Uncle Sherrod?

Senator Sherrod Brown is someone I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times - both at my place of employment (all too briefly) and at Congress in Washington, DC, where we had a quick chance to speak Russian / Bulgarian to each other.  He's a hardworking, yet super nice guy who happens to not be related to me, I promise, though do you think he'd mind if I started calling him "Uncle Sherrod?!"  :-)

He's a great senator - my senator (OUR senator) - who champions the people of Ohio rather than their companies' CEOs who send our jobs out of state and out of country.  Since both he - and President Obama - have been in office, Ohio's unemployment rate has fallen to 7.4% (April 2012), well below the national average of over 8%.

The challenge?  Fallout from the Citizen's United Supreme Court decision.  He's being ridiculously outspent in his current re-election campaign by nearly 5-1.  He's being outspent by people who will never vote for him - not because they oppose him (which they do) - but instead because they are not even from Ohio and are therefore ineligible to vote for him.  Karl Rove and his SuperPac are spending millions of dollars here in Ohio to campaign against him simply because they can.  Citizen's United.

Here's a clip of a recent interview Senator Brown gave on The Rachel Maddow Show.

Do we really want our elections to be controlled by people who will not even vote in them?  Do we want people who don't even have to live in this country to have such a huge say in the outcome of this country's elections?  I thought we were a republic where each person had a voice.  Well now, the voice is centering around the small handful of people who have not been hurt by this current - great - recession.  It is centering around those who have already recovered because they were bailed out by our tax dollars.

Remember Democrats - remember what we as a party did in 2010?  We pouted and a lot of you (yes YOU - since *I* made it a point to show up at the polls) stayed home and didn't bother to vote.  We do that again and the Republicans won't HAVE to legislate more disenfranchisement around the country because we'll do the work FOR them.

Sure, President Obama may not be the most liberal president in the world that you HOPED he would be, but he's a damn fine president who's getting a lot accomplished in SPITE of Republican obstructionism - primarily in the form of filibustering every piece of legislation presented - more than in any - other - president's - term - of - office.  Ever.  Think of what he'll be able to accomplish in a second term.  

Of course, he won't have a second term if you stay home pouting again.  

Do you really want to give the victory to Mitt Romney?  I don't think you do, but stay home again and you will.  

So - make sure you get off your butt and vote this time around!  If the Republicans get back in the White House, everything that led to this great recession will happen all over again.  Despite the fact that the Republican Saboteurs are putting the fate of this nation second to their own political agenda, what we progressives are accomplishing now is far, far better than what would ever happen under a Romney administration.  

You voted for President Obama because you didn't like the "all or nothing" attitude of former President George W. Bush, yet you expect that very same "all" from President Obama?  And we call Republicans hypocrites?

While I don't think that example of hypocrisy can even begin to compare to that of the Republicans, I do think that we should all start right here in Ohio and make sure we help re-elect Senator Sherrod Brown so he doesn't lose to a guy who doesn't even show up to his current job.  I'd already be fired if I had that kind of attendance record, so let's not reward Mr. Josh Mandel by promoting him.  Let's instead reward Senator Brown for doing the great job he's been doing by giving him another six years to do even more.  

Do you really want your senator to miss votes?  No - you want a senator who's going to show up to work every day and fight for you - a citizen of Ohio - and for the entire nation - not just for the small handful who bought the election.

Senator Sherrod Brown is that kind of senator.  Don't let his job be bought and paid for by those who can't even vote in this senatorial election.  

Vote.

2012 Iowa Caucus

Did you know the Republican Iowa caucus is set for tomorrow?

Actually, the Democratic Iowa caucus is also set for tomorrow, but President Barack Obama is running an uncontested race there, so he's using the evening to have an online Q&A session with constituents.

Since May however, there have been at least six different Republican front runners so it should be pretty interesting to see who wins since it's still anyone's game.  According to the Des Moines Register's latest poll, a full 41% of likely Republican voters are still undecided as of the weekend before tomorrow's caucus.  That is unheard of!

It really is rather unusual that the field is still so varied this late in the game.  Editor-at-large for Salon.com, Joan Walsh, once likened the Republican race for a presidential candidate to a game of T-ball - where it's cute that everyone gets to play and everyone is a winner just for playing.  

As a Democrat, I rather hope a different person wins every single week so the race can go on and on, thus forcing the candidates to spend all the money in their coffers against each other, rather than against the re-election of President Barack Obama.

Some interesting things to think about if you're considering voting Republican:

Did you know that the Dream Act was originally proposed (during Pres. George W. Bush's first term) by - and championed by Republicans like Senators Dick Lugar, John McCain and Orrin Hatch?

In 2012, all Republican candidates are now campaigning against this.

Did you know that Cap and Trade was originally proposed by Republicans? And did you know that it was a major part of the McCain / Palin 2008 Republican Presidential Platform?

In 2012, all Republican candidates are now campaigning against this.

Did you know that it is the party that determines the rules of the caucuses in Iowa and that the Republican party is allowing both same-day registration AND voting WITHOUT having to show any form of I.D.?

In 2012, all Republican candidates are now campaigning against this. Several Republican-led state legislatures are also working on legislation against same-day registration and in favor of requiring photo ID to be shown at all elections.  Their argument?  That ID is required to do things such as going through security at airports.

Of course, travel on airplanes isn't enshrined in the constitution as a right of all American citizens.  Voting is.

The Iowa caucuses are interesting in part because they get a lot of attention, presumably because they're first in the primary schedule and we tend like all things shiny.  But after a while, many Americans will be sick of hearing about the election of the week and well - it'll be overshadowed by things such as the Superbowl or March Madness.  That said, they will go on.  They will continue and eventually, our incumbent president will have a challenger from the Republican party - the nominee for which will most likely be the lesser of two evils for most voting Republicans.  

In the long run, and if we're lucky, we'll probably have a third party candidate - either thrown out there by the Tea Party or the Libertarians.  Either one will cause the same kind of split brought on by Ross Perot's candidacy back in 1992.  After two terms by the guy who won that particular election, we had a booming economy and a budget surplus.  

Maybe if the Republican candidates can start working for the American people rather than their corporate campaign financiers, we can achieve that level of prosperity again.

It all starts tomorrow.  In Iowa.  Let the games begin!