OH-07:Hillary Clinton endorses Neuhardt

Today Hillary Clinton endorsed Sharen Neuhardt for Congress in Ohio's 7th Congressional District.

Hillary had this to say:“The people of the 7th District have suffered for far too long under failed Republican policies. Sharen Neuhardt will be the freshest voice this District has heard since the Great Depression. She will also be the first woman to stand up and deliver new ideas that this District desperately needs. We cannot let this moment of tremendous change slip away."


“It is going to take hard work and determination to deliver the change the 7th District needs. But we know Sharen Neuhardt will do it and she’ll do it with a Democratic majority in Congress. Let’s move forward and elect Sharen so that we can begin to bring jobs back to the 7th District, provide basic, affordable health care to every person in the District, reduce the number of home foreclosures, and refuel the area with green jobs and green technology. To build on the future of this area, we must elect Sharen Neuhardt the next Congresswoman of the 7th Congressional District,” said Clinton.

Austria In the Pockets of Big Oil, Pharmaceutical and Big Banks

This year Big Oil has made record profits on the backs of Americans through outrageous prices at the pump. For decades in our country health care costs bankrupt seniors and families every day while the pharmaceutical companies fight every attempt to bring those costs down, and for 8 years the actions of the Big Banks pushing their cronies in Congress for less and less regulation has lead to record foreclosures and bringing the country to the brink of economic disaster. Steve Austria has decided to represent them rather then the voters of Ohio's 7th Congressional district.

These corporate special interests are trying to retain their control on Congress by trying to buy the 7th district. Steve Austria has accepted:

At least $111,000 from health care, pharmaceutical and insurance interests, including Pfizer, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Nationwide, and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors;

At least $53,000 from banking and finance interests, including American Banker’s Association, Sallie Mae, National City, and Bank of America; and

At least $36,400 from Big Oil and energy interests, including Marathon, ConocoPhillips, Ashland Oil, and American Gas Association.

The voters of the seventh district deserve a representative in Congress that represents their interests not the corporate special interests. This is why we need Sharen Neuhardt in Congress

Way 2 Go, Moveon.org

Moveon.org has a reputation fairly or not for being the "pit bull" of the left. They have been known for their more controversial commercials and position pieces over the last several elections.

This election I am noticing something different. For one they have closed their 527 and not running as controversial ads that I have seen.

But whats more important is they are having a very positive and visible impact on this campaign.

They are bringing out the volunteers in big numbers to help get the all important grass roots efforts accomplished.

I personally have received a number of calls from them, and this weekend moveon recruited volunteers were very evident at the campaign office I have been helping out at, in Pickerington Ohio.

Keep up the good work moveon.org.

Old Race Baiting Trick a Hoax

Using the oldest Race baiting trick in the world Ashley Todd a 20 year old McCain volunteer claimed she was attacked, beaten, and a B carved in her face because she was a McCain supporter.

Fox News of course and the buffoon Sean Hannity jumped all over this story. McCain himself called the girl.

It turns out it was a Hoax.

KDKA is now reporting that the Pittsburgh Police have now confirmed the entire story was a hoax.

This is the kind of racial fear tactic used years ago making false claims of crimes and attacks by blacks to stir up racial hatred. Remember "To Kill the Mockingbird?"

Apparently some McCain supporters will try anything in their desperation.

Vote Yes on Ohio Issue 6

Everything can be done in excess and be harmful. Spending too much time blogging, eating a lot of fast food, sleeping all the time, and yes alcohol consumption. Gambling like anything can indeed be harmful to those that over do it. Yet many enjoy gambling now and then and doing it for fun without harm to themselves or anyone else.

The government has no more business regulating this activity then regulating the amount of Pepsi one drinks. People who enjoy gambling will find a way to do so, either out of state, through the many loopholes that already exist (charity, lottery, bingo etc.) or they will do it illegally.

Issue 6 will not create any more gambling addicts then already exist. It will just change how and where they do it.

Gambling is seen as immoral by some. Since when is it ok, especially with Democrats, that the Government legislate morality. I think lies are immoral lets make that illegal all the time.

Voting No on Issue 6 will assure the States of Indiana, West Virginia along with illegal operators of gambling establishments will get all of the profits from the Ohio gamblers that go there. Ohio gets nothing.

