kylesisk.typepad.com

Statistic of the Day

An alternative fuel source you may not have heard about is making some interesting advances technologically...algae...turning the green scum that grows in ponds and waterways into fuel.

Currently, there are two speed bumps to making this a viable alternative fuel source:

1) Making the mass scale production of it cost effective, and

2) The pond method would require 30 million square acres -- an area equal to the size of South Carolina -- to grow enough algae to satisfy the U.S.'s transportation needs*

*2004 University of New Hampshire study

Quote of the Day

"The difference between a tourist and a traveler is that a tourist seeks only comfort while a traveler seeks discovery. They take more risks. They get pleasure in overcoming difficulties and discomforts, and they seek out the people."--Lea Lane

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE...

"WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE..." is penned by my friend Goose who needs to book his 
tickets soon for a flight to Chicago to join me for the U2 concert in September
in the Windy City...hint hint.


 


Call me a movie geek, but I just heard the news that a movie of the classic
children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak is being made
into a movie. It comes out this October. That's the good news. The great
news is that Spike Jonze is directing (and co-writing the screenplay). For
those of you who enjoyed Being John Malkovich or Adaptation, you'll
understand why I'm psyched. For those who saw but didn't enjoy those
movies, I pity your meaningless existence.
 
Here's the trailer, with music by Arcade Fire:
 
  http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2977497881/
 
 
Rock on.
 
G.
 

Kevin Boyce should be in professional sports

Seriously.

The guy has not been a statewide officeholder for three months and he is already talking about himself in the third person.  F-ing unbelievable.

Here is his quote from the end of the blo..um sorry...I'll keep it PG-13 ... article from last Thursday in a newspaper in Ohio.  And, no, I won't humor the article with a link.  You can find it yourself.

Here is Kevin Boyce's quote verbatim:

''I'm confident that the Democratic Party and the governor will be there with me, but Kevin Boyce has got to work for this effort and this cause, and I've got to be the biggest cheerleader and champion of that, and that's what I am relying on most."

Sounds like he missed his calling.

Consistency...if we can't ask for anything else can we at least get that???

First, in the spirit of full disclosure, let me say that I am not a fan of the bailouts.  At all.  Period.

That said, I live in the real world and with Barack as Prez and Harry & Nancy at their respective helms I knew they were coming...and coming...and coming...and...you get the picture.

As a taxpayer/funder of the bailouts I would love to be able to ask for a lot of things, but, again, I live in the real world and I realize that we cannot ask for all the things we would like with these bailouts {i.e. conditions on how they are spent (i.e. not on $15,000 wastebaskets, bonuses for the company nearly going under, etc), tracking measures to "follow the money", progress reports on performance or lack thereof, no 2nd round of bailouts until the criteria set for the first bailout are met...and the list goes on and on} so in the spirit of being realistic I would just like to ask for one thing:

Consistency.

What do I mean by consistency???

For one thing, these bailouts should have to meet a certain criteria to qualify (i.e. "if these set of circumstances happens to company "x" within industry "y" then bailout "z" might potentially upon examination occur).  Currently, there is nothing that even slightly resembles any criteria for the doling out of bailouts.  It is a sliding scale, a moving target...it is different depending on I don't know what (maybe the weather, alignment of the stars, day of the week, shortness of the lobbyist's skirt...who knows?).  There is a 0% chance of there being any level of consistency with the current lack of any semblance of a criteria for the doling out of these bailouts which are going to continue to occur.  Watch for large bailouts to continue in the financial industry and new bailouts to happen in 2009 in, at a minimum, the shipping industry and the airline industry.

The GM resignation request does not bother me as much on a dollars and cents level as the lack of a bailout criteria, but on principle it makes my skin crawl.  Honestly, the more I think about it the more it just makes me shudder.  The head of our government asked the head of a large corporation to step down (something GM & its Board...or any company & its Board could possibly say "no" to).  I'm not saying he didn't deserve it.  Hell, the guy has been the CEO since June of 2000.  He should have been gone a long time ago.  Think about the precedent that has been set here though.  If Obama is consistent with his methodology for doing things (as I would argue he or any other leader should be) then a number of CEOs that are heading companies that are receiving bailout money are subject to the same request for resignation if they perform as poorly as Rick Wagoner did for GM.  How many CEOs will that be?  If twenty more CEOs perform as poorly as Wagoner then will Obama request that all twenty of them step down as well?  How about 50 CEOs?  Where does it end?  In this situation, Obama reminds me of Yul Bryner as Pharoah in "The Ten Commandments": 

"So let it be written.  So let it be done...."

