Legislature this year put the clamps on because of widespread outrage over what some called a “debt trap.”
Starting Sept. 1, payday loans will be limited to a 28 percent annual interest rate on short term loans and consumers can only take out four payday loans a year.
The industry wants the law repealed and is gathering signatures to put the issue on the General Election ballot.
So what about the idea of opening The Greater Dayton RTA Pay Day Loan Shop? According to a status report given to the RTA Board of Trustees on Tuesday, Aug. 5, the idea has been dropped (presumably like a hot potato) due to “image and related problems.”
TweetJackson Browne takes on Ohio Republican Party
Ohio Republican Party spokesman John McClelland has become quite the technological savant in recent months, posting videos to the party’s YouTubesite, including one called “Simple Thing” that included a Jackson Browne tune about gas prices and the candidates.
That video earned the ire of Browne himself. Browne’s lawyers sent McClelland a letter ordering him to take down the video within 48 hours. McClelland groused, but complied.
In a phone call, he declined to comment. But his Facebook status update may have spoken volumes for him: As of 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, McClelland wrote that he was “being threatened by Jackson Brown’s attorneys. Jeez, we’ve given him the most airplay he’s had in years. You’d think he’d be happy.”
TweetDemocrats welcome “Exxon John” to Ohio
Republicans may be spending lots of time and money casting Democrat Barack Obama as an out-of-touch celebrity elitist, but Democrats are trying to strike back.
The Democratic National Committee “welcomed” Republican John McCain to Ohio on Wednesday, Aug. 6, with a press release dubbing him “Exxon John” because of ties to the oil industry.
The Democrats even threw in a video:
TweetMcCain calls for “economic surge”
Republican John McCain opened up a two-day Ohio campaign swing with a call for an “economic surge” to get the economy going again.
Here are McCain’s remarks prepared for delivering on Wednesday, Aug. 6, in Jackson following a tour of the Merillat Kitchen Cabinet Plant:
“It’s time to get America’s economy moving again. Companies like Merillat and families across Ohio face challenges in their business and around the kitchen table. Our energy prices are too high. We are losing jobs. Our housing market is in decline. The cost of everything is going up, and in the face of this, Washington is on vacation.
“Now is the time for action. We need an “all of the above” plan to address our energy crisis with alternative energy, drilling and nuclear power. We need to crack down on those who have abused our credit market and caused this housing decline.
“And we need to take action to support American businesses so that we stop jobs from going overseas and create more jobs here at home.
“America has the second highest business tax rate in the entire world. It is any wonder that jobs are moving overseas when we are taxing them out of the country? Unfortunately Senator Obama’s plans would raise taxes on businesses even more.
“He has promised tax increases on income, tax increases on investment, tax increases on small businesses. This is exactly the wrong strategy. Raising taxes in a bad economy is about the worst thing you could do because it will kill even more jobs when what we need are policies that create jobs.
“What we need today is an Economic Surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones. We need to reduce the tax burden on businesses that choose to make their home in the U.S. We need to open new markets to U.S. products. We need to reduce the cost of healthcare. And we need to end the out of control spending in Washington that is putting our debt on the backs of our children.
“Now is the time for action, and when I am President, we are going to get it done.”
TweetAARP Poll: Candidates not addressing economy, health care
A new poll released on Wednesday, AARP defines the undecided, swing voters in Ohio and five other key states crucial to success in the November election.
They’re white, lower-to-middle income, older women, according to the poll taken in Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Pennsylvania as well as Ohio.
They’re focused on the economy and health care and believe Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are doing a poor or fair job of addressing these issues, according to the poll.
Results for Ohio show 76 percent of swing voters think the candidates are doing a “poor” or “fair” job of addressing health care and financial security issues.
The candidates need to address issues such as how to require clear explanations for health care costs to patients will know the costs up front, the poll results suggest.aar
For full poll results, click here.
TweetHusted, Harris blast sick days proposal
Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland may be trying to negotiate a compromise between backers and opponents of a mandated paid sick days ballot proposal.
