It is difficult to feel good this 4th of July given the mess the Bush/McCain Republicans have led this nation into. This year alone 438,000 people who lost their jobs. We are well into the Bush's SECOND recession (first president ever to preside over two recessions) with almost no recovery between them. We are officially in a bear market. Food prices are rising worldwide. Oil is at record highs suggesting Americans will have a very, very tough winter. The deficit is WAY above where it has ever been before and no end in sight. And I am not even going into the inept, idiotic and completely useless Bush/McCain Iraq war.

If you haven’t yet heard, Congressman Steve LaTourette introduced a bill yesterday that’s supposed to provide relief for high gas prices.

His Democratic opponent, Bill O’Neill, rightfully called Rep. Steve LaTourette’s legislation that would provide federal reimbursements for gas consumption a "taxpayer-funded windfall for oil companies that does absolutely nothing to solve the gas price crisis -- and actually makes it worse." Just a day later, it’s clear the voters agree.

I'm fine with Obama's first salvo of national ads, but I'm also hoping for something different this year: I'd like to see an ad campaign that matches the 50-state strategy we've heard so much about.  In other words, let's see some ads that focus on the unique concerns throughout the country.

For example, there could be an ad just for Nevada slamming McCain for his pro-Yucca Flats position.  There could be an ad for Northern Virginia on Obama's plan for fixing the transportation crisis.  There could be an ad on fair trade for Michigan and Ohio.

Do you live in or near Ohio?  Are you interested in making sure this Midwestern swing state gets colored blue in all of the network maps on November 4?  The Obama campaign has announced its latest action in its effort to make Ohio more Democratic at the presidential level.  This action may also make Ohio more Democratic in the House delegation as well as for other races downticket.  If you are interested in helping this effort, read below the fold for details.

From the subscription-only Roll Call:

The Republican National Committee is launching $3 million in independent expenditure television ads in four states, focusing on the energy issue.

The ad is slated to run on network and cable television in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and will highlight the differences between Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) on energy security.

This is good, our first look at how much McCain and the RNC can move people with their usual bull. It's all offense, too. The four states are Kerry Blue states. Let's grab the current Pollster.com composites for those four states, so we can use that as a baseline to see whether these ads move numbers:

Michigan:

Ohio:

Pennsylvania:

Wisconsin:

Update: Oops, obviously Ohio is not a Kerry state...

Sorry for the short diary, and many thanks for the "rescue" last night.
This race is a long shot, I know. And I don't expect this diary to make the Rec List, but it would be nice. Given the economic catastrophe that Ohio has experienced during the past 8 years, electing an honest working-class Democrat from this state shouldn't be too hard. Unfortunately Mike Carroll is facing an uphill battle against incumbent Jim Jordan.

Originally posted on Citizen Orange.

"I think Obama would be a disaster, and there's a lot of
reasons," said [Leroy] Pollard, explaining the rumors he had heard about the candidate from friends he goes camping with. "I understand he's from Africa, and that the first thing he's going to do if he gets into office is bring his family over here, illegally. He's got that racist [pastor] who practically raised him, and then there's the Muslim thing. He's just not presidential material, if you ask me."

Eli Saslow - Washington Post (30 June 2008)

Right after the Ohio Democratic Primaries ended, I remember watching the talking heads on both CNN and MSNBC (I refuse to watch Faux News for electoral coverage).  As everyone knows, Hillary Clinton won that state with 54% of the vote.  The talking heads went on to say how if Hillary didn't get the nomination, that the blue-collar hard hats (sometimes known as "Reagan Democrats") would go for John McCain.  And of course, Pat Buchanan, politics' Archie Bunker, said it was inconceivable that blue-collar workers would vote for Obama in November. On CNN, you had one of Hillary's supporters, Lanny Davis saying Ohio was much in doubt should Barack take the nomination.

From today's Beyond Chron.

Yesterday’s Washington Post had a front-page piece on Findlay, Ohio – the “Flag City” – where small-town voters still believe Barack Obama is a Muslim.  What the Post didn’t report is that Findlay voted 2-1 for George Bush in 2004, and in 2006 rejected Democrat Sherrod Brown (who won a landslide victory statewide.)  It’s just the latest example of the media projecting the myth that the Presidential race is somehow close, and grasping for non-existent trends to keep it alive.

But reality says otherwise.  Women and Latinos who supported Hillary Clinton are flocking to Obama, despite the narrative that Democrats are “divided.”  State-by-state polls consistently show Obama on his way to surpassing 270 electoral votes.  Even national polls with Obama ahead by double digits are dismissed as “outliers,” along with the constant reminder that Michael Dukakis blew a 17-point lead (without any context of two very different candidates).  The media won’t admit that the Presidential race is over, and Obama is going to win.