Quote of the Day

"Your time is limited, So don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition; they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
-Steve Jobs

In case any of you kiddies have been keeping score at home...

This is the fifth time we have broken something to do with Ohio politics in the 6 months we have been up-and-running BEFORE any of the mainstream media.

Keep getting your daily newspaper because it is a tremendous resource in many ways, but if it is Ohio politics you are after...as my good friend MKD would say...scoreboard...

This blog on 3/12/09:

http://kylesisk.typepad.com/sisker/2009/03/ted-strickland-to-pick-tim-ryan-as-his-lt-governor.html

A little newspaper based out of a large suburb near Alexandria, VA 18 days later on 3/30/09:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/cheat-sheet/white-house-cheat-sheet-auto-p.html#more

An institution just southwest of Mentor and east of Lorain later in the day on 3/30/09:

http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2009/03/rep_ryan_for_lt_gov.html

Thanks for playing...collect your consolation prize at the door.

Letter to Joe Hallett of The Columbus Dispatch

Dear Joe,

First of all, thanks to you and the Dispatch for staying on top of Strickland's shameless (or is it shameful...very hard to distinguish between on this one...I'd argue both) way he has operated on this budget.

You and I (as well as anyone with an 1/8 of a brain) know that the way Ted's budget is set up there is very little pain whatsoever to be felt by anyone between now and the end of 2010, but 2011 to 2017 are being set up to be extremely horrific years if Ted gets his way with this budget.  He'll have to fill a $5-7 billion hole with a combination of cuts and the largest tax increase ever in the history of the state.  The tax increase will make the Taft tax increase look small in comparison.  Additionally, coverage of broken promises has all but disappeared already from press coverage and accountability for comments made as a Congressman are no longer stuck in his face by anyone.

Ted is relying on three things (I think Ted is a genius because he may end up being correct on all three of these): 

1) the media to have a short attention span (the Dispatch has been great about staying on top of this, but some of the other major papers have already begun to cover this less frequently than they had just weeks ago)

2) on John Q. Voter being an idiot and not being able to understand or not being willing to pay attention or not caring all that much (or a combination of all three)

3) a not very credible GOP opponent or an opponent who does not have enough resources to get their message out enough in 30 second increments to explain all of the terrible shit Ted is doing to the residents and businesses of this great state

That third point is the point I really wanted to talk to you about today.

In honor of the great Stephen Colbert we will start with a "tip of the hat":  Kudos to you for doing this column yesterday!  Bravo!!!:

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2009/03/29/halcol29.ART_ART_03-29-09_G5_3QDCGJU.html

As you may know, I have been banging on the "Kasich needs to announce ASAP" drum for weeks.  I welcome you to the cause.

From the tone of your article I think you and I are both skeptical that he will file (running & filing are as different as "engaged" & "married" (right Baughman?) for Governor in 2010.  I get greeted with comments pretty much accusing me of blasphemy for uttering such things by those who have drank the "Kasich Kool-Aid", but when you really take a step back and look at his words and actions you have to think the odds are probably 50/50 as to whether or not he gets into this race or not.

Yes, he has put a lot of time into this "testing of the waters" over the last 28 months, they have started to question Ohio voters as to how bad things are/have been for them under Ted's reign, they are in the process of putting a legit team together, filming what I would guess would be footage to be edited for a pending announcement to either "run" or announcement to truly "test the waters to see if they should actually file."

On the other side, you don't have to look much further than the comments that came out of his own mouth to your ears:  "But in my mind, there is no decision yet."  Also, the crux of what they talk about in meetings internally is what the polls look like.  "What are the polls like?"  "How are our numbers?"  "How are Ted's numbers?"  You can almost hear the hand-wringing and the air of doubt & uncertainty is palpable whenever you get a few drinks in one of them on a one-on-one basis.  If this truly ends up being a "decision based on polling" then Kasich will never file.  He'll announce in May or June, act like he is 100% going to run and then when November or December rolls around they'll take a look at the numbers and decide to pull out for "family or personal or astrological reasons" and the GOP will be left without a candidate, the Apportionment Board will be screwed and Kevin DeWine will, to say the least, take John & Karen off of his & Kelly's Christmas Card List. 

The thing that pisses me off so much about this "decision by polling" is that Strickland has already had his best days.  Keep this blog post.  You will see that I am right.  His best days are behind him.  Kasich needs to get in this race, campaign full time, create a committee and RAISE MONEY.

My only comment I will make about what he said to you on fundraising is that I am certain if Kasich does run & file vs Strickland that on the day after the election (i.e. on 11/5/10) they will look back with regret that they pissed away 120-150 days of fundraising time in 2009.

In the spirit of Colbert I've gotta turn now to my "wag of the finger." 

A "wag of the finger" to you for limiting your questions to just one person:  John Kasich.  I don't know if you were scrambling to make a deadline or people were too busy to talk to you because of the budget or you were out fishing with your buddies and you just "called this column in" from up north or it was Spring Break and no one was available or ??? I don't know ???

What I do know is that your column would have really gotten people's attention if you would have talked to a few County Chairmen, a few State Central Committee members, a few legislators, a few lobbyists, Herb Asher, John Green, and maybe a GOP consultant/vendor or two who were not affiliated with the Kasich campaign.

I believe if you would have taken your column down that road you would have gotten some extremely valuable insights for yourself (I can only imagine how juicy of info you would have gotten from folks "off the record") and for your loyal readers (of which I am one).

Me and my fellow guest columnists reach about 900-1,500 people a day via this blog.  The Dispatch reaches 200,000 people a day and 334,000 people on Sunday.

My plea to you today is that you will do another article sometime in the near future that runs on a Sunday that includes comments (by named and by unnamed sources as well) from some of the aforementioned types of people.

Now THAT would be some story!!!

Hope the fish are biting and that you have a great week!  Please continue to keep Ted accountable, ask Lee if he'll ever decide whether or not Jennifer Lee should pass her duties off as SOS to her #2 (It has been over a month since anyone in the media has asked him about it), and keep an eye on this race to replace JLB on the dem side...it could get very interesting.

Sincerely,

Kyle Sisk

A Party of Purists

"A Party of Purists" is penned by Am I Missing Something?  I have to admit that the great thing about having someone who is deeply involved in what is going on in our government write as a Guest Columnist for this blog is that they are really f-in sharp.  The downside is that they tend to be very busy people as well.  That said, I am glad Am I Missing Something?  has taken the time out of their Saturday morning to write a blog post after a hard week at work.  Thank you Am I Missing Something? for a great blog post (again) and we hope to hear from you again soon (hint hint) :-)

The Republican hero … no … our national hero this week is U.S. Senator Arlen Specter.   Yes, I said it and I believe it.  I am sure some of you are outraged, getting ready to point and click to another site.  But, hear me out.   The event this week was important to public policy and should be an important political event as well.

On Tuesday, Arlen Specter announced that he would vote against “Card Check” also known as --- by Democrats and unions --- the “Employee Free Choice Act.”  Today, when there is an attempt to unionize a workplace, the employees get the opportunity to vote through secret ballot.  If 50% plus one votes in favor of organizing, the workplace is unionized.  If not, the effort fails.   

The unions have said the secret ballot process is not fair.  That’s right; the secret ballot is not fair!

 According to union bosses a more fair process would be if 50% plus employees sign their name on a card stating they are in favor of the union organizing effort then it passes.  When a union member goes to pick up his or her Easter ham or when the union bosses show up some evening at his or her home and “politely “ ask for a signature on an organizing card that would be a better, fairer process. 

There would be no coercion, right?  The secret ballot vote is unfair, right?  Obama, Pelosi, Sherrod Brown and almost all other Democrats believe that ending the use of a secret ballot vote is best for America and for the American worker.  

(Ohioans that support Card Check - http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/cosponsors_110.cfm)

Their support has nothing, nothing to do with the millions of dollar unions poured into Democratic campaigns.  Riiight!!

So, what does Arlen Specter have to do with it?  And, why would we even care about the U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania in an Ohio-based blog?

Arlen Specter is a moderate to liberal Republican Senator that unions counted on to provide them the filibuster proof vote that guaranteed passage of Card Check in the U.S. Senate.  Card Check has the full support of Pelosi’s U.S. House of Representatives.  Specter has been union friendly during his career and faces a tough re-election in the ever blue Pennsylvania in 2010, fueling union hopes and dreams.

But, Specter understood that Card Check would be bad for the economy.  After the economically untenable agreements between the unions and the Big Three recently demonstrated, Specter understood that we do not need to force more American businesses into the union arrangements like those that have killed GM and Chrysler. 

Card Check would also severely wound our ability to innovate, compete and create jobs --- all important in this economy.  We do not need legislation that will create more “Job Banks” like GM that guarantee laid off workers a full salary, or Westerns Europe’s permanent unemployment rate of 12% or France’s 58 years old retirement age and 35 hour work week. 

Card Check also demonstrated the political importance of a Big Tent Republican Party.  Specter clearly does not pass the Republican purity test that has become "all the rage."  I am sure Rush’s Ditto Heads, the Jefferson County Young Republicans and Franciscan University College Republicans (Kevin DeWine controversy about focusing on economic issues rather than social issues) want Specter to go away.   

In fact, he trails a conservative primary opponent in recent polls.  However, Specter is the Republicans only real hope of keeping the Pennsylvania Senate seat in 2010.  

Here in Ohio we have experience with the purity test.  The most successful Ohio Republican in the last 100 years, maybe in the history of the State of Ohio, George V. Voinovich has been a target by the Ohio Republican purists, complaining he is not conservative enough.   He is a RINO they say (RINO=Republican In Name Only for those of you who have been living under a rock). 

He only saved the City of Cleveland, successfully governed Ohio during difficult economic times without mortgaging the state’s future (like Strickland).  In the U.S. Senate, he has fought deficit spending and so-called environmental legislation that would kill Ohio’s economy.

Now, Voinovich for all the reasons he gave in public and I am sure some he did not share has decided to retire.  Ohio’s best hope to send a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 2010 is staying home.

We should also remember the relentless attacks that former U.S. Senator Mike DeWine endured in 2006 (and continues to endure in 2009 even though he is no longer in public office).  Remember a no name primary opponent receiving county endorsements? Ohio based Rush wannabees savaging DeWine on a daily basis?   It was said DeWine’s vote was not important in the U.S. Senate because it was not pure. 

Well, well, well, who provided President Obama with the 51^st vote to pass his $800 billion political payback stimulus bill?  Sherrod Brown … the vote that replaced Mike DeWine. 

Ronald Reagan said Republicans need a big tent to be the majority party.  He was right.   If Republicans want to be the party of Reagan (as they all say), they need to rid themselves of those that believe that all the men and women that want to run as a Republican need to meet some sort of purity test.   

Specter actually voted for the stimulus bill but his opposition to Card Check is more important.

It is decision time.  Will the Republican Party look like all 88 counties of Ohio?  Will it represent a majority of American voters?  Or, will Republicans decide to impose purity?  If that is the case, Ohio and the rest of the Midwest will go the way of New England and most of the Northeast, blue for as far as the eye can see. 

It is decision time.  Oh, by the way, Ronald Reagan could not pass the current Republican purity test.

 

Am I Missing Something?

Thought this was worth sharing

He has only been President for a couple of months, but you would think all of our problems are already solved by the way most of the liberals are talking.

Feeling old today after seeing a commercial for Wrestlemania 25. Remember this???

Marilyn Brown, Bill Mason, Paula Brooks...Lions, tigers & bears...oh my!!!

I have to give credit where credit is due…fair is fair since I like to pound my chest when I beat the mainstream media to something (getting to be a regular occurrence…woo hoo!).  Kudos to the dem Buckeye State Blog.  Read on:

http://www.buckeyestateblog.com/marilyn_brown_announcement_makes_it_official

Over the weekend I caught wind of a rumored female candidate announcing this week for SOS to replace Brunner and the kicker was that Brunner was the one who was recruiting this person.

My gut reaction was to track down any info I could get on what Paula Brooks was doing since I figured it HAD to be her.  My thinking was that Paula Brooks, David Pepper & Dean DePiero had been the three dem names floating around as the top three names for LG to replace Peggy Zone Fisher’s hubby until Ted pulled a rabbit out of a hat (or a 35 year old out of Niles) by grabbing Tim Ryan instead.  I also thought Paula made a ton of sense because whatever she runs for in 2010 is a seat she runs for from cover.  Paula Brooks is a very dangerous person for dems and the GOP alike since she can run from cover.  She really doesn’t have any downside by jumping into SOS or, better yet, Auditor in late April or early May.

If I were Ted I would not have picked Tim Ryan.  I would have picked Paula instead.  Further, if I were Tim Ryan I sure as shit would not have dropped out of Congress in a Pelosi-led House to come back to Ohio to be LG.  I mean seriously…nice paycheck, perks, decent amount of stick in DC and being single & 35 in DC…Man!  What are you thinking?  “DC hot” and “Statehouse hot” are two extremely different things.  That is like comparing a nice Toyota Corolla and a nice Porsche.

I digress.  Sorry.  Back to the blog post…

Ok…so I figured Paula didn’t get picked for LG and she and Brunner are close so it had to be Brooks.  I thought about Marcy Kaptur for a split second, but couldn’t fathom Brunner having that conversation.  Just picture it:  “Hey Marcy.  This is Jennifer Lee.  You have been in Congress since Minnie Pearl was popular and you probably think you should be the next US Senator in Ohio instead of me and here I am having the gall to see if you wanna run for the seat I am leaving…”  Yep.  Just couldn’t see that call happening. 

Nope.  It had to be Paula…but I kept running into dead ends and then…voila!  Marilyn Brown.

Hindsight being 20/20 I should have seen it coming, but did not.  Antoinette Wilson and Jennifer Lee are close.  Don Spicer likes to make money.  A Marilyn Brown primary vs Bill Mason probably puts six figures in the Triumph Communications coffers and then if she were to be successful and she was the dem candidate vs Husted (or whoever the GOP SOS candidate is) that’d be a really nice payoff..cha-ching!  Also, Marilyn and Paula are about as close these days as Neil Clark and Paul Tipps.  Marilyn & her crew have to be snickering to themselves that they got out there first and stole the spotlight and some of Paula’s oxygen.

If you start to really look at this dem SOS seat there are a lot of layers of drama that are playing out.

First of all, one of the knocks on Brunner is that by leaving her seat she is effectively sacrificing it up to the GOP in an Apportionment Board year.  Now with both Brown (announced) and Mason (not announced, but definitely running) both presumably “in it to win it” then Redfern, Ted & Lee can’t really use this as a reason for Jennifer Lee to get out of the Senate race.  My guess is that Brunner is for anyone who is not an empty suit so this is no longer an arrow in their quiver.

Secondly, we’re starting to really see a schism forming within the dem party in Ohio.  I don’t yet know exactly the best way to describe it (i.e. is it a “party within a party” or a “party outside the party”?).  First you had Jennifer Lee tell Ted & Redfern to go pound salt and now we’ve got Marilyn Brown basically putting herself in the same position since Mason is Redfern-backed and almost-but-not-quite-just-yet-Strickland-backed.  What does Marilyn do when Redfern tells her we don’t need a primary in an Apportionment Board seat…Bill has my quiet backing…most of Labor is for Bill…he has more money…you need to get out of this race?  What does Marilyn do if her Governor asks her to back out so Mason doesn’t have a primary?  Do she and the Judge tell their leaders to kiss their collective ass?

Third, is this just a Jennifer Lee sticking her finger in Redfern’s /Strickland’s eye?  I could see the Brunner camp getting quite a bit of satisfaction out of this whole situation whether it is real or not.  I say it that way because this whole “Marilyn Brown for Secretary of State” may not be real.  She may just be doing it as a favor to Brunner (remember the first point I made) and she may have already made the deal with JLB beforehand that she will back out the second JLB wants to run for re-election.   She may also be doing it just to stick her own finger in the wind to get out there first as the announced candidate and to see if a Brown candidacy might have legs against someone like Bill Mason in a primary.  Remember that Marilyn is not running from cover like Paula Brooks would be for this SOS seat.  Marilyn would have to choose just like Sophie did.  She would have to make a choice:  run for SOS or run for re-election

Fourth, being a male I hate to go where I am about to go, but I’m going to throw the gender card out there.  At what point does this become a Male/Female “thing” within the Ohio dem party???  Before today it was basically Jen Brunner and EMILYS List on an island and then everyone else.  Now, presuming for the moment that Marilyn Brown is Jennifer Lee’s candidate, we have Jennifer Lee, Marilyn Brown and EMILYS List on the island.  I still believe David Pepper (and, yes, it is “David”…the rule of thumb is basically it is “David” if he is gay or went to an ivy league school and “Dave” if he is straight or went to a regular college/university…no, I’m not saying David Pepper is gay…although as Seinfeld pointed out there is not anything wrong with that, but I am saying he went to W’s school) will be the dem candidate for Auditor, but WHAT IF Jennifer gets a credible female candidate to run in a primary against Pepper (maybe Paula Brooks)???  Just some food for thought…if Brunner, Brown and Brooks were all victorious then the Brunner faction of the party would have some pretty serious stick in this great state of O-H-I-O…the old boy network would not be happy.  Frankly, if I were advising Paula Brooks I would tell her to touch bases with the necessary people within the dem party structure, labor, money & grassroots communities over the next four weeks and I’d announce for Auditor at the beginning of May. 

Fifth, as I wrote on Wednesday, what does Bill Mason think about all of this?  Mason is not someone to cross (ask Deters and crew…that guy is like a dog with a bone when he puts you in the cross-hairs).  I wonder if he has started a file on Brunner, the Brunner camp, Marilyn Brown, etc. for doing this.  Mason has to be pissed.  Marilyn and the Judge will make this a very expensive dem primary for Mr. Mason.  Can you say “bad blood”???  Adding to my blog post from Wednesday I would try to get an appointment with Marilyn and the Judge as well.  If I were Mason I’d meet with both of them together (assume there is a recorder somewhere in the room) and just matter-of-factly apprise them both of the situation:  

You are sitting on $500,000 right now, you have every intention of raising an additional $700K to $1 million between now and filing day and, so she & the Judge will be in the best position to make an informed decision, you will be happy to do a voluntary campaign finance filing right before filing day so they will know exactly how much money is going to rain down on their heads saying things that are not very nice in April of 2010 so they can decide whether or not they want to file for SOS or County Commissioner.

Sixth, I think it would be a very bad assumption to make right now that Marilyn Brown is Jennifer Lee’s candidate.  I realize that the last five days culminating with a Brown announcement Thursday make it look like she is Brunner’s handpicked candidate, but if that is the case then where is the Brunner endorsement???  It was noticeably missing.  I just read Joe Hallett’s article in the Dispatch http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/03/26/abrown.html

about the announcement online and I’m really glad he called and got a quote from dem Chairman Bill Anthony (where is the call to Redfern?  Wurst/Strickland?), but to me the real story is that Marilyn Brown announced for SOS with zero endorsements from anyone.  It is like that line in “Legally Blonde” where the guy asks, “Do you think she just woke up one morning and said, 'I think I'll go to law school today'?”  I’m wondering if she decided sometime this week that running for Secretary of State would be a fun thing to do.

Finally, if Marilyn is Brunner’s handpicked candidate then poor Paula Brooks.  First she got passed over for LG and now she gets passed over for SOS.  What is this going to do to the already incredibly strained Brooks/Brown relationship?  What is this going to do to the Brooks/Brunner relationship?  Can you say “Cat Fight!”?  Again, if I were Paula I would announce for Auditor in early May.  She is a kitten as long as she isn’t running for anything and she becomes a lion as soon as she is in the statewide picture.  I don’t know what motivates Paula Brooks, but if she is not going to do Auditor then she should really stick it to Marilyn and run for SOS…two female candidates from Franklin County and a well-financed male candidate from Cuyahoga County…pretty shitty odds of winning for Marilyn at that point and if Marilyn loses then she is a private citizen again.  If Paula loses then she is probably in even better shape on the Commission than she is today. 

In closing, I think the SOS race on the dem side ends up being either Mason vs Brooks (&/or others not named Brown might enter the mix) or Mason gets a free ride.  I don’t think this Marilyn Brown candidacy is real.  I think Marilyn ends up staying where she is on the Commission.  The wild card is Paula running from cover.  Does she make this a 3 way primary (what is the French term for that?) race of Brooks, Brown & Mason (terrible visual I know…sorry if you are eating while you are reading this), does she get out as the 1^st dem announced candidate for Auditor (THAT is what I would do if I were her) or does she sit on her hands for way too long (a la Kasich…betcha didn’t think I could get a whack in on Kasich in a blog post on Marilyn Brown for SOS, but there I did it!) and let Pepper and whoever else get in the Auditor race before she decides that is a good career move for her since she is running from cover.  Who knows?

Only time will tell...

I was told this OBAMA truck was not showing up...hope this is better

This pic is showing up on both of my computers.  I hope you are not having trouble seeing it.