Republican legislative leaders - House Speaker Jon Husted of Kettering and Senate President Bill Harris of Ashland - however, aren’t in a negotiating mood and they’re the ones who’d have to pass legislative implementing a compromise.
Husted and Harris came out firing on Tuesday, Aug.5.
“This issue has to be the single largest job killer our state has seen in decades,” Husted said in a press release. “….It’s like throwing an anchor to a drowning man.”
“This mandate is more about earning clout for a national political movement than about solving the real problems Ohioans face,” Harris said.
Dale Butland, spokesman for Ohioans for Healthy Families, the group backing the proposal, fired back:
“It’s easy to see why politicians like Mr. Husted and Mr. Harris are out of touch with average Ohioans. They both have paid sick days themselves —-courtesy of the taxpayers. So how come paid sick days are a good idea for politicians—-but a bad idea for regular people?”
The proposal would require employers to let workers earn seven paid sick days a year.
TweetJerry Springer to raise money for Mitakides: UPDATED
TV talk show host Jerry Springer will raise cash for Democrat Jane Mitakides’ congressional campaign later this month, her campaign confirmed today.
Mitakides, the Washington Twp. Democrat who is opposing Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, for Congress this year, will host the popular talk show host Thursday, Aug. 14 at her home. Admission to the event is $150, but Mitakides will host a VIP reception that, along with the main event, will cost $500.
“That’s just pitiful,” said Matt McDowell, Turner’s campaign manager.
Mitakides and Springer met in 2004, Mitakides said. “He has a really remarkable story,” she said, recounting how Springer came to the United States as a little boy when his parents were escaping the Holocaust in Germany. “He says no one has enjoyed the American dream more than he has.”
Springer is the former mayor of Cincinnati.
For more information, go to www.jane08.com
TweetCampaign unveils TV ad for paid sick days proposal
The coalition backing a ballot proposal to require employers to let workers earn seven paid sick days a year unveiled its first TV ad on Tuesday, Aug.5.
Dale Butland, spokesman for Ohioans for Healthy Families, said there would be a “multi-million dollar” statewide buy for the ad but declined to say when it would start airing and in what markets.
The campaign also announced it was turning in petitions more than 240,000 signatures, nearly double the number required to get the proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Here’s the ad:
TweetMcCain campaign “defends” Obama
While Democrat Barack Obama was blasting away at Republican John McCain in a speech on energy prepared for delivery in Youngstown on Tuesday, Aug. 5, the McCain campaign came to Obama’s defense.
Not really.
Obama lately has said that he might support some limited offshore oil drilling if it was part of a comprehensive energy plan. The McCain campaign doesn’t think, however, that Obama has changed his stance against offshore oil drilling. McCain’s communications director Jill Hazelbaker, put out this statement in “defense” of Obama:
“Senator Obama’s stance on offshore oil drilling has been mischaracterized. He has not changed his position.
“He has continually campaigned against additional drilling, calling the policy a ‘gimmick’ saying it was a ‘scheme’ and ridiculing those who support it.
“With his steadfast opposition to John McCain’s ‘all of the above’ approach to our energy crisis, Americans should know that Barack Obama remains opposed to additional domestic oil drilling. Speaker Pelosi, MoveOn.org and the Sierra Club can take comfort from the fact that Barack Obama still opposes additional domestic oil drilling.
“Meanwhile, the American people can be sure that John McCain will do what is necessary to reduce this country’s dependence on Middle East oil and bring down prices at the pump.”
TweetObama blast McCain in Youngstown energy speech
Democrat Barack Obama planned to go on the attack on Tuesday, Aug. 5, in Youngstown, against Republican John McCain in their ongoing battle over how to solve America’s energy crisis. Obama, accompanied by Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, also was to campaign in Berea.
Obama also was to discuss plans for an immediate energy rebate and proposals to create five million new “green” jobs and eliminate the country’s need for Middle East Oil in 10 years, his campaign said.
Here are excerpts from the prepared text of the morning Youngstown speech:
“Unfortunately, in this election, Senator McCain has proposed an energy plan that’s nothing but four years more of the same.
