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| Also listed in: Appalachian Populists | Interfaith Peace Coalition | Licking County Pro-Active Citizens (www.licopac.org) | Ohio 12th Congressional District | Ohio 18th Congressional District | Perry County Democratic Forum |
For two days now, heavy tanker trucks have been rumbling up and down my rural road, hauling pig manure from a nearby feed lot to juice up farm fields to the west. The ground shakes, the air smells, we can't wait for the transfer to be complete. This must be what it's like on Pennsylvania Avenue as the Bush administration gets set to vacate back to Texas.
Now that's the change we need!
Other random thoughts two days after the election:
- A lot has been said about how Barack Obama's election should revive the nation's reputation in the eyes of the world. But let's also realize that Ohio stands a little taller since Tuesday night. Ohio, the state which provided the industry, the leadership and the manpower to make America great, has been blamed now for eight years for helping put George Bush over the top in 2000 and then sealing the deal for another four years in 2004. But on Tuesday night, it only became apparent that Obama was on the victory road when Ohio turned blue shortly after 9 p.m. Ok, NO MORE OHIO JOKES.
- As we noted yesterday, however, Licking County hasn't yet gotten the word that a new day is dawning. According to preliminary totals at the LC Board of Elections, Barack with 41 percent ran slightly better than John Kerry, who got 37.8 percent in 2004. On the other hand, Democratic Congressman Zack Space in his winning re-election effort lost ground in Licking County, gaining 54.7 percent of the vote here as compared to 60.3 percent in 2006. Meanwhile, the vote here for Licking County's other congressman, Republican Pat Tiberi, remained virtually unchanged, 66.6 percent in 2008 as compared to 66.1 percent in 2006.
This is not to fault the work of Obama organizers in Licking County. I really appreciated how hard they were working on Halloween Eve when the only trick-or-treater that showed up at our rural McKean Township door was an Obama volunteer collecting names! We NEVER get trick-or-treaters out here in the country, and we certainly have never seen Democratic canvassers before, especially those for a presidential campaign.
If you enjoyed the recent book about blue-collar politics, Deer Hunting with Jesus, you'll want to enjoy this follow-up in the Washington Post about how the denizens of Winchester, Va., approached this week's election. See it at : http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/01/AR2008110101841.html?referrer=emailarticle
Driving through rural northern Ohio recently, I noticed mostly local political signs. They're often larger signs, so you can see them from the fields. Of course, rural Ohio is mainly Republican and probably always will be, but in small town front yards (Bucyrus, for example)there were some Obama signs.
The Obama campaign ran in all 88 Ohio counties -- that's impressive.
Here in suburban central Ohio on Nov. 4, I got about 5-6 calls (mostly live, not robo) for various candidates and issues, and three door hangers for Obama which listed our polling site -- nice touch. It was a bit overkill, but it was nice to see young people pounding the pavement for their candidate.