Gambling is a recreational business there should not be a restriction against it. Vote Yes on 6. This issue allows one casino period, it doesn't turn Ohio into Atlantic City by any means. It brings in tax revenue, jobs and tourism. All things this state needs in this economy.

Vote No on Ohio Issue 5

The payday lending bill that was passed by the state legislature is unnecessary and based on the following myths:

People are being victimized: Victim how? Every Payday Lending clearly displays the fee for the cash advance on signs all over the wall. The Customer signs an agreement and they acknowledge that they understand the fee upfront. There is no way a borrower can say they didn’t know the fee.

391% interest rate: Using annualized interest rate for what is the vast majority of time a two-week loan is disingenuous. The reality is the average is that a customer pays $15 per 100 for a two-week advance. Period. No one pays 361% interest. They pay 15 dollars no more no less. Compare this to the unexplained fees of the credit card companies that can turn a $500 debt to thousands in months.

A cycle of debt: These are two-week loans period. Can people find a way around the rules and use multiple payday lenders to extend the debt. Yes. Are they being stupid in doing so? Yes. But they are no victims. The vast majority of payday lending customers are not frequent customers.

36% interest rate is reasonable: These companies give these short-term loans without credit check. Their default rate is high. Such a limit on interest rates would result in losing money on every transaction. Thus would put an entire industry out of business.

There are too many Pay Day Lending Companies: Myth. Quite clearly there is a need for them or they would not survive. Most people that use these agencies have no other choice then writing bad checks. Lets see, $15 fee per $100 or $50 overdraft fee and possible criminal charges. Seems to me the payday loan is a much better choice.

This Payday lending bill in Ohio is another attempt to protect people who first of all are not complaining, and second of all do not need protecting. It eliminates the one choice many citizens have to obtain short term funds in an emergency.

There are plenty of victims from fraudulent and shady financial practices. However those are not in the payroll lending industry, they are with banks, finance companies, credit card companies and mortgage companies. It is time the Ohio General Assembly look at real problems rather then creating victims

Vote No on Issue 5.

Enough is Enough!

I will not stay quiet while I watch the very basis of our democracy attacked by people wrapping themselves in flags and calling themselves patriots.

I will not stay silent as the Ohio Secretary of State, who is a very capable experienced and knowledgeable public servant, receives death threats, unmarked boxes with powder shipped to them, and cyberhacking of their web site, trying to interfere with our electoral process.

What has made our country unique was that we change leaders peaceably. A rare occurrence in the majority of the nations of the world. This is what has made our country great, it is what has made us the envy of many in the world. And to see this violence, threats and anger being stoked is putting our nation at risk.

Shame on you Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and all those of you that are spewing hate on the air waves. Shame on you people at rallies that scream words like "terrorist, kill him, socialist."

Shame on you John McCain and Sarah Palin who not only allow this to go on but to stoke this anger yourselves. Using the words "socialist" and "paling around with terrorists" are despicable. I used to believe you were a man of honor John McCain, it is quite clear you no longer are.

Shame on those who are attacking those groups that are bringing more Americans into the electoral process with false claims of fraud with not so hidden racism under the surface.

You are not patriots, you do not put "country first," you are instead traitors. Traitor: a person who commits treason by betraying his or her country. Yes John McCain and Sarah Palin and the right wing nut jobs on the radio on Fox News you are indeed traitors. You are responsible for turning our nations peaceful election process into a violent one. Every death threat, every response by bomb squads, every violent act on your behalf you are responsible for.

Reasons to Vote for Obama

Iraq: America and the world was told by our leaders that Iraq was an immediate threat, that they had weapons of Mass Destruction and that they had ties to 9/11. We now know all those things were false. One man in this race had the judgment and foresight to come out against this war and that man was Barack Obama.

The President of the United States not only must use good judgment to get us out of this war responsibly and fast, but use the similar wisdom when deciding to use military force in the future.

Foreign Policy: John Kennedy said one should negotiate not from fear but from a position of strength. Bush and McCain don’t believe we should talk to our enemies at all. Obama has shown the wisdom and vision that we must use diplomacy first with friends and enemies alike. It was negotiations that have prevented many wars, it was negotiations that kept the cold war from becoming the last world war, and it was negotiations that brought peace between Egypt and Israel.

