How are things going in Ohio?

[Dr.Phool]

I moved to Florida 2 years ago from Cleveland.

I just wanted to check out how things are there. I was there for 3 weeks in May, but was too busy remodeling a house to do anything else.

One good thing happened. I stopped at the ATM machine before heading into the local Marc's, and a woman (stranger) followed me all the way to find out where I got all of my anti-Bush bumperstickers.

I may be back up there over Labor Day week-end for a wedding.

[Kolesar]

1. The polls say Bush is ahead here

There are a good number of activists working on the Kerry/Edwards campaign, and they are way ahead of where Gore was in organizing. My county has had a staffer assigned to us since mid-June, but they are going to assign someone else imminently. That seriously delays our phone canvassing plans. I am concerned greatly.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

7. Currently (8/13) in LBN

There's a poll that show Kerry leading Bush. The tide is turning!

Here's the link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x616423

[cmd]

2. 80+ miles south of Cleveland

We have a Kerry staffer operating out of our Dem HQ. He is in charge of four counties. We've been phone banking for almost two weeks and are planning a large door to door canvass for Saturday. How's it going? It's a deep divide here. I can't say one way or the other. We will have to scramble for every vote.

I will say that I haven't talked to anyone who voted for Gore the last time, who will voter for Bush this election. I have talked to a lot of people who voted for Bush, but are switching to Kerry. The voters are really getting into this election. No matter who wins, there will still be a huge divide in the country.

[Dr.Phool]

3. Sounds like Florida

We're pretty much split down the middle here.
I'm working on 3 campaigns right now. Treasurer for a school superintendent race, Communications for a congressional race, and whatever I can do for Kerry in the mean time. There aren't enough hours in the day.

Kerry doesn't have a staffer in my county yet, but I'm working with the 2 neighboring counties.

[Kukesa]

4. Cautiously Optimistic.

I just returned from an "Ohio Women for Kerry" meeting; 8 women attended the last meeting and we had 32 present tonight. We're working hard to defeat Shrub.

I also work as a volunteer at Montgomery County (Dayton) Dem Headquarters; we have 2,300 active volunteers doing everything from phone banking to registering voters to delivering yard signs.

We need 8 more votes (than we received in 2000) per precinct to win this battleground state.

I will not entertain the thought of losing.

[AngryOldDem]

6. Good Reason to Be Optimistic

We need 8 more votes (than we received in 2000) per precinct to win this battleground state.


Kukesa, I think this is entirely do-able.

I know of a handful of Republican/conservative voters who definitely plan to vote for Kerry because they no longer trust Bush to have another four years. I think the scales are falling from a lot of people's eyes, especially those whose jobs are now endangered -- they have a whole new set of worries now that they didn't have in 2000. Plus, I think the economic climate in general is putting a squeeze on those folks who have been generally above it all for many years. (Even my mother, who is 84 and has been a Republican since birth, is having some very grave doubts about Bush -- that in itself is huge.) In my conservative neighborhood alone, I sense a lot of people are having second thoughts about Bush.

Does this conclusively prove anything? No. But I think it gives us much more reason to be optimistic and work that much harder. We cannot "write off" those precincts, especially in the Dayton South Suburbs, that have a solid history of being conservative/Republican. My sense is that there are a lot of silent Kerry supporters out there, as well as many who are still undecided but are leaning our way (they feel uncomfortable with Bush and are either unwilling or unable to say exactly why). If we give these folks just one good reason to vote Kerry, we've more than gained those eight votes in each precinct.

BTW...were you at the rally downtown Thursday morning? We got A LOT of good support from passersby. Even a train crossing the bridge a block down gave us a shout-out. (I hope someone begins a thread on this -- hint hint -- my training wheels haven't been taken off yet and I can't begin new topics.)

[Kukesa]

8. Cheney Protest.

No, AOD, I wasn't at the rally yesterday morning (sometimes I HAVE to do some other stuff) but my co-chair was there and she gave me a good report.

The press reported a "dozen" protesters; she counted 42. What are we gonna do about WHIO, WDTN, etc?

We also need to start writing letters to the editor of the "DDN" and setting folks straight on the lies I see in there every morning. They print those RW letters that are full of garbage and we need to correct them. Maybe I can squeeze in some time to begin that project.

