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Sunday, July 24, 2005

OH-2: Live From My Hotel Room

Posted by Tim Tagaris

Since I arrived in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District to support Paul Hackett, I have been doing a lot of writing on the race. Unfortunately, much of it has been cross-posted here, there, and many other places to get as much traffic and as many volunteers and contributions as possible directed to the Hackett campaign. In the shuffle, Swing State Project readers have been deprived of the exclusive reporting you deserve when a co-author from the site is on-the-ground. So, for you, exclusively, here is my take after two days in SW Ohio.

I arrived on Friday afternoon and had no idea of what to expect. When I walked into Hackett for Congress Campgaign HQ, I was introduced to people, most in the office knew about Swing State Project and some of the work Bob, David, and I have done for the campaign, but I am not sure they many have made the connection to the huge role "Blogosphere Day" played in mobilizing contributions to the campaign. The campaign manager and the candidate do understand, for what its worth, and asked me to thank you (SSP readers & Bloggers at large) specifically for your hard work and contributions that day.

Clermont County Democratic Headquarters and Hackett for Congress Campaign HQ are right next to eachother. It's in the mid 90's right now, but neither of the offices have air conditioning that works consistently. That has not stopped both of them from being filled on a daily basis. For 72 hours straight, the offices have been staffed, even through the night, by people from inside the district and others who have come in to help from different organizations--primarily D.C. Across the street is Republican Party Headquarters, staring each other down on a daily basis.

One of my first in-depth discussions was with the Campaign Manager, David Woodruff. The first question he asked me was, "How did blogosphere day happen? Why did it happen?" We talked for about 15 minutes about the convergence of events that played off eachother to squeeze out every ounce of support the campaign received that day. The DFA email, the grassroots produced commercial, and the work of bloggers spreading the word all worked together synergistically to provide what can be termed (for lack of a better word), "A Perfect Storm" online.

On Friday night, a few of the people from Ohio and outside the state all went out to share a meal together at around 9 P.M. Back at headquarters, walk-lists were being spit out of a printer for the next days canvass. When we were done talking about this campaign, and other many of us had worked on, we headed back to campaign headquarters. I polished off a blog entry, and left with a member of the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) to check into the hotel room we are sharing for the week. Then, we enjoyed a few hours out at a local pub while sharing stories about Ohio politics, the upcoming canvass, and the impact blogs have had on the political process and how the Internet can be used effectively by the ODP (This will Earl happy, we had a long discussion about Orchid Suites).

I shook out the cobwebs at around 7 A.M. the next morning to get ready for the canvass. As you have no doubt read by now, it was a tremendous success. People at campaign headquarters were beaming all afternoon about the success of the first full-scale, district-wide, canvass that covered all seven counties in the district. I spent much of the day getting photos uploaded onto my computer and writing the piece that I put out yesterday. I also had an opportunity to have some lunch with Chris Baker of The OH-2 blog; that's the one that really started it all as far as online knowledge distribution goes for the special election. For the rest of the day/night, I had some serious problems uploading the video from the event, but late last night at around midnight, and I finally got it to work and posted them on the web this afternoon.

In about an hour, I am going to head out into some of the smaller counties to take photos for Grow Ohio. The photo I am most excited about is an abandonded manufacturing plant with a huge sign infront of it that says, "Wal-Mart coming soon." If that doesn't say it all...

In short, I didn't know if I would be able to honestly tell the readers of Swing State Project and others around the blogosphere that this candidate actually had a shot. To be sure, it will be an uphill battle where pretty much everything must go right. Will it? I don't know. But what I do know for sure is that everything that has had to happen, is happening. If we can keep this up for another week and continue to improve upon our efforts, we just might see one of the biggest upsets in Ohio Congressional history unfold on August 2nd.

Posted at 02:21 PM in Ohio | Technorati

Comments

Awesome! Thanks so much for the exclusive update, Tim!

Posted by: DavidNYC at July 24, 2005 04:16 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I live in San Francisco. I've been supporting with donations and blog entries since right after the primary. I can't make it to Ohio, so I really appreciate all the boots-on-the-ground updates. It makes me feel like I'm there. Thank you so much.

