Salon: Storm warnings for Bush in Ohio

[kskiska]

The John Kerry campaign offices may still be dark in this key battleground state, but an invisible tidal wave is growing here against the president.

The road-rage Republicans are out early this year in Ohio.

It's only June, but already the John Kerry bumper sticker on my car gets me cut off on I-71 by obese white males in their pickups and Camaros who upon seeing my Kerry sticker, roar past, swerve into my lane, and flip me the bird out their window.

Such folks form the backbone of the George W. Bush "Amway"-model campaign detailed recently in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Prospecting the prefab suburban wilderness for votes, the Bush machine's efforts in Ohio raise the obvious question: What are Democrats doing in response?

A Democrat looking for solace in the obvious places will find little encouragement. Walking into a Democratic Party office anywhere in this key presidential battleground state is like walking into a morgue. The Cleveland party office, the epicenter of the most important region of the state for Democrats, is a deserted storefront that until last week didn't have a single Kerry for President sign. Locked doors greet potential volunteers who peer into the emptiness inside.

(snip)

Doesn't look good for Kerry in Ohio, does it?

Not so fast.

During primary season, I dragged my apolitical friend Lori from Meetup to Meetup all over Cleveland, the two of us shopping around for a new president on snowy winter nights that would keep normal people huddled indoors. The Meetup groups we encountered were nonpolitical types from various economic, racial, and educational backgrounds whose average was 40-ish. People who looked way outside their comfort zone at a political meeting. People like Lori herself, who was unimpressed with the turnouts, which totaled 20 to 30 people as a rule. "Seems pretty low," she kept saying. "What do you think?"

Having grown up in Ohio politics, working with every presidential election in the state since 1988, and acutely aware of the cobwebs, crickets and tumbleweed of the Ohio Democratic Party, I had a very different perspective.

"Are you kidding me?" I shot back. "I've never seen anything like this in my life."

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/06/04/ohio/index.html

[madrchsod]

1. dam and i thought my local

democratic office was bad...come to think of it it is just as bad....

[Disturbed]

2. Ohio

If J. Kerry can win this state, he wins the election. It is real surprising that his campaign is so lax in this state.

[eileen from OH]

5. But you may have missed a distinction -

The OH DEM PARTY is lax, but the grassroots are humming. Former supporters of other candidates, after a year of Meet-ups and organizing on our own are taking the lessons and activism learned there and have melded together for Kerry. We have no intention of relying on or waiting for the Ohio Dem Party, though of course we will work with them.

And, within the past few weeks Kerry staff people have arrived and hit the ground running - including some very sharp folks. Some of you may remember by dismay and bit. . .er, complaining about the lack of professionals in OH. That has changed. For example, Jennifer Palmieri, who was Edwards' communications director is the communications director for OH. We've got a real firecracker, Laurie DePalo, as regional director. We've been assured and promised that 2004 will NOT be a repeat of 2000, when Gore pulled all ads, etc, out of Ohio 10 days before the election because the polls showed him behind by 15 points, only to barely lose it to Bush. (3.5 percent).

No, the entire organizational structure is not in place yet, but there are very, very hopeful signs.

eileen from OH

[Warpy]

3. Thank the DLC for the atmosphere at your local party HQ

Their emphasis on whoring for corporate cash and their disdain for grassroots organizing shows most clearly in local offices. Go in to volunteer, you're asked for a check and don't let the door smack ya in the arse on the way out.

If you want to volunteer, go to one of the meetups of former Dean backers. That's where the party energy is.

[trag]

4. This Ohio boy is still waiting

for his free John Kerry stickers. I've only seen one Bush sticker so far in my town and it was today. It read: God bless our troops and George W. Bush. The SUV was in front of me in the drive-thru at Rite-Aid. Hmmm wonder if it was oxycotin they were waiting on.

[DinahMoeHum]

6. And remember, Kerry hasn't picked his VP running mate yet.

Here in suburban New York, the Meetups have mushroomed to a point where in Westchester County, NY there was only one, there are now 3-5 of these groups, of at least 20 or more.

The grassroots are indeed a-buzzin'

:kick:

[Dover]

7. Blowin in the wind... or A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

________

I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a gonna fall

[rexcat]

8. There is an underlying buzz in OH among the Democrats,

even in SW Ohio I hear more people speaking against Bush* and his policies. It is still to early to tell how Ohio voters will react in November but the signs are promising for Kerry.

[lucky777]

9. This State Sucks -- I hate it here, this is why . . .

Just moved here a year ago from Portland, Oregon. I am a professor who had to move for a better position.

Ohio sucks. It is full of the dumbest, fattest, slowest, most uncreative idiots that I have ever seen. Not a single progressive or interesting idea comes out this state. You can't imagine the people, how disgusting they are. The difference from Portland is just amazing.

People here have the worst taste in music, in food, in cars, in clothes, everything is just AVERAGE. No political events, no interesting rallies, no offbeat looking people, nowhere to walk around, these people are shockingly AVERAGE. Even my students are so totally mundane that they put me to sleep.

This article comes as no surprise!

[acmavm]

10. Whoa dude, sounds like maybe you should go back to Portland. Why

live somewhere that makes you so crazy?

You indicated that you are a professor. Start a movement to try to educate Ohio voters. Take it from one who lives in the land of the walking brain-dead (Nebraska), that's what is needed not only in Ohio, but in every state of the Union. People have gotten so damn lazy that they get upset with the idea that the are expected to think. They want all their info handed to them by Fox, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC. They don't want to have to exert the effort necessary to obtain information, they want it spoon fed to them. And if it's not exactly the truth, who cares. At least they didn't have to work for it.

You have experience in presenting information and intelligence to your students. Make it exciting, interesting, meaningful. Then tell us how we can do the same thing. We all need to get involved. But this place intimidates me, it's so e-i-e-i-o. I was born here, but I will never understand this mentality.

Moving from a progressive area like the Northwest to the Midwest has to be a major culture shock.

[alcuno]

11. lucky 777, I like your honesty.

I love my relatives in Wisconsin, but you could have been writing about them. Being with them has a short shelf life.

[Stuckinthebush]

12. You want a job at The University of Alabama?

I know a few departments that are hiring.

Or perhaps The University of Mississippi. I have a buddy there who can hook you up.

Look....I won't doubt your assertion about Ohio, but my friend, I challenge you to come to the Heart of Dixie and work.

I sure hope critical theory is not one of your areas....you will be sorely disappointed here.

Oh...or philosophy.

Come to think of it, Women's Studies isn't going to be a place with much satisfaction either (although we have a wonderful Women's Studies faculty!).

:D

Just playing with you...good luck. I know how hard it can be.