We CAN do it! Hope to meet you soon. :hi:

[AngryOldDem]

9. Dayton Media

>>The press reported a "dozen" protesters; she counted 42. What are we gonna do about WHIO, WDTN, etc?>>>

Not much we can do. But to tell you the truth, the local news teams since about Don Wayne's death have made themselves so laughingly bad they're irrelevant. I was not happy, though, with Channel 7's misrepresentation of what happened between the old man and the labor dude. What you saw was NOT how it happened, and I was standing right there. I kind of figured the cameraman was looking for that "perfect" angle shot that would make us look bad.

>>>We also need to start writing letters to the editor of the "DDN" and setting folks straight on the lies I see in there every morning. They print those RW letters that are full of garbage and we need to correct them. Maybe I can squeeze in some time to begin that project.>>

Unfortunately, I just had a letter in a few months back and I don't think my 90-day limit's up yet. (It was kinda political, on the pro-choice politician Communion debate in the Church.) I've been amazed too at how far right they've gone. But that seems to be a general trend in media these days.

[OzarkDem]

17. Kerry not up to par with women

Latest Ohio poll shows he's not gaining ground with women voters, but losing some ground to Bush

Latest poll shows only 49% of likely women voters support Kerry. He needs a much bigger margin of support from women voters if he expects to win here.

http://www.ipr.uc.edu/PDF/OhioPoll/2004_Election_081904.pdf

The Ohio women4kerry campaign seems pretty disorganized and out of the loop. Lots of women are interested, but there's no real leadership.

[Kolesar]

5. When we protested Bush in the wealthy suburb

There were far more positive responses than negative responses from the motorists passing by.

[gemdem]

10. Walks in Montgomery Co.Washington-A are looking good...

I've been out three times so far working through my list of Dems and "unaffiliated" voters. I've worked through 280 names out of 438 on the list. Removing the 135 names that I have to revisit because folks weren't home and the 40 who are now out of the precinct, I'm down 105 good visits.

The break down:
43 support Kerry (41%)
6 lean to Kerry ( 5%)
14 undecided (13%)
4 lean to * ( 4%)
30 support * (29%)
1 cannot vote ( 1%)
7 refused answer ( 7%)

So, Kerry 46% to *'s 33%...

Now, considering that this is Repub country (and I don't have a list of Repubs), I'm liking the way the numbers are stacking up. I doubt that Kerry will win my precinct, but if we can make gains over 2000, that may be enough to give Kerry an Ohio win in November.

Right now, www.rasmussenreports.com has Kerry leading * by a percentage point in Ohio (46% to 45% as of 8/9/04). So, things are looking good from where I stand -- or walk. Back out on the beat this weekend.

:-)

[newyawker99]

11. Hi gemdem!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Kukesa]

12. Good Report, GD.

I'm off this afternoon to do some canvassing of my own.

[Eurobabe]

13. lots of blue here up north... KERRY, KERRY!

West of Cleveland -- on vacation for a few days visiting relatives. My aunt who voted for Bush in 2000 is voting for Kerry, I was afraid to ask her...

Saw some really nasty Bu$h stickers on the turnpike. That made my day...

[actappan]

14. Local Races

So, since OH is a battleground state, we ex-pats (moved away from CMH 'bout 4 years ago) are getting a lot of presidential campaign news - but noting on the local races. I try to glean something from the Columbus Dispatch, DDN, or the Plain Dealer on occasion - but there's not a whole lot there either.

Pretty much the only thing I've heard about it Eric Fingerhut's hike (cool but gimmicky) - whats the OH public's feel for other races? Any chance of beating back the GOP tide?

[A Brand New World]

15. Champaign Co.

I'm from small, rural Champaign Co. which is mostly Repub. Yuck! But the good news I heard at the Dem. booth at the fair 2 weeks ago is that they picked up close to 800 new Dem. registrations in the primary. I consider that phenomenal for this county. They seemed very pleased too. So maybe, hopefully the tide is turning for Ohio and even for Champaign Co.

[AngryOldDem]

16. Welcome, Voyager!

Good news in Champaign County!

:hi: :thumbsup:

[Logansquare]

18. My aunt registered voters in Richland co.

Many, many African-Americans registering. One guy said, "We have to get that nut out of there!"