In the Hackett fight, public education in Ohio won!

[iconoclastic cat]

Okay, so he didn't win. But he shamed the Repubs, and he should be our rallying cry/fight song/drinking ballad for the next year or so (until he wins 2006).

While Hackett may not have won, public education--one of the many heads of the Great Satan, according to the Repubs--won in a huge way:

The Hackett Effect And The Blogosphere

In Ohio's reddest, most Republican district, one where previous Democratic candidates have been lucky to get 30% of the vote, Paul Hackett -- a guy who a month ago hardly anyone knew -- comes within a gnat's eyelash of taking the seat.

Better yet, while Hackett lost a very close race, he brought in enough supporters to pass every single school levy on the ballot -- levies that the Republicans opposed tooth and nail, and which were repeatedly defeated in the past.

From WCPO.com yesterday morning:

There are several other issues on the ballot today for Tri-state voters.

In Hamilton County, Mt. Healthy voters have to decide on a road renewal.

The Three Rivers School Levy is also back on the ballot. An earlier levy was defeated in november.

In Warren County, the Franklin School levy is once again on the ballot. Voters have turned that levy down in seven previous elections.

Also in Warren County's Harlan Towship, the fire levy is up for renewal.

And in Butler County, voters will decide on the Edgewood School levy. Voters turned down a previous levy in May.

Guess what? Last night, every single one of these levies passed.
They wouldn't have passed if we hadn't been getting out the vote for Hackett.

So if any of you are still wondering "Was it worth it?", the clear answer is "You betcher ass it was!"

Just to show you what you people did for the kids in that county, here it is:

All Levies Pass On Tri-state Ballots

Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: 9News
8/2/2005 11:11:29 PM

All levies on Tuesday's ballots have passed.

But the Edgewood school levy was very close, passing by just 100 votes.

Franklin and the Three Rivers school levies also passed, as did the Mt. Healthy road maintenance levy and the Harlan Township fire levy.

To paraphrase Regan from The Exorcist (in keeping with the Satan motif):
DID YOU SEE WHAT HE DID? YOUR (redacted) DEMOCRAT!

:woohoo:

Be proud, not sad. 50 (redacted) states, dammit! Fight. Fight. Fight.

[TheFarseer]

1. I wonder if this was for real educational stuff

or gymnasiums. I definitely understand people not wanting to pay for a gym.

[iconoclastic cat]

2. Do you *want* me to go off on you about obesity and the need for

extracurricular activities? DO you? 'Cause I will.
:hi:

[TheFarseer]

3. I didn't want to get into a whole thing here but

my old highschool wanted a practice gym so that the Jr. high coach wouldn't have to drive the bus 2 miles to a nice gym at an elementary school. We already had a very nice gym we could use for P.E. and you can go outside too alot of the time but only so many basketball teams can practice at one gym. We voted that down maybe 3 times and then they decided to start a 'sinking fund' to basically steal our money and use it for a gym and they got their way and we had to pay for it.

[iconoclastic cat]

4. Well, yes, that's criminal.

[quaoar]

5. Yeah

I'll bet they wanted that money for a bunch of frivolous stuff like roofs that don't leak and textbooks that are less than 20 years old.

[Gold Metal Flake]

6. What is this, some sort of big picture speech?

Kicked and nominated.