“He’s offering a plan with no significant investments in alternative energy. He’s offering a gas tax holiday that will pad oil company profits and save you - at best - half a tank of gas over the course of an entire summer.
“And he’s offering $4 billion more in tax breaks to the biggest oil companies in America - including $1.2 billion to Exxon-Mobil, a company that just recorded the largest profit in the history of the United States. A company that, last quarter, made the same amount of money in 30 seconds that a typical Ohio worker makes in a year.
“All while here in Ohio, you’re paying nearly $3.70 a gallon for gas - two and a half times what it cost when President Bush took office.
“Senator McCain not only wants oil companies to keep every dime of that money, he wants to give them more. Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that’s the change we need…”
“And while Senator McCain’s plan won’t save you at the pump anytime soon, it sure has done a lot to raise campaign dollars.
“Senator McCain raised more than one million dollars from the oil industry just last month, most of which came after he announced his plan for offshore drilling to a room full of cheering oil executives.
“So to sum up, under Senator McCain’s plan, the oil companies get billions more, we don’t pay any less at the pump, and we stay in the same cycle of dependence on oil that got us into this crisis.
“The oil companies have placed their bet on Senator McCain, and if he wins, they will continue to cash in while our families and our economy suffer and our future is put in jeopardy.
“That’s the choice we face in this election. We can choose four years more of the same failed policies that have gotten us where we are.
“Four years more of oil companies calling the shots while hard working families are struggling. That’s what Senator McCain is offering.
“Or we can choose a new, clean energy future that gets us where we need to be. We can make a different bet - a bet on the ingenuity, industry and determination of the American people. That’s what I’m offering.
“Because after one president in the pocket of the oil companies - we can’t afford another. For the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we must end the age of oil in our time…”
“We all know that this is the great challenge of our time. If we fail to act, there the implications will be grave for our economy, for our security, for our planet.
“But if we seize this moment, and meet the challenge, we can open to door to a new economy for the 21st century that will bring new energy, new jobs and new hope to Youngstown and communities across Ohio and this nation…”
“The payoff from these investments in renewable energy sources will be renewable energy jobs across Ohio and across America. Now, I know that over the past eight years, you’ve lost 236,000 manufacturing jobs in this state.
“But I also know that Ohio has the second highest potential of all fifty states to create new wind energy manufacturing jobs - and investing in wind power could increase workers’ wages in Ohio by more than $3.5 billion through the year 2020.
” I also know that with the right investments, this state could save $24 billion a year that you spend importing energy, and instead, power two million homes using wind power.
“Finally, I will call on businesses, government, and the American people to meet the goal of reducing our demand for electricity 15% by the end of the next decade. This is by far the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to reduce our energy consumption - and it will save us $130 billion on our energy bills.
“One report found that right here in Ohio, improvements in energy efficiency can help save homes and businesses $1.5 billion in energy costs by 2020…”
TweetTurner becomes tour guide during impromptu House Republican revolt
Rep. Mike Turner’s two daughters, Jessica and Carolyn, spent last month giving tours of the Capitol to visitors to Turner’s congressional office.
On Friday, their father got into the act.
After the House adjourned Friday, August 1, Republicans led by House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester staged an impromptu revolt on the floor of the House to protest the lack of a vote on a comprehensive energy bill, staying long after the microphones and C-SPAN cameras were turned off and giving speeches about energy on a darkened House floor.
Turner, R-Centerville, who wasn’t scheduled to leave for August recess until Tuesday, got wind of the protest and headed to the House floor.
There, he and other House members began inviting tourists in. And they came back Monday to do it again: Turner estimates that on Monday morning alone, he managed to get 500 tourists onto the House floor - mostly in groups of 50 to 100.
Tourists are not permitted on the House floor without the invitation of a House member.
Turner, who with other House Republicans has argued for looking for new sources of domestic oil via drilling, said he felt it was important for people to hear the speeches.
He and other House Republicans are critical of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. for not allowing a vote on a drilling measure.
Turner said while he made security a little nervous, the people he invited to the floor were excited to see the House up close.
His daughters were, too: They helped their father with crowd control, he said.