It appears as though OH-7 Republican Steve Austria didn't get the memo as today he is having NRCC Chairman, Tom Cole come in to campaign with him.  Someone may want to clue Steve in that Cole hasn't really been bringing the magic to his candidates.

Sharen Neuhardt's campaign took this as an opportunity to point out that today is the kick-off of Austria's "Failed Policies, Failed Politics" campaign.

Here is a quip from Neuhardt campaign manager, Jim Alexee:

You see—conservatives have this garbage information network. It’s big; it has been since the rise of Rush Limbaugh in the early 1980s.  In the last two decades it’s opened up countless Internet franchises. The result, in the swing state of Ohio:

Survey USA just released a new poll showing Obama ahead of McCain by 2 points in Ohio--a statistical dead heat, since the MoE is 4.2 percent.

I don't know what to make of this poll.  On one hand, it shows Obama leading by four in Cincy--the definition of a purple metro area (Cincy itself is light blue, but the suburbs are crimson red).  He's also beating McCain like a rented mule among moderate voters, 55-36.  It also shows McCain up six in Columbus--as I understand it, the Columbus burbs are even redder than the Cincy burbs.  But on the other hand ... 90 percent of Latinos prefer McCain, and Obama's only up 11 in Cleveland, the most Democratic area of the state.

If this poll is true, a poll done a few days earlier by Dem firm Public Policy Polling is officially an outlier.  It shows Obama up 50-39--results even I have trouble believing because if Obama were up that much in Ohio, this race would be over.

Strange week. Saw my first McCain ad this week...and it is clear he is running as a Democrat. Healthcare, alternative energy, environment...all Democratic talking points. We have gone from Democrats feeling like they have to run as Repub-Lite to Republicans trying to hide behind a Democratic facade. You even have a Republican running for Senate in Oregon trying to claim (falsely) that Obama supports him. This is desperation for the Republicans! It sounds like racist attacks have failed them, though I am sure they will try more as time goes on.

Meanwhile yet more polls show Obama ahead in Virginia and Missouri, tied in Florida, AHEAD IN INDIANA (wow!) and within 1-2 points of McCain in North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia. Each and every one of these states was solid Bush in 2004. Now they are either leaning Obama or effectively tied.

Today John McCain will be in the Mahoning Valley trying to convince Ohioans that the economy has been good in the seven and a half years under George Bush. In fact, he described the Bush years as "a pretty good prosperous time" and said that NAFTA has been "a great thing for America."

So we went to the Mahoning Valley, an area that has been devastated by the policies of the Bush Administration, to see what real Ohioans think about McCain’s views on the economy. And they responded very candidly. You can watch the video below.

There are some items up on News Unfiltered that may interest the community.

DNC releases web ad on McCain's Yucca Mountain issue:

The Democratic National Committee today released a new web ad called "NIMBY: Not In McCain's Back Yard" that highlights John McCain's Yucca Mountain problem. Yesterday -- barely a day after McCain dismissed criticism of Yucca Mountain as "a NIBMY problem" that "we've gotta have the guts and the courage" to get over -- new video emerged of McCain admitting that he would not be comfortable shipping material though Arizona on its way to Yucca Mountain. Despite calling for the creation of 100 new nuclear power plants, McCain failed to address the question of what to do with the spent nuclear fuel during yesterday's remarks in Las Vegas.

Read more.

Cross-posted from OH-16: John Boccieri for U.S. Congress:

If you live in Ohio's Fighting 16th and want to meet our Democratic Champion, time is running out to RSVP for this huge event!

I talked with Ian Walton, Boccieri's Campaign Manager, at Headquarters yesterday afternoon and it is time to push, going into the end of the quarter. We led the (r)candidate 2 to 1 in the money race last quarter and now is not the time to let up. Hope to meet you there!

Details below the fold...

This is an ongoing series from the national tour for THE UPRISING. You can order The Uprising at Amazon.com or through your local independent bookstore.

LOUISVILLE, KY - I spent yesterday in Ohio's three biggest cities - Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. With the Buckeye State among the hardest hit by lobbyist-written trade policies, it wasn't surprising that NAFTA was at the center of discussion at events for THE UPRISING in Ohio.

Over the last few years, polls show the public has moved to something of a consensus position on trade: full-on opposition to NAFTA-style pacts.

Now that I have your attention, there’s a 20th Century story I’d like to tell that may assist those coping with flooding disasters in the 21st Century. The title of the diary refers to a promise citizens of Dayton, Ohio made to themselves while trapped by floodwaters in the tops of their homes.

I've posted some of this information in comments to diaries related to the current flooding situation in Iowa. But I thought it important to put it all together so anyone interested in how a community might protect itself from flooding could explore an option that doesn't include being completely dependent upon the Federal government.