[haus]

This thread is late in the game, but better late than never...

In November, one of your Senators and your Representative is up for re-election. (sheesh -- one would think i could divide 6 by 2 and not come up with 2, -h)

Who do you love, who do you hate, who will you take in a pinch? Have you done anything about it yet, or do you plan to? (Remember: running off to Canada is a little less appealing now.)

-V- re-opened the state forums a couple of days ago, and this is a good time (and a good topic) to get some traffic going on them. Feel free to cross-post between this thread and those.

Share your experiences, good and bad with the group. We'll all learn something, and you might just inspire someone.

[haus]

Senate: Going against Mike DeWine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_DeWine). Leaning strongly towards fellow OIF Veteran Paul Hackett (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett) and away from Sherrod Brown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherrod_Brown).

House: This district has an incumbent Democrat: the senior woman in the House, Rep. Marcy Kaptur. (http://www.ontheissues.org/OH/Marcy_Kaptur.htm) OH-9 is a "safe" district and I have some (not huge, but apparent) ideological differences with Rep. Kaptur.

I think I'll focus my time and money on soon-to-be Senator Hackett.

[kyindy]

No Senate elections for KY this November.

In the house Ed Whitfield Rep, is the incumbent. A backwoods country boy who has been eating any competition for 8 years now. Three Dems have thrown their hats in the ring.

Tom Barlow - Had some time in the state house, seems like an old Democrat.
Jim Bloink - Never heard of him.
Eric Streit - www.streitforcongress.com, again never heard of him.

Still researching who to help. Updates to come.....

[MAGI]

February 9, 2006
"Mark Crispin Miller Connects the Dots on Election Problems"

Part two:
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/06/02/int06005.html

"A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW

That refusal to confront the evidence, and to concede that Bush & Co. were not elected, is certainly not based on reason. It’s based, rather, on deep denial and fearful ideology. It’s based on the absurd conviction that it can’t happen here. But ... our whole system of government is based on the assumption that it can happen anywhere, at any time—that it can happen here, and surely will unless we keep this system going with all its checks and balances. The Framers studied history, and saw “it” happening repeatedly, wherever power was concentrated in one person or one body or one mob. That’s why they designed the system as they did.

* * *

Mark Crispin Miller, professor of culture and communication at New York University, is an expert in propaganda and mass persuasion. Having scrutinized the election of 2004, he concludes that team Bush wants to permanently disenfranchise the majority. In his "J'accuse" book on the 2004 election, Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them), Miller documents how the Republicans likely stole a second presidential election, just in a more complicated way than they did in 2000.

To those who dismiss such claims as "over the top," BuzzFlash responds, if the Republicans stole the presidency in 2000 by hot-wiring the Supreme Court of the United States, why wouldn't they do it again? They would -- and they probably did. If we could transplant Mark Crispin Miller's passion and stamina into the backbones of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, we wouldn't have a silent coup taking place now in the United States. In this, Part 2 of a two-part interview, Miller looks at the voting machines, and at our collective refusal to see and acknowledge what has happened to our democracy."

Part 1 is here. :
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/06/01/int06002.html

"January 16, 2006
Mark Crispin Miller Connects the Dots on Election Problems

A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW

The subversion of electoral democracy ... takes vast planning and tremendous effort, and a ton of laundered cash. In short, it has to be that movement's main concern; and I believe that it is Bush/Cheney's main concern, and that it is the main concern of the regime's most fervent backers."

* * *

[haus]

Son of a bitch:


Iraq Vet Abandons Ohio Political Bid
AP - 50 minutes ago

CINCINNATI - Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, a Bush administration critic who had been recruited by top Democrats to run for U.S. Senate, said Tuesday he was dropping his campaign and declared his political career over... (full story (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060214/ap_on_el_se/senate_hackett))

[BenDover]

Son of a bitch:


Yes, I read this in the paper. The article said that the old-guard democratic leadership in Ohio wanted him out of the way so Sherrod Brown could have a better chance of winning. Looks like the good-ol'-boy network is alive and well in Ohio....

:(

[haus]

If it was Ohio, that'd be one problem. I think there's good reason to believe that this happened at the DSCC level. I've already stopped my participation in monthly donation programmes at DSCC/DCCC and have started ala carte donations to Congresspeople I have a particular affinity towards...

[sweetpea]

Yes, I read this in the paper. The article said that the old-guard democratic leadership in Ohio wanted him out of the way so Sherrod Brown could have a better chance of winning. Looks like the good-ol'-boy network is alive and well in Ohio....

:(
--

Is it true Hackett was kicked to the curb because there were pictures of him in uniform in Iraq doing his job?

[BenDover]

--

Is it true Hackett was kicked to the curb because there were pictures of him in uniform in Iraq doing his job?

Have you read this somewhere? If so, I'd sure like to see it. I couldn't imagine there being any concern about pictures of him in uniform. It wouldn't hurt him with dem voters and would certainly be helpful with independents. Repubs wouldn't like him but that's a given anyway. It simply appears that the democratic party muckety-mucks wanted harmony and unity behind the candidate of preference....Brown. Politics as usual.

[BenDover]

If it was Ohio, that'd be one problem. I think there's good reason to believe that this happened at the DSCC level. I've already stopped my participation in monthly donation programmes at DSCC/DCCC and have started ala carte donations to Congresspeople I have a particular affinity towards...

You are probably correct since it is a senate seat at stake. Disillusioning to say the least.

thumbs-down

[haus]

2006 primaries are quickly approaching.

here's a state-by-state primary schedule: http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/electcal.html

here are state-by-state rules for how long you have to be registered before participating in a primary: http://www.eac.gov/register_vote_deadlines.asp