Posted by: NBachers at July 24, 2005 06:00 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Tim,
Your blogging the past couple weeks, on SSP, GrowOhio, and dKos has been absolutely awesome. A lot of the online support and contributions for Paul Hackett probably would not have happened had it not been for your writing. Please keep doing what you're doing!

On a side note: How is the Reform Ohio signature gathering going? Have you received any updates since they told you they had 350,000 of the 450,000? Also, the answer is probably 'no', but are the Hackett canvassers also getting signatures for Reform Ohio?

Thanks!

-Francisco

Posted by: Fran for Dean at July 24, 2005 06:18 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

What were your opinions regarding Orchid Suites?

Posted by: Lavoisier1794 at July 24, 2005 11:22 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

The Smoke Eater

Bloody Corporation Jean Schmidt

By: Peter Deane

The first time I saw the Cincinnati President of Pro-Life, Jean Schmidt, was when she was debating in Anderson Township for the Republican Primary. During the debate she mentioned that there was no dirt in her closest. I took her for her word and only gave it a second glimpse. I thought for sure that someone else would win the Republican primary for the 2nd Congressional District. She seemed phony. I believe my intuitions were right.

Soon after her win in the Republican Primaries it was disclosed that she did not file money from gifts that she received from a night out on the town with the Chiron Corporation.

Chiron is a biotech company that’s a favorite to the Pro-Life movement. At the time, Chiron was lobbying Jean to create a cystic fibrosis task force. A month later she co-sponsored a bill that created a cystic fibrosis task force with Chiron. Recently English health officials stopped Chiron from distributing and making flu vaccines when inspectors found unsanitary conditions in the labs. It also caused a panic here in the United States as our flu vaccination came into short supply. Remember the lines?

Her opponent Paul Hackett doesn’t like the fact that Jean Schmidt didn’t disclose the gifts from Chiron, Hackett said of her not disclosing, “She should have known better. What is going to happen when Jean Schmidt goes to Washington and they start throwing really big money at her?"

But it looks as if big money is already being thrown her way. Many donors to her campaign are also donors that give to Planned Parenthood. Jean Schmidt is the President of Cincinnati Right to Life. Corporations that give to Pro-Choice organizations are often boycotted organizations such as Right to Life.

And what organizations is Jean Schmidt now receiving money for her campaign. Currently on her FEC form 6 contributions, the Schmidt for Congress Committee is ringing in money received from many corporations that give to Pro-Choice organizations. That would be called blood money to anyone that’s Pro-Life. Why would the president of Pro-life Cincinnati accept such a donation from corporations that her organization deems baby killers? Lets just take a look at several of them giving to Jean’s campaign.

RJ Reynolds, if you are employed by them they’ll match your donation to Planned Parenthood. Jean gladly accepted their donation of $1,000. The American Medical Association is backing a proposal that would force pharmacists to dispense abortifacients.

And how much did The American Medical Association give Jean? $5,000! She probably was smiling all the way to the bank on that one. They are even for right to consent for minors.

Phillip Morris is on a list called Boycotts for Life. Boycotts for Life is an organization that only lists companies that give money to organizations that provide abortions and/or abortion counseling, or have made a profit through the use or sale of products that induce abortions. Also, on their website is a statement that states "each time you buy something from those companies (Like Phillip Morris), directly or indirectly, some of your money is spent to help murder an innocent unborn baby." Altria Group is the parent company of Phillip Morris and gave Jean's campaign $2,500. As the president of Right to Life why doesn’t Jean honor this Boycott for Life? When an organization like Boycotts for Life boycotts it means no giving and no taking. I wonder if Jean hides this one in her pipe and smokes it. She took the $2,500 from them.

General Electric is one of the biggest military contractors in the nation and they’re also being boycotted. A group that calls itself Children of God for Life list them on a boycott sheet, not because of the war, but because of their pursuit of embryonic stem cell research. What would the kids in March od Dimes think of this?

Pfizer, they too match their employee donations to Planned Parenthood and also make a drug called Cytotec which induces abortions. Jean Schmidt, received a check for $1,000 from Pfizer. I wonder what the Children of God would think of Jean Schmidt accepting a donation of $1,000 from a company like this.

