Posted on 02/13/2006 12:27:37 PM PST by Stand Watch Listen
Political activist Scott Nunnery came to Ohio in January 2004 to help rally progressive voters behind John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate.
Kerry, still a U.S. senator, has long since packed up his campaign. But Nunnery and the voter group that employs him stayed behind to create a permanent campaign.
That's because Ohio remains a key battleground in national politics. With important congressional and statewide offices being decided in this year's elections, activists representing Democratic and Republican interests are already gearing up.
"We are building a movement, and in a state like Ohio, it takes time," Nunnery, state director of America Votes, said.
Republicans, who benefited in 2004 from a far-better-organized state party than Democrats had, are also retooling for the '06 elections with an eye toward the 2008 presidential race.
"The biggest lesson of 2004 is that if you don't start early, you're a day late and a dollar short," said Jason Mauk, Ohio's Republican Party political director. "The old political strategy said you could take the odd year off between statewide elections, but the new dynamic in a battleground state is that you can never let up."
Thursday is the filing deadline for candidates appearing on the primary ballots for 2006. Among the offices at stake in Ohio are one seat in the U.S. Senate, 18 seats in the U.S. House, governor, attorney general, auditor, secretary, treasurer and two spots on the Supreme Court bench.
The races destined to attract the most attention - and to be the most contentious - are for the Senate, pitting two-term incumbent Republican Mike DeWine against the winner of the Democratic primary, and for the successor to Republican Gov. Bob Taft.
Unlike in recent midterm elections, Ohio voters are likely this year to see more national officials, view more political commercials and see more door-to-door campaigning by the candidates and their supporters.
The GOP has already received calls from potential presidential candidates - including U.S. Sens. Bill Frist and John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani - who want to visit Ohio.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
mnaymik@plaind.com, 216-999-4849
I am rolling my eyes.
The fact that these kind of "get out the vote" efforts actually change votes is a sad commentary on the state of our society.
And there are still people who believe there is a sure fire system to pick the winners in the NFL.
Here is where their movement can go.
Why would any progressive voter choose John Kerry?
Your reply was a "good" massage
What the hell kind of job is "political activist?" Is he a welfare recipient? Is he a paid for Democrat advertising coordinator. who pays for the sh!t? The National Democratic party? The state party?
as long as there are electronic voting machines, there will be charges of rigged elections. There can be no realiable auditing of votes. whichever party pays the most to the vendor will win the elections.
and if they handle it smartly, they won't win them all, just enough, and nobody will ever know.
the democrats don't want a fool proof system - merely one they can challenge.
"It Was A' For Our Rightfu' King..."
All photoshop kudos to dead.
The Democratic rank and file asks just one question. What can my party and goverment do for me?
The Republican rank and file asks just one question. What can I do for my party and goverment?
As a result Bush had tens of thousands of unpaid volunteers who gave time and money to the Ohio campaign. The Democratic party had to get money from their rich supporters to hire people to work for the Kerry campaign. The paid Kerry workers tried to figure out how to do the least amount of work for the most money.
What we need to do is form a union and then unionize the Democratic party workers. We could take them out on strike two weeks before the election.
Since the 2004 elections and controversy over gay marriage in the United States, "activist" has often been used as a pejorative for those who seek to redress social ills through legal rather than legislative action. Thus many conservative politicians have sought to curb the power of those deemed "activist judges" whom they claim are acting outside traditional boundaries of judicial review [1]. Some liberals contend that judicial activism is in a long-standing US legal tradition, while others have responded that judicial activism is more prevalent among judges deemed conservative [2]. The word "activism" is often used synonymously with protest or dissent, but activism can stem from any number of political orientations and take a wide range of forms, from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, simply shopping ethically, rallies and street marches, direct action, or even guerrilla tactics. In the more confrontational cases, an activist may be called a freedom fighter by some, and a terrorist by others, depending on which side of the political fence is making the observation.
I would assume the local and state party pays for this activism, with monies also coming in from the national party/PACs
The disgusting thing is that it was invented in Ohio by the pubbies after the Civil War.
Don't worry - in the next election, the Dems will be sure to get out the dead, the illegal immigrants and the convicted felons in force.
None of that sounds like progress to me. Conservatives are the progressive ones, cause we actually do stuff while the libs are still sitting around talking.
The new voter-id bill signed into law is going to create just a little more scrutiny to the voter coming to vote.
All it's going to take is a little more scrutiny to make the dims who don't want a hassle (or to be hassled for illegal voting), to stay home and fire up another rock.
Once Blackwell becomes our next Governor, look for it to be even harder for the Dems to get away with fraud...
Dram on rat, dream on.
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