TweetStrickland, Brown to jump on Obama’s bus
Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown will join forces with Democratic presidential campaign Barack Obama on Tuesday, Aug. 5, Obama’s campaign announced.
Brown and Strickland will speak at Obama’s events in Youngstown and Berea and jump on the campaign bus with the Illinois senator for the trip from Youngstown to Berea.
TweetMcCain to visit Wilmington on Ohio campaign swing
Republican John McCain is headed back to Ohio for a two-day campaign swing and this time he’s scheduled to visit Wilmington.
He’ll be in the state on Wednesday, Aug. 6 and Thursday, Aug. 7.
The Republican presidential candidate is expected to meet privately in Wilmington on Thursday with those involved with efforts to keep DHL air-freight operations there, according to a Republican official close to the McCain campaign.
McCain will go to Wilmington after an 11:30 a.m. town hall meeting in Lima which is expected to be open to the public, the official said. Also Thursday, McCain has a fundraiser in Liberty Township in Butler County.
On Wednesday, McCain has campaign stops set for southern Ohio followed by a fundraiser in Dublin, a Columbus suburb.
The Arizona senator is expected to overnight in Marion, home of former Republican President Warren G. Harding (pictured).
TweetBlackwell thinks “Celebrity” ad just fine
Republican John McCain’s “Celebrity” TV ad has some of Democrat Barack Obama’s supporters upset. They don’t much like Obama being compared to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, as the ad does.
Well, Republican Ken Blackwell (pictured), who aired a few hard-hitting TV ads of his own in the 2006 Ohio governor’s race, thinks the ad is just fine.
Blackwell said so on Sunday, Aug. 3, when he appeared on Wolf Blitzer’s “Late Edition” show. Click here to see what Blackwell and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, who didn’t like the ad, had to say.
What did you think of the ad?
TweetObama hits Ohio again
Democrat Barack Obama will return to Ohio on Tuesday, Aug. 5. He is scheduled to hold town hall meetings in Youngstown in the morning and Berea in the afternoon. Obama is expected to focus on energy and economic issues.
TweetMcCain’s new controversial Web ad about Obama makes religious comparisons
John McCain on Friday defended his new ad that seems to make a comparison to Barack Obama and a “religious figure.”
The ad, which is only running on the Internet, refers to the presumptive Democratic nominee as “The One.” The ad features a lot of religious themes and even has The Ten Commandments’ Charlton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea.” According to the Associated Press, on Friday McCain said he doesn’t think the ad is negative.
“We think it’s got a lot of humor in it, we’re having fun and enjoying it … we’ll continue to fight and scrap all the way to November 4,” McCain said.
Tell us what you think of the new McCain ad.
TweetObama, Strickland - the birthday buddies
Democrats Barack Obama and Ted Strickland are birthday buddies.
Obama turns 47 on Monday, Aug. 4, while Ohio Gov. Strickland turns 67 on the same day.
Since Obama is running for president and Strickland backs him - after first backing Hillary Clinton - the Democrats are using the birthdays for weekend Campaign for Change pot luck and phone bank parties. Click here to find a party.
TweetHouse goes home; Republicans fairly miffed about this development
Three local lawmakers - all Republicans - reacted to the House’s adjournment for the month Friday, Aug. 1, in their own deeply personal ways.
All three are miffed that the Democrats did not pass bills addressing the gas price crisis. And all three want a solution that includes drilling for new domestic sources of oil, as well as renewable sources, increased conservation and other answers.
Rep. David Hobson, R-Springfield, introduced a bill that would lift the moratorium on drilling off the coast of Florida. That bill - a rariety for Hobson, who traditionally gets things done through appropriations bills and deal-making with his fellow lawmakers - doesn’t get into drilling off the Pacific coasts or Alaska.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, meanwhile, took the revolt approach: After House Democrats turned off the lights and the microphones, he led a group of Republicans to making speeches about gas prices in a darkened chamber, with only those in the gallery around to watch. Even C-SPAN had turned off the cameras.