The Fluor Corporation Pac also gave to Jean’s campaign. Fluor along with Halliburton is part of the six corporations chosen by President Bush to bid on contracts for Iraq’s future. There’s money to be made in the Mid-east and Fluor donated $2,500 to Jean’s war chest. What defense corporation wouldn’t want another rubber stamp like Jean on the House Floor?

Last but not least is the Exxon Corporation. There’s a big concern about mega-farms taking hold in the 2nd District of Ohio, this is all about the false dream of ethanol -- Jean Schmidt states that she "likes the smell of it!" Who but Jean and ill-informed farmers are supporting this idea?

Even the CEO of Exxon, Lee R. Raymond, of Exxon Mobile would disagree on ethanol saving us from our current energy crises. Petroleum World published an article in June of 2004, featuring Raymond in which he said, “Currently, ethanol from corn is neither an economic nor energy-efficient choice, as it can require more energy to produce than it generates in the end. And it relies upon using significant land areas, land that would otherwise go to food crops or forest cover.”

He then continued, “To give you some perspective, if we tried to replace just 10 percent of the gasoline the U.S. will use in 2020 with corn-based ethanol, we would need to plant an area equivalent to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio solely to grow the grain needed as feedstock. The difficulty of that can be appreciated when you realize that this area is about one-sixth of the land we currently use in the United States for growing all our crops.” Exxon Corp also matches funds of their employees to Planned Parenthood. Considered blood money to any Pro-Life president, but the president of Right to Life Cincinnati, Jean Schmidt, took the $1,000 without any comments about the Exxon offere to her campaign.

I believe that Jean’s true colors are dripping. It’s red and human, and the only green fields we see coming from the president of Right to Life becomes stuffed in already paid-for corporate energy and biotech Pro-Life pockets. There’s enough soiled dirt in Jean Schmidt's closet to create the next plague or dust bowl in the 2nd District of Ohio.

In 2004 Cincinnati Right to Life of Cincinnati published a national newsletter which went to all the then-known pro-life organizations. It recommended a boycott of the March of Dimes. Yes, her organization, Right to Life of Cincinnati was a leader in the boycott of the March of Dimes, that’s sad. Cures are to be made for the living, the dead are dead as dead can be. I believe in only one resurection. And sometimes through a march of dimes we find the answer.

Did Schmidt boycott the March of Dimes because of Right to Life of Cincinnati wanted to take them over using a biotech corporation called Chiron? It seems as if her Pro-Life organization has become another greedy corporation. I'm for life but not like Jean Schmidt... with me I don't even try to hide any money.

Cheers, Paul Hackett… and thank you!

You battle across the ocean and battle now in my back yard,

your spirit shall never be forgotten by many… may you remain with us!

From Warren County where corruption is all about the land,

Paul Hackett away across the Northern boundary,

into a great city called Cincinnati/Hamilton County -- violence,

Paul Hackett away across the Western shore and may it fall in Indiana,

into Clermont County where deals are made with dying corporations,

Paul Hackett away… Paul Hackett away… Paul Hackett away…

sharpen your axes… it’s time we Paul Hackett on August 2nd.

into a County called Brown where corporations think of ethanol plants and low pay,

Paul Hackett away… Paul Hackett away… Paul Hackett away…

sharpen your axes… it’s time we Paul Hackett on August 2nd.

into a County called Adams where life is not what it used to be,

Paul Hackett away… Paul Hackett away… Paul Hackett away…

sharpen your axes… it’s time we go Paul Hackett on August 2nd.

into Scioto County where good paying jobs miss a good education,

Paul Hackett away across the Eastern tear and may it fall into West Virginia,

from also Pike County where recognition for good things done are never given due,

Paul Hackett away across the Northern Boundary and may it fall into Canada.

Paul Hackett away… Paul Hackett away… Paul Hackett away…

sharpen your axes… it’s time to vote Paul Hackett on August 2nd.

Cheers to Paul Hackett… the next Representative of the 2nd District in the State of Ohio.

You fought hard for us… we’ll fight for you!

Must we never forget the service you have given,

past… present… and may you be in our future…

Paul Hackett… I hope with all my heart… our next Representative!

Sincerely,

A Proud Citizen of the 2nd District of the State of Ohio,

Peter A. Deane

Posted by: The Smoke eter at July 25, 2005 01:01 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment