I know it's heresay but regarding Blackwell

[kerry2win]

a freind of my send a letter to newschannel 5, a local ABC station ,regarding Blackweell and all the things he's done to suppress the vote etc..She got a response back Thursday saying that they were aware of this and that there were other things that the national ABC company was looking into about him. I know its heresay but it wouldn't suprise me a bit if something caught up with him soon. It was just posted in the state forums he now allowing provisional ballots missing birthdates to be accepted, so is he feeling the heat?

[Rjnerd]

1. I would write back asking

If they say "we know all of this", why aren't they saying anything abouyt it?

After Florida, how did HAVA manage to not include "you can't be in charge of the vote, and campaign chair of someone on the ballot"... Yea, I know the answer, but it is a question that needs to be publically asked...

[ailsagirl]

2. I would be surprised

if he were reprimanded in any way. Katherine Harris (remember her?) is now a member of Congress!!

I've gotten pretty cynical the last four years...

[NEOBuckeye]

4. Blackwell's got his eyes on Ohio's Governor's Mansion in 2006

But he's made MANY enemies here, particularly within his own party. GOP Speaker of the Ohio House Larry Householder was working on a multi-million dollar campaign to destroy Blackwell's name and career, until his own misdeeds caught up with him. Householder, however, still has many allies who despise Blackwell just as much, and will work to stop him in the primaries, if not sooner.

The good news in all of this, of course, is that the Ohio Dems will be able to capitalize on all the Repug infighting and division. Given the fools who run this state and its' sorry condition, 2006 will be the best opportunity in quite a while for the Democrats to make major gains in state government.

[Philostopher]

3. Also reputed, but the Ohio GOP isn't necessarily going to back him ...

he wants to run for governor in 2006, but they'd prefer Jim Petro, who has no record of vote suppression or anything else that would likely lose him votes. Petro is a white Christian Republican with nothing nasty in his background -- the ideal Republican candidate, in other words.

Blackwell went off a couple of weeks ago and claimed he'd run as an Independent, if he didn't get the GOP endorsement or win their primary for governor. I don't know as he'd win if he ran against Petro in the primaries, since there are many southern Ohio (read 'migrated Appalachian') Repubs who vote in those primaries, and they're unlikely to vote for an 'uppity' minority candidate (sorry if that sounds judgmental, but I grew up in southern Ohio and know the mentality of the Repukes down there better than most do).

Needless to day, Ohio Dems are salivating at the prospect -- if Blackwell and Petro split the Repuke party, and the way Blackwell screwed himself with minority voters by suppressing their votes this year, any reasonably high-profile and/or clean Dem could take them in '06.

Strickland? Fingerhut? History calls! I know Jerry Springer's talking about running, but as 'God' is my witness, if it's Springer against either or both of them, I'll register as a Repuke just to vote for Blackwell in 'their' primary to screw the Ohio GOP to the wall.

Oh, yeah -- I'm done losing in Ohio. Blackwell can't win against anybody with a reasonably clean record, so I'd be more than happy to help split the Ohio GOP if it comes to that!

[NEOBuckeye]

5. Everything I'm hearing now says Strickland has the popular edge.

Though I live here, I know next to nothing about the man, other than that he can effectively reach out to conservatives in the Red rural counties. That can only be a good thing for a Dem candidate, since he'll already have the backing of the Blue urban counties.

Seems to be the kind of candidate we need in this state. We certainly can't get any more abysmal than the last contest between Hagan and Taft.

[Philostopher]

6. Strickland is pretty moderate.

It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Mostly, Strickland gets pegged as a moderate due to his gun control stance -- comparable with Howard Dean's, actually, which leaves gun control options up to the locality instead of being even a state-level issue.

He used to handle Brown and Clermont Counties, before they redistricted (read 'gerrymandered') that part of the state, but I don't think this is irrelevant down along the eastern Ohio River corridor either. Has to do with hunting guns, and I have to admit, having grown up in a rural county myself, I can see the wisdom of letting the townships make these decisions too.

On other things, apparently, he's progressive enough -- he was against the gay-hate inspired Issue 1, and though he doesn't like government funding for abortion, he's not for repealing Roe V. Wade.

He's a genuine Ohio moderate, and he's definitely a good speaker. He's on the left side of most of the same moderate issues that Voinovich was, I think he might not be a bad alternative on the ballot for that.

The Ohio Dem party's ineffectual weight is pretty much all Hagan has to blame for not beating Taft last time. There was no reason other than a mishandling of funds that Hagan didn't beat him -- and he didn't lose by an unbeatable margin, I think it was around 15%. Strickland might pick up that much with the 'gun vote,' I don't know.

It definitely will make for an interesting run.

[Eric J in MN]

8. Is Ohio Sec. of State an appointed position, or was he elected? (nt)

nt

[Philostopher]

12. It's an elected position, in Ohio.

And yes, it's partisan.

Which disgusts me beyond measure, that any partisan -- regardless if s/he's on my side or not -- could have that much control over the disposition of an election.

[Straight Shooter]

7. Ask her to send the response to you, so you can post it here

If the response is in the form of an e-mail, she is willing to do that, isn't she?

That would certainly be major news for them to admit they know he's suppressing the vote, etc. I can't imagine why they would share something like that with her.

[kerry2win]

11. I'll check with her a.s.a.p.

[Eric J in MN]

9. the spelling is 'hearsay,'

as in something heard.

[kerry2win]

10. probably ...I'm a plumber