Integrity: Just looking at the commercials run by both McCain and Obama shows a clear difference in integrity. While Obama’s commercials talk about the differences on the issues, McCain’s are full of character attacks and mistruths. Obama has expressed his vision consistently for years, in his speech in 2004, his books, and his current campaign. His positions have been consistent, while McCain has changed his positions on just about every significant issue including torture.

Leadership: While McCain has jumped back and forth on issues, his campaign has floundered from one tactic to another. Barack Obama has inspired a movement. His campaign is clearly run by him, with his vision and his leadership. McCain seems to be run by his campaign staff. Barack draws 10s of thousands, 100,000 just yesterday in St Louis, he does so because of the hope, the vision and the leadership he has displayed. In short Obama leads, McCain reacts.

Economy: It is simple after 8 years of republican economic policies; it is clear to Americans and to the world it has not worked. Joblessness is up, the average American’s income is down, foreclosures are at sick levels, and our banks are in danger of failing. We have gone from a federal surplus to the largest national debt in history. We need change. McCain supported Bush’s policies in his words “90% of the time”, that is not change.

Energy:While John McCain spouts simplistic solutions like "drill here, drill now," Obama shows the vision that we cannot drill our way out of this crisis. We must not only do something about prices at the pump, but we must end our dependence on foreign all for our own security, and me must end or dependence on oil totally for the future of our environment. Barack Obama has comprehensive plans to not only solve our immediate needs for oil but to invest in alternative energy solutions for long term results.

Change: It is not just the policies of the Bush administration that will change; our politics will change under Barack Obama. He has lead a movement. He has brought millions into the political process that have never been there before. Republicans and independents are joining this movement for change with Barack Obama. Such power and enthusiasm will bring change to this nation and the world. McCain will keep us in the failed past with partisan attacks.

Vision: Barack Obama has written two books laying out his incredible vision on every issue and our nation as a whole. He displays the vision in his writing and speeches that show that he sees the problems and he sees the possible solutions. He sees the good and the bad of proposals from all sectors both on the left and right. He has the vision to find the best path among all of those proposals and actually achieve results rather then just partisan knee jerk reactions to such problems.

Faith: Barack Obama has never taken his faith for granted. He found Christianity as an adult. The way he has lived his life, in his career, as a father and as a man has shown the kind of person he is. He has a history of working with faith-based institutions to achieve things to help our citizens. He is a man of love, inclusion and helping his fellow man. He is shown by his actions his moral values.

Taxes: The Republicans have been redistributing our wealth. While the middle class has lost wealth, the rich have gotten richer. This campaign isn’t about socialism. It is about fairness. It is about the middle class paying less of the tax burden and the wealthy paying their fair share. It is about getting rid of the tax breaks for the oil companies and companies shipping jobs over seas, is about giving tax breaks to 95% of Americans. It is Barack Obama that will do that, not John McCain.

Health Care: No one disputes that our health care system is a mess. No matter how hard you work in life, how right you do everything in savings and insurance, one major illness, one lost job can cause it all to tumble. Just getting suggested tests in physicals can end up costing you thousands. McCain wants to damage the one part of health care that works, employer provided health care. He wants to tax health benefits. Obama wants to improve the rules on pre existing conditions; he wants to give Americans options including employer provided, individual plans and federal plans. Quite clearly Obama wants to take what works and improve what doesn’t and McCain wants to destroy the only part that is working.

Guns: Barack Obama believes the second amendment guarantees the individual right to bear arms. He has no desire to take away your guns. He does believe that responsible restrictions should be allowed to restrict the type of weapons people have in communities for the safety of that community. Having weapons for hunting and protection is one thing, owning flame throwers are not. McCain has no vision on guns he just follows the NRA line.

Wisdom: For their Vice Presidential running mates, John McCain chose Sarah Palin, Barack Obama chose Senator Joe Biden. Need I say anything more.

You: The republican’s election after election have managed to distract voters away from the issues that actually affect each of us every day. Health Care, Jobs, the Economy, Education are examples. Election and election we have voted against our own self-interests, this time we must use our own experiences and our own checkbooks to decide who to vote for. If we do that, the clear choice is Barack Obama.

Obama singing national anthem and doing the pledge

I seriously can't believe this crap is still being spread out there. Apparently there are those with no common sense at all. But I was requested to provide proof so here it is.



Note: I have been to a number of Obama sponsored rallies. At every single one the pledge has been said at the beginning.



Here is the full video where that picture was taken from, as you can clearly see it is not the pledge of allegiance but the National Anthem and Obama is singing the anthem, others are not.



Ok now open your eyes and start looking at what is true. The state of our economy, our respect around the world, and who is clearly a great leader that can bring our country out of the depths caused by 8 years of the worst President in history.

OH-07:Dayton Daily News Endorses Neuhardt, Calls Austria Shameless

The Dayton Daily News has endorsed Sharen Neuhardt. Here are some highlights from their endorsement:

"Sen. Austria has not earned a major promotion. The 7th District should be looking for somebody better."

"He is not associated with any exceptional accomplishment in the Legislature. "

"If the voters of the 7th District choose Sen. Austria, they are settling for mediocrity [...]"

"The rookie is the better, bolder, more optimistic choice."

Read full endorsement

Also the Dayton Daily News had an editorial entitled "Austria's Attacks are Shameless" they wrote: "The issue arises because, in meetings and debates, Sen. Austria has accused Ms. Neuhardt of "harboring" an illegal immigrant and behaving unprofessionally as an "officer of the court." (She is a lawyer.) So you might yet see ugly TV commercials.

If Sen. Austria makes that move, he's engaging in gutter politics of the most despicable sort."

"This country's policy of providing asylum to people who face persecution — bureaucratic as the process is — speaks to our sense of humanity. Sen. Austria needs to display that same sense of decency."

Read full Editorial

OH-07: Steve Austria's Lies Exposed

Olbermann:McCain Campaign, Clear and Present Danger to this Nation

Republicans are Threatened By Democracy

As we watch all of the demonization of ACRON for registering voters, the lawsuits attempted against same day voting, the complaints about early voting, the attempts to disenfranchise voters with caging, one thing is clear, the Republicans must hate Democracy.

For years it has been an embarrassment that the model for democracy to the world has such low voter turnouts. Yet whenever there are grass roots efforts to increase the turnout the Republicans panic and fight it every step of the way.

Republicans don't want democracy, they want control. As long as we have a Democratic Secretary of State that has done great things to improve the reliability and efficiency in Ohio's elections, they will try to vilify her. As long as groups are successful at registering new voters, they will try to claim fraud, as long as it is made easier to vote, they will fight to make it harder.

Republicans may wrap themselves in the flag but when it comes down to the basic tenant of democracy they are opposed to it whole heartedly.

OH-07:Video: Steve Austria lies about Rwandan refugee

Austria spews his lies and Sharen Smacks him down.



Keep this Cowardly Liar out of Congress
Beat the Coward Fund

OH-07: 7th District Debate Video

You can watch the entire debate between the candidates for the 7th Congressional District here.



WBNS 7TH District Debate

OH-07:Austria Shows He is a Cowardly Liar in Debate

This morning the debate of the candidates for Ohio's 7th Congressional District was taped. In that debate as Sharen talked about the economic issues that are affecting so many Ohioans, Steve Austria chose to once again spread lies and innuendo. He again used a victim of Rwandan genocide to attempt to score cheap political points.

He claimed the refugee was illegal, which court records have proven otherwise. He tried to make an innuendo concerning the refugee's social security card which was also obtained legally.

Sharen blasted Austria for this stunt and fought back with the truth. Austria was only able to keep repeating his lies and smears, hoping if he said it often enough the facts will change.

Be sure to watch the debate when it airs at 10pm on Tuesday on ONN. Channel 10 in Columbus will show it at 2:05 am on Wednesday, and ONN will replay it at 2pm October 19th and November 1.

Also help Sharen get her television ads on television and keeping the coward Steve Austria out of Congress.


Beat the Coward Fund

May God's Will be Done

Growing up those were the words that we spoke to end many prayers. To this day it is a prayer and hope I still have every day. Like many I often through my own upbringing and beliefs and knowledge of the bible, have opinions on what God's will is. But I am just a man and how arrogant or self elevating it would be for me to ever assume or state that I know what God's will is.

That is the difference between me and many of those out there that are constantly telling you they know what his will is. That you must believe or vote a certain way because it is God's will. How egotistical. How dangerous.

No man can ever totally understand the will of God. So when anyone tries to tell you that its God's will that this person or that person be elected, or you must support this party or that party, that is wrong. Anyone that tries to elevate themselves to such importance should not be trusted and be avoided at all costs.

This election isn't about believers versus non believers. One wing of Christianity versus another, one religion against another. How one votes does not define how christian one is.

There are many things that I believe are christian values, among them are honesty, helping those less fortunate, loving your neighbor, and loving God. I do not believe that hate, fear, and spreading false smears are.

Yes as a Christian I do want God's will to be done. Also as a Christian I believe that regardless of who wins this election, it will be. Therefore I support the man I find that is more in line with my beliefs, on leadership, foreign policy, economic policy and yes moral values. In my case that man is Barack Obama. Another may find that man to be John McCain, that difference in beliefs makes neither of us a better or worse Christian.

What Austria Doesn't Want You to Know

HE IS A REPUBLICAN!

Austria is running a television attack ad in the Columbus Market and no doubt other places. Like on his literature and most of his campaign materials he fails to mention one important fact, that he is a Republican.

In fact he is trying to imply he isn't. In the piece he criticizes Neuhardt for supporting the Economic Recovery Act, though neither Sharen or Austria actually voted for or against it since neither is in Congress yet. Sharen however did come out and take a stand in support of the package, Austria as usual tried to play both sides and now he claims he is against the act despite it was his President that brought the need for the act to Congress. In addition Austria's mentor Hobson voted for the measure both times. Incredibly Austria is showing that he is clueless as he is claiming the act didn't work. When anyone with a brain knows the features of the plan will take some time to implement. So clearly since none of it has taken effect yet, it hasn't worked, yet.

Austria also in his commercial is accusing Neuhardt of being "willing to bailout the fat cats." This is quite interesting since Austria's campaign has been funded by PACs with ties to Enron and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Some of his biggest contributors are banks and investment companies such as Citigroup, Huntington and Goldman Sachs. Who is in bed with the "fat cats?"

Austria once again shows he is nothing but a career politician with no regard for the truth. He wants to fool the voters to believe he is some populist when in fact he is part of the Good Ole Boy Republican Money Machine.

The Committee for "Truth" in Politics hits Ohio

A completely false and deceptive anti Obama ad is being run in Ohio paid for by The Committee for Truth in Politics. This organization was incorporated one week ago by North Carolina Attorney Bill Peaslee, formerly the chief of staff of the North Carolina Republican Party.

This name of this organization similarly uses the word "truth" as did the name "Vietnam Veterans for Truth" the organization that ran the false Swift Boat attacks against Kerry in 2004.The incorporator and sole director of the Committee for Truth is NC attorney Bill Peaslee, formerly the chief of staff, legal counsel and political director for the North Carolina Republican Party.

Fact: It always has been and remains the law to make all attempts to save the life of a newborn child regardless of the circumstances of the child's birth. The Law Obama voted against was in fact an attempt to overturn Roe Vs Wade. It had no effect whatsoever on the existing laws.

From fightthesmears.com: Rick Winkel, a Republican former state senator who sponsored the “Born Alive” bill, wrote in a Letter to the Editor, “None of those who voted against SB-1082 favored infanticide.”

Barack's actual position on partial birth abortions is this, he said in April 2008, "On an issue like partial birth abortion, I strongly believe that the state can properly restrict late-term abortions. I have said so repeatedly. All I've said is we should have a provision to protect the health of the mother, and many of the bills that came before me didn't have that."

I find it amazing that these so people that claim they are advocating for "Moral" issues seem to have forgotten that one of the 10 Commandments is: "Thou shall not bear false witness."

McCain tries to put the toothpaste back in the tube

After a week of McCain, his campaign and his Vice Presidential nominee spewing hate, division, and all kinds viral attacks on Obama that have little to do with truth, today McCain asked his supporters to be respectful. Meanwhile he is still running a hate ad on television in Ohio saying Obama is "dishonorable," "increases risk on the troops," and the ultimate fear line, "who is Barack Obama?"

McCain has been following the slippery slope right wing hate radio tactics by all week long. Repeating lies and innuendo that is usually the turf of the right wing wacko radio talkers like Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity, and O'Liar. It backfired.

Not only have the polls shown his negatives going through the roof, but Obama is making great gains in poll after poll. Now even Republican leaders have been criticizing and separating themselves from McCain.

Can McCain put the toothpaste back in the tube. It is too little too late. McCain has shown he has no honor in this campaign. He is not fit to be President.

The ACORN conspiracy theory

FAUX news and the far right are going ballistic over the voting registration drives by ACORN which by the way stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

Lets look at the facts. ACORN does do voter registration drives. ACORN represents groups that do lean democratic. Obama did represent ACORN in a legal matter years ago. ACORN hires people for $8 an hour to help with their voter registration drives. Some of these employees have defrauded ACORN by submitting false voter registration forms.

ACORN fires those they find are submitting false registrations. ACORN themselves notify authorities of any suspected fraud and work with authorities on any investigations. National Public Radio reports that they contacted several local officials and they confirmed that ACORN was indeed trying to clean up their act.

From NPR: Mike Slater is the executive director of Project Vote, which helps ACORN with its voter registration drives. He says it's the Republicans who are causing confusion and misleading voters. He says the RNC has distorted the group's record, and that actually ACORN is the one pointing out registration problems to local election officials. Slater says ACORN is the victim of a few bad workers (it hires people at $8.00 an hour) who are trying to defraud them. He adds: "It's like the RNC having a news conference every time a Wal-Mart employee is fired for theft."

Fact: Obama never worked as a community organizer for Acorn, he did not work as a trainer for them, nor was ACORN involved in the successful Project Vote project that Obama was part of in 1992.

There is only one tie between Obama and ACORN. From fightthesmears.com: In his capacity as an attorney, Barack represented ACORN in a successful lawsuit alongside the U.S. Department of Justice against the state of Illinois to force state compliance with a federal voting access law. For his work helping enforce the law, called “Motor Voter,” Barack received the IVI-IPO Legal Eagle Award in 1995.

This is clearly an attempt to paint the work of this organization as some evil conspiracy, when the reality is the Republicans are always threatened when more people vote. Republicans have a long history of voter suppression, ACORN is one of many organisations that have brought more Americans to participate in our democracy.

There is no fraud here unless people use false registrations to vote which is unlikely. At worst it is poor oversight by ACORN organizers. Because it is does slow down and increase the work of Boards of Elections ACORN does need to improve their management of the registration process.

Read ACORN's side on The Kicker

Former GOP Governor: Who is John McCain?

Today former Michigan Governor William Milliken is quoted in the Grand Rapids Press: "He is not the McCain I endorsed,He keeps saying, 'Who is Barack Obama?' I would ask the question, 'Who is John McCain?' because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me."

Milliken who endorsed McCain in the primaries went on to say:"I'm disappointed in the tenor and the personal attacks on the part of the McCain campaign, when he ought to be talking about the issues."

Quite clearly the dishonorable tactics of McCain and his campaign staff are backfiring. Not only with independent voters but leaders in their own party as well.

OH-07:Austria's Poll A Joke

The Austria campaign and Weapons of Mass Distraction is touting a poll that shows that he leads Sharen Neuhardt by 24%. Once again the Austria Campaign and their supporters are "factually challenged."

The Poll was commissioned not by an independent pollster but by the National Republican Campaign Committee. The polling firm used, the Tarrance Group describes itself as a "national Republican polling firm."

Here is the laugher, the sample size was 300. There are 300,000 active voters in the 7th district not counting the huge numbers of newly registered voters.

Finally there is no information on the question actually asked in the poll. This is information that all reputable pollsters provide. Since Austria doesn't even inform voters in his campaign literature that he is a Republican its unlikely that it was mentioned in the poll either.

Steve Austria actually said, ""I am, however, disappointed that my opponent has decided to go negative this week instead of talking about the issues."

This is the man that used Sharen's legal assistance for a victim of Rwandan genocide as a political smear.


The good news is lets hope the Republicans believe this poll and put their PAC money elsewhere.

An Open Letter to Senators Voinovich and Brown

Dear Senators,

The hate speech and the rhetoric by the McCain campaign questioning the character of another United States Senator is sickening. It is a black mark on the reputation and the history of the United States Senate.

Campaigning is one thing, but this has gone way over any line of integrity and morality.