Kyle

Baskin Robbins' New Flavor: Barocky Road

I thought this was pretty fun and I'd share it with you (thanks to Daniel Kaffee for forwarding two funny items for the blog today...it is much appreciated).  I would tell you who wrote it, but I don't know who wrote it.  If you are the writer of this please let me know who you are.  Thanks!

In honor of the 44th President of the 
United States, Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream 
has issued a new flavor, "Barocky Road". 
  
Barocky Road is a blend of half Vanilla,
 half Chocolate, and surrounded by
 Nuts and Flakes.

 The Vanilla portion of the mix is not 
openly advertised and usually
 denied as an ingredient.

 The Nuts and Flakes are all very
 bitter and hard to swallow.

 The cost is $100.00 per scoop.

 When purchased it will be presented
 to you in a large beautiful cone, but
 then the Ice Cream is taken away and 
given to the person in line behind you.

 Thus you are left with an empty Wallet,
 no change, holding an empty cone,
 with no hope of getting any Ice Cream. 

Aren't you feeling stimulated?

In case you haven't seen the OBAMA truck yet...

Thanks to young Daniel Kaffee for bringing this to my attention!!!

Sarah Palin Unplugged

As some of you know from reading this blog pre-election 2008, I think Sarah Palin was a horrible VP candidate and I hope & pray she is no more than an answer to a future version of Trivial Pursuit by the time 2012 rolls around.

At a time when a lot of folks are finding out the hard way what kind of leader Barack is I'd like to point you towards this article to give you an idea of how Sarah runs her state.

Following is an article you probably have not seen since it is in one of the obscure magazines I read on a regular basis:

http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2009/03/17/Governor-Palins-Big-Energy-Battles

Quote of the Day

I figured between sticking a hot poker in both of my eyes OR reading up a bit on FDR & The New Deal I chose reading up on FDR & The New Deal.

I am curious by nature and I had never read any FDR before.

The quote that keeps banging around in my head is from Mark Twain:

"History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

Gambling in Ohio??? Will the proponents be successful this time???

I've been working on a post on this since I heard that something might end up on the ballot this November, but I wanted to get kind of a straw poll feel about what our readership's thoughts are on whether or not they think the issue can pass prior to me posting my blog post.

Please do me a favor and email me your thoughts either in the comments section or to my email directly.

Thanks!

What does an angry Bill Mason look like???

Bill Mason is not so quietly putting the wheels in motion for a dem bid to replace Jen Brunner as the next Secretary of State of Ohio.

Jen Brunner has other ideas.  Sorry Bill.

Nope.  She is not backing away from running against the "all male review" (sorry, but what else do you call the slate of five male, middle-aged dems running against her in the dem primary field) in her bid to be Ohio's next US Senator.

She just, for one reason or another, does not want Bill Mason to succeed her in her post.

I find the "soap opera dynamics" of this to be rather fascinating from the bleacher seats.

You've got Sherrod, EMILYS List and the Senatorial Committee in favor (either privately or publicly) of Brunner on one side and Strickland, Redfern and a bunch of dem party people for Fisher on the other side and then small groups of people backing the other males from major metros in this race to replace Voinovich.

Jen Brunner is actively working to get a female (I'll name her as soon as I get one more source to confirm my information) to run to replace her as SOS.

The questions I do not know the answer for are:

*Is she recruiting a female who is not handpicked by Strickland and Redfern that is her ally?

*Is she recruiting someone intentionally to run against Mason in the dem primary for SOS because she is not for Mason?

*Is she recruiting someone to replace her because she doesn't think Mason will ultimately file for the seat (he does have a history with the AG seat of pounding his chest that he is going to run and then backing away after putting his finger in the wind)?

*Is she recruiting someone who is loyal to her and not so loyal to Redfern and Strickland to run against the Redfern-approved and nearly Strickland-approved Bill Mason just to mess with them?

*Is she recruiting a friend who will say they are 100% running, but then if she needs to back out of the US Senate race at the last minute this friend will also back out of the SOS race?

I wish I had answers for those questions, but I do not know.

What I do know is that if I were Bill Mason I would schedule a meeting, hop in the car and drive down to Columbus to meet with Brunner face-to-face and in as diplomatic a way possible ask her, "What the fuck are you doing recruiting someone to run against me in a dem primary for an Apportionment Board seat?!?!?  Knock that shit out, would you???"

