Division I regional track finals
Fenwick graduation 2012
Ponitz graduation 2012
Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > September > 19
Friday, September 19, 2008
Tony Hall to endorse Obama in radio ad
Former Dayton U.S. Rep. Tony Hall will endorse fellow Democrat Barack Obama for president in an ad to be aired on Ohio Christian radio stations starting Monday, Sept. 22.
The ad is being run by the Matthew 25 Network, a political action committee organized “to mobilize Catholic, Evangelical and diverse Christian voices for a new Christian witness in politics.”
In the ad, Hall, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Agencies after leaving Congress, describes himself as a “pro-life Democrat” and explains why he supports Obama.
Here’s the ad:
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment |
Democrats and their gridiron gaffes
Maybe Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden really meant to tick off Ohio State fans when Biden told folks back home in Delaware that:
“I was out in Ohio. I told the folks in Ohio that we’d kick Ohio State’s a@@.”
Ohio Republican chairman Bob Bennett, who knows how touchy Buckeye fans are, jumped right on that fumble on Friday, Sept. 19:
“As if his comments about it being a patriotic duty for Ohioans to pay higher taxes weren’t bad enough, now Biden is taking pot shots at the Buckeyes.
“Barack Obama and Joe Biden must really think they can win this election without Ohio, because they’re doing their best to lose it with stupid comments like these.
“Keep talking, Joe.”
Biden may be following in the gridiron gaffe tradition of John Kerry, the Democrats’ loser in 2004 who famously said “I just go for Buckeye football, that’s where I’m coming from.”
Except Kerry made that statement while near Detroit before flip flopping to:
“That was while I was in Ohio. Now - I know - I’m in the state of Michigan. You got a great big M and a powerhouse of a team.”
Let’s see what Biden says if Obama lets him go to Michigan.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment |
Pay day lenders hit snag
The payday lenders agreed Friday, Sept. 19, to throw out nearly 13,000 petition signatures collected by California-based Arno Political Consultants — a blow to their campaign for 241,365 valid signatures needed to get on the November ballot.
County boards of elections returned the petitions, some of which had very low validation rates. For example, only about 38 percent of the signatures turned into Montgomery County were deemed valid and evidence of potential fraud has been turned over to the county prosecutor for investigation. The Ohio Secretary of State’s office has not yet said if the payday lenders have enough valid signatures.
Ohioans for Financial Freedom, which represents the payday lenders, said if it falls short, the group will seek additional signatures to try to make the ballot.
Consumer groups had accused Arno of failing to submit the proper disclosure forms to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
Lawmakers passed a law earlier this year that slashed allowable annual interest rates on short term loans to 28 percent, down from 391 percent, and set a four-per-customer annual limit. The payday lending industry says their shops will likely close and 6,000 jobs will be lost if the law takes effect.
A yes vote would keep the 28 percent rate cap in place. A no vote would allow payday lenders to continue charging 391 percent annual interest rates.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Biden backs Blue Hens over Buckeyes
ABC News reports that Sen. Joe Biden may be courting Ohioans, but he’s not afraid to dis the Buckeyes.
The blog reports: “Before boarding his flight from Wilmington, Del., to Washington, DC, the loquacious Blue Hen displayed some Fightin’ Blue Hen alumni bravado in an impromptu airport meeting with the University of Delaware football team.
‘I was out in Ohio,’ he said, clutching a football. ‘I told the folks in Ohio that we’d kick Ohio State’s a@@!’
The Buckeyes might be coming off a 35-3 drubbing at the hands of top-ranked Southern Cal, but the Blue Hen ballers aren’t exactly world-beaters themselves. Delaware is ranked sixth in the Division I-AA coaches poll, but they lost earlier this month to Maryland.
Upon hearing that his school’s squad was departing in a plane just a football field’s length away from his own, Biden came over for a brief meet-and-greet with the blue-and-yellow-clad throng.
Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill — ‘she didn’t play football but she went to Delaware,’ Biden assured the team — shook hands and posed for photos with the players.