And state Sen. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, who hopes to succeed Hobson in the House, took a public relations approach: He sent out a release condemning the House for failing to address the crisis.
“They literally turned off the lights and left the Capitol without an energy plan,” he said in an interview. “We deserve better than that.”
Austria predicts lawmakers will be greeted at home angrily - he said the families he’s meeting around the district are furious that nothing has been done.
TweetEye On Ohio: Obama ‘Full Nelson’ and ‘Gimmick’ ads
By Jonathan Riskind
Columbus Dispatch
The ad: “Full Nelson,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Sierra Club Political Committee.
Where to see it: It’s airing in several key states, including Ohio. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: “Big Oil companies have our economy and politics in a choke hold. They are getting billions from the government … raking in record profits … while we pay $4 a gallon for gas. “John McCain’s answer? Another $4 billion giveaway to Big Oil. “But Barack Obama has a plan that breaks the grip of Big Oil. It invests in clean-energy options and gives families energy tax rebates. “Barack Obama. Real relief. Real change. “The Sierra Club Political Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.”
Video: The spot begins with a shot of people surrounded by oil barrels overflowing with cash. A mountain of money then falls away, revealing the U.S. Capitol and a photo of McCain. The narrator and accompanying music sound ominous. The music then turns inspirational and the narrator’s voice upbeat as Obama is shown in front of the White House before moving to a photo of solar panels being installed while Obama’s energy plan is discussed.
The ad: “Gimmick,” 30-seconds.
Producer: MoveOn.Org Political Action.
Where to see it: It begins airing today, though MoveOn has not decided if it will be shown in Ohio. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: “Sen. McCain, you let me and my kids down. From the very beginning, I told them, ‘This is a principled guy.’ So when you said you were going to help make driving affordable again, I believed you. “And your idea is to do offshore drilling, which I find out won’t produce much oil for 10 years … and then barely save us any money anyway. “That’s not a solution, Mr. McCain. That’s a gimmick. We expected better. “MoveOn.org Political Action is responsible for the content of this ad.”
Video: The ad features a middle-age father, sitting at a desk in his house, talking soberly into the camera.
Analysis: These ads were released in tandem and discussed jointly, during a conference call with reporters, by the Sierra Club and MoveOn.Org.
The political arm of the Sierra Club has endorsed Obama’s candidacy, and MoveOn.org, a liberal political advocacy group, also backs Obama.
Many experts agree it could take up to 10 years to begin seeing significant new oil supplies from new domestic oil exploration. But proponents of drilling say that approving such a step would immediately send a signal to the rest of the world, and to speculators, that America’s domestic supply will be on the rise in the future, leading to lower gas prices in the short and long term.
McCain’s economic plan includes a proposed cut in the corporate tax rate for all U.S. companies, not just oil companies. Obama’s economic plan does not cut such corporate tax rates.
It is true that Obama’s energy plan does not include new drilling and focuses more on renewable energy such as wind and solar, including proposing to spend $150 billion over 10 years on such technologies. McCain, who in the past opposed lifting the ban on new offshore domestic drilling, is now backing that step.
McCain also wants to expand nuclear energy and provide money for technology to cut down on coal emissions.
But neither ad mentions that Obama in 2005 voted for an energy bill supported by President George W. Bush that contained billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies, while McCain voted against the measure.
Jonathan Riskind is a reporter at The Columbus Dispatch. E-mail: jriskind@dispatch.com.
TweetLocal Obama campaign office to open on Monday
The Dayton-area office for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is having its grand opening on Monday Aug 4th - which is also Obama’s 47th birthday. Coincidentally, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland also has a birthday on the 4th. He’ll be 67.
The Obama office will be on the first floor of the Kettering Tower at Second and Jefferson streets, same location it was during the March primary. Obama supporters are encouraged to attend - and bring their cell phones - and help make phone calls to undecided voters across Ohio. The event starts at 6 p.m.
The victory office for local Republicans, and presidential hopeful John McCain has been open and staffed for four weeks. It is located at 526 Miamisburg-Centerville Road and can be reached by phone at (937)528-7888 if you’re interested in volunteering or getting more information.
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