Get out the marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate...this is about to get very interesting!

The David Goodman Senate Seat

Governor Strickland is not a stupid guy.  In fact, I think he is a genius (I'm working on that blog post...hope to have it ready within the week) the way he is handling this budget.

That said, assuming Ted is not a dumb guy I must say that I believe he will pick David Goodman for a post within his Administration for a Board or Commission post that is at a "Line 41" or higher.

Think about it.  By law he has to pick capable Republicans for a number of posts. 

Dem Governors don't pick the Grendells of this world for these types of positions.  They pick the Suhadolniks and Goodmans of the world...guys who will do a competent job, will put the necessary hours in and are not hugely partisan creatures.

Goodman will leave early (good for Ted and good for David...not a seat that is "in play" for Capri so it isn't really something that matters to the other dems and it alleviates some potential bad blood within the GOP ranks) and the Senate will choose between a handful of folks including Larry Flowers, Kevin Bacon and Rob Montgomery among others.

The Senate is going to pick...drumroll please... Kevin Bacon (no, not the cool hubby of Kyra Sedgwick and guy who was in one of the greatest movies of all time...Wild Things...there I said it).

That will leave Troy, Huffman and Batch in a position to choose between a handful of options to replace Kevin and Rob Montgomery with a decision to make...run in a primary for Secretary of State or Treasurer or keep his powder dry for 2014.

If Husted wins his residency issue as I believe he will then a Montgomery vs Husted race would be an expensive primary that would find Montgomery with an L by his name, a limping into the general Jon Husted and a victorious dem candidate.  I believe that kind of maneuver would do irreparable damage to an otherwise promising future for Mr. Montgomery (although, I'm not going to lie, it would be kind of amusing to see Rob's face when Rex told him that he would be doing Husted's TV instead of Rob's TV...think Buehrer vs Latta to get an inkling of how the conversation would go).

If, on the other hand, Husted loses his residency issue (I don't think it will happen, but it is a possibility) then I think we will see the "free for all to end all free for alls" for this Apportionment Board seat.  My guess is we would not only hear names like Rob Montgomery, Sandy O'Brien and Kevin Coughlin, but we would also hear names like Mike DeWine and Josh Mandel (my guess is that SOS is not on either of their radar screens, but Chairman DeWine and the "powers that be" within the GOP money & grassroots community would be crazy not to take a stab at getting one of those guys to run for SOS instead of AG or Treasurer). 

Frankly, if Jim Petro really wants to do something to help the cause he should run for this SOS seat if it becomes available.  If he is so worried for the GOP about Ted Strickland appointing a dem to fill Maureen O'Connor's seat on the Supreme Court thus making the philosophical split a 5-2 GOP majority then using the same logic he should be even more worried for the GOP about a dem majority on the Apportionment Board which would create an even stronger dem majority in the House, a dem majority in the Senate by 2016 and a dem majority on the Supreme Court by 2020.

If, on the other hand, Rob Montgomery were to take on Mandel in a Treasurer primary he would get crushed into fine white powder.  Whoever is advising him please make sure he does not go down that road.  Mandel would have way more money, way more support within the conservative community and the guy has a work ethic that helps keep the shoe industry in business in these tough economic times. 

If Husted wins his residency issue the best thing Rob Montgomery can do when he is not picked for Goodman's Senate seat is to travel the state to build relationships within the GOP money & grassroots communities, keep raising money into his campaign warchest and target a down-ticket statewide race in 2014. 

And, Kevin, in case you are reading this blog post today I will give you the same good advice:  Keep your powder dry for 2014.  There is no shame in getting a private sector job after December 2010 and spending the rest of your time from now until 2013 traveling the state building relationships and preparing for a statewide run in 2014.

There is no shame in that.

The shame for you would be to go from being the announced candidate for Governor to then being the announced candidate for SOS or Treasurer and then losing either of those primary races due to no other reason than lack of funding and then be tagged as the guy who made us lose the Apportionment Board or the Treasurer's office. 

That will bring you shame.  Shame and a deaf ear and a blind eye for any ambitions you may have for 2014.  People don't support the guy who shit in the pool.  I think deep down you realize this fact to be true, but you have yet to come to terms with it.  For your own good and the good of the GOP I hope you come to terms with it prior to filing day 2010.