‘This’ll hurt your reputation,’ he warned them as the cameras snapped away.
The Delaware lawmaker told the team he makes sure to watch their games as he travels the country in his “fancy bus.”
‘Wish I was going with them,’ Biden said of the squad as he jogged back towards his plane, tossing a football to his press wrangler and boarding the flight to DC.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Region secures coordinator to deal with DHL proposal
The U.S. Department of Commerce this week gave a $150,000 grant to the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission to hire an Economic Recovery Coordinator, Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, announced Friday, Sept. 19.
The coordinator will assist state and local officials develop and implement a plan should a DHL proposal to hire UPS for air transport services go through. The proposal is expected to cost southwest Ohio more than 8,000 jobs if it goes through.
“We are hoping to save these jobs, but at the same time, we will not be caught flat footed if things don’t go well,” Voinovich said. “We must prepare now to help families make ends meet if our efforts are not successful.”
Said Brown: “We will continue to fight for these jobs, but we must also provide the community with resources to promote economic development.”
The grant is funded through the Economic Development Administration, which serves as a venture capital resource to meet the economic development needs of distressed communities throughout the United States.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Who are Ohio’s “swing voters”?
They hold the key to the election but sometimes they seem like mystery guests at the presidential election.
They’re the Ohio “swing voters” who haven’t made up their mind between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain or are open to changing their minds.
A new analysis from Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, N.C., on Friday, Sept. 19, helps identify them.
About 7 percent of voters are undecided and 9 percent are open to changing their minds. That means Obama and McCain will be battling over about 15 percent of the electorate in the final six and a half weeks of the campaign.
Republicans in Ohio are pretty much lined up behind McCain but a segment of Democrats still is unsure about Obama. These unsure Democrats disproportionately live in small towns; few are from urban areas.
“Barack Obama and his surrogates may need to work in more visits to places like Portsmouth and Lima over the rest of the campaign along with trips to shore up the base and increase turnout in urban areas of strength,” the analysis said. To see the analysis, click here.
It was based on poll results that showed McCain leading Obama, 48-44 percent.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
New poll: Ohio’s a “tossup”
It’s a tossup among registered voters in Ohio in the presidential race between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.
More voters have a positive view of Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate, than they do of Democrat Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate, in the new Marist College poll released Friday, Sept. 19. The college is located in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
McCain and Obama each has 44 percent support from registered voters. When likely Ohio voters - including those leaning toward a candidate - are factored in, Obama leads 47-45 percent.
More than half of the registered voters, 54, percent, view Palin, the Alaska governor, favorably, while 45 percent have a favorable view of Biden, a U.S. senator from Delaware.
The poll was taken from Thursday, Sept. 11 through Monday, Sept. 15 and overall results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.
For full poll results, click here.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Ohio GOP mocks Biden on “Patriotic” taxpayers
When Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said it’s “patriotic” for wealthy Americans to pay higher taxes, it didn’t take long for the Republican attack machine to get going. Biden made his comment on Thursday, Sept. 18, on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
The Ohio Republican Party later on the same day launched its Web video, “Patriotic”, shown below.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment |
Senate Judiciary Chair urges Justice Department to investigate DHL antitrust concerns
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., late Thursday, Sept. 17, signed onto a letter with Sen. Sherrod Brown urging the Department of Justice to look into a proposal that would allow United Parcel Service to become the exclusive airlift service for DHL’s North American operations for the next decade.
“Should this agreement be consummated, it appears that DHL would effectively cease to be a competitor to UPS, and instead would become a captive customer,” Leahy and Brown wrote in a letter to Department of Justice Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett. “In short, many of the concerns about a merger by which the number of genuine competitors in the marketplace would be reduced from three to two are also present in this situation.”
Leahy and Brown also expressed worry about the impact of the proposal on ABX Air and ASTAR, which currently provide overnight services for DHL.
The letter comes after two House committees have held hearings on the proposal. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee had a hearing on it earlier this week.
