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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2008 > September > 14 > Entry
Are school levy supporters pushing hard enough?
Today’s DDN editorial asks if leaders of Dayton’s school levy campaign need to kick it up a notch with the fall election closing in.
Over at the Get on the Bus education blog we’re asking city resident and school district employees to give their impression — is the levy push as hard this time around as it was in 2007?
If you have thoughts on the levy, please post them in the comments at Get on the Bus.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By Dave
September 16, 2008 9:01 PM | Link to this
Is there any point to a “blog” that discusses nothing, but merely refers people to other blogs?By jimi
September 22, 2008 4:42 PM | Link to this
it is hard to keep what you guys are saying straight. on one hand you are seriously invested in the message that CAMPAIGNS DON’T MATTER.now you make the case that someone isn’t campaigning hard enough or effectively enough for you. LMAO. make up your minds. campaigns either matter or they don’t.By Martin Gottlieb
September 22, 2008 7:14 PM | Link to this
As the only promoter of the campaigns-don’t-count view, I should respond to the previous comment. == First of all, thanks for reading. == However, the premise is this: when two presidential (or U.S. Senate) candidates wage aggressive, sophisticated campaigns, the campaigns cancel each other out. The win doesn’t go to the side that somehow puts on a better campaign. Which is better is a matter of hair splitting. It all washes out, and the independent voters get back to basics. == The theory does not hold that a candidate can take September and October off. == In matters like school levies — where, unlike presidential and senatorial elections, voters aren’t bombarded by information over many months by the media — educational campaigns can be particularly crucial. == Thanks for asking.By jimi
September 22, 2008 10:33 PM | Link to this
nonsense, martin. that is just your self-defense mechanisms coming into play. campaigns are campaigns. they either work or they don’t. take that from someone that has 1) actually run a campaign, and 2) actually read your book. the same people making calls and literature drops in the presidential campaign will most likely be campaigning for or against the levy, too. you know this. it is a fact. the same people that run levy campaigns run political campaigns. you know this, too. stick to your guns or put your guns away. squirming isn’t your style. and, for the record, i didn’t ask anything. i was making a statement. thanks for asking. you may access my knowledge base at any time. just ask.By Martin Gottlieb
September 24, 2008 1:27 AM | Link to this
You want to argue with me about what I think about my own pet subject? ========= The book (Campaigns Don’t Count: How the Media Get American Politics All Wrong; availabe at major online booksellers) makes explicitly clear that the “campaigns-don’t-count” view is about presidential and senatorial elections. It goes on to say, “Moreover, it is entirely possible that, with regard to other kinds of races—say for low-profile jobs at the state and local level—much of the conventional political wisdom is right. Maybe campaigns and name recognition and money and media manipulation and endorsements and envelope stuffing are, to one degree or another, where the meaningful action is.”By jimi
September 24, 2008 5:21 AM | Link to this
then you should change the name of your blog from ‘campaigns don’t matter,’ to ‘presidential and senatorial campaigns don’t matter.’ as for your pet subject? i’ve never been impressed with reverse engineered predictors. we’ve seen enough reverse engineering in the last eight years to last a lifetime. nor am i impressed with the incredibly subjective criteria that defines some of the keys. as with nostradomus you can make some of that stuff turn any way you want to after the fact and look like a genius.it’s just my opinion. lichtman is a great man. brookings is a great institute. you’re good at what you do, too. but pretending this is anything approaching a science is beneath all of you. i wonder what kind of grade lichtman would give one of his students for a thesis based on some bizarre reverse engineered logical construct often times superimposed upon it generations later? you know the answer.By Martin Gottlieb
September 24, 2008 3:19 PM | Link to this
I appreciate the compliments. For the record, though: Lichtman has no connection to the Brookings. His connection is to American U., in D.C. As for this business of looking backwards, I would have zero interest in Lichtman if he wasn’t successful in predicting forward. He always puts his predictions on the public record way ahead of the election. That’s the whole idea.