I demand that you and others in the United States Senate make a statement publicly and to the McCain campaign that this is not acceptable.

Joseph A. Ritchey Jr.

Contact George Voinovich

Contact Senator Brown

Like McCain, Austria Depending on False Smears

It has been clear the last few weeks that the McCain campaign unable to defend their stance on the real issues affecting Americans primarily the state of the economy, that their only strategy left has been to resort to false smears and innuendo. The Austria Campaign is no different.

Steve Austria that has not offered a single new idea throughout his campaign and has tried to run repeating the word liberal as many times as possible, went into the dirt a few weeks ago spreading a false attack about Neuhardt harboring an illegal immigrant. This of course has been proven totally false by court documents that have been reported on this blog and widely on the internet and the media.

Despite being found to be totally false the Austria Campaign continues this attack by leaving their press release concerning this on the front page of their web site. Including the outright lie in the piece claiming they were first made aware of this by the Dayton Daily News, when the reality is they have been shopping this false story around for weeks and a Dayton Daily News reporter finally fell for it.

Austria has shown he has no integrity and is not fit to hold any elected office. We must work to make Sharen Neuhardt our representative in Congress.

Is there a reverse Bradley effect?

There has been a lot of talk by the media about "The Bradley Effect" which as I understand it is named after Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles. This is a theory that there is evidence that some are not comfortable telling pollsters they are voting against an African-American so they don't appear racist.

Now based on my own experiences talking to voters, friends and family in central and southeast Ohio, I don't doubt there may be some of that going on, but I am also noticing something else, what I call a reverse Bradley effect. This is that there are a number of people that feel Barack Obama is the best candidate and intend to vote for him, but don't want anyone to know it. Like there is some irrational fear of their friends and neighbors reactions. One example I heard from someone that once told me that Barack is the best of the two, didn't want a yard sign because he said, "I'm not a Democrat."

There has been for a long time this cultural belief that being successful goes with being a republican. In business meetings and in the suburbs it is seemingly the thing to do to be part of the in crowd. Democrats often when discussions of politics come up are very quiet about their own beliefs in these circles to avoid confrontation. This is even more evident this time in the suburban white community since this time there is an African American candidate running.

So my belief based completely on anecdotal evidence is that there are a significant number of Obama supporters that are being secretive about it. Does this offset the traditional Bradley effect? I guess we will find out on November 4th.

Lincoln Chafee in Pickerington

I had the opportunity to attend a Town Hall sponsored by the Pickerington Ohio Campaign for Change with former Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. Senator Chafee was a Republican Senator then turned Independent and is now a supporter of Barack Obama. Senator Chafee was introduced by a former Republican county chairman in Michigan that now is an Obama supporter living in Pickerington.

Chafee spoke about his conservative values in regards to fiscal policies, involving our troops in quagmires, and environmental policies. He pointed at that with the support of McCain and the far right wing of the Republican party these conservative values have been lost.

The Senator talked of his disappointments in the Bush administration, primarily Bush's campaign promises of working across the isle and having a non arrogant foreign policy. When the reality is Bush has done quite the opposite and McCain has made it clear he would be even more arrogant on foreign policy.

Chafee said that being an independent now he had the opportunity to choose a candidate in this election based on the men themselves not just based on party loyalty. He said he researched, read both of Barack Obama's books, read the policies of both and found that for him the clear choice for our country's future was Barack Obama.

He spoke of how the world is waiting for Americans to choose a man like Barack Obama, to show them that the years of the Bush administration were not what America is about but in fact the real America is one of reaching out and diplomacy and moral values and actions around the world.

A rather emotional moment occurred when a couple that are immigrants from Liberia expressed their thanks to Senator Chafee for his support and his voice to help stop the genocide in their home country.

Not Just Numbers

Vote Early for Barack Obama and Sharen Neuhardt!

Neuhardtforcongress.com

How's Obama doing in Southeast Ohio?

Conventional wisdom is that Southeast Ohio is a tough area for Obama to garner much support. Imagine my surprise when I saw this on Blue Ave. in the north end of Zanesville yesterday. This is a primary road where the high school is located.



This is just one block of this street that had several blocks of yard after yard with Obama signs. I counted at least 25 Obama signs in a 3 block area. I saw one McCain sign.