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I went to the one today in Crestline (Crawford County)
All I can say is wow - what a great slate of candidates we have and how important it is that we get them elected in November.
First to speak was Rich Cordray - I missed the first part of his speech, I pretty much just caught the part where he was giving kudos to other candidates. This was the first chance I had to listen to him - great charisma. He introduced Jennifer Brunner. (Cordray, Brunner and Sykes all kept their speeches short as they only had abt. an hour for all candidates to speak)
Jennifer again stressed the integrity of the vote. She expressed how you can not run fair and honest elections as SOS while you are campaigning for a Presidential candidate. She also noted the ridiculous tactics Blackwell used in '04 such as the weight of the paper for voter registration forms. She talked about her experience in the SOS office under Sherrod Brown, as an elections lawyer and as a Common Pleas Judge in which she had to be impartial, fair and honest. Jennifer introduced Barbara Sykes. When she introduced her, she noted how the Auditor will sit on the reapportionment board and how that is important because of the gerrymandering that the GOP has done.
Boy can Barbara get a crowd fired up! If you consider the event a pep rally for the volunteers and democratic activists - she was the best. She got the crowd involved, she spoke about how as Auditor, she will make State Government transparent and hold elected officials accountable. She touched on the GOPs pay to play, BWC investment losses, etc. She vowed to oversee the taxpayers' money in a responsible way and reveal the good and the bad.. and the ugly. Barbara introduced Lee Fisher.
Lee was probably the most serious of speakers. He spoke in a low, to the point tone. He spoke about how serious things are and how important it is for us to elect Ted and Sherrod for the sake of our State, for the future of our children. He contrasted the Republican's marriage to big business to Ted and Sherrod who have always worked for working families and average Ohioans. He said they are not running to gain a title or for fortune or fame, but out of a commitment to public service to improve the lives of Ohioans. He introduced Sherrod Brown.
Sherrod was definitely a crowd favorite as he is from neighboring Richland County and used to be State rep for the area. His mother was there, (Emily Brown, sweet little old lady) he thanked her for "never giving up" the crowd stood and applauded for her. You could see the emotion in his face and hear it in his voice when he introduced her and thanked her. He also thanked friends of the family and a young man who is an Iraqi war veteran. The crowd stood and applauded again. (I was actually getting kind of emotional during Sherrod's speech) He talked about fighting the big businesses, especially the pharma and energy industries. He pointed out how important it is to fix Medicare D for seniors, how important it is to get a sensible energy policy and how important it is to have a fair trade policy. He closed with again asking us all to find 5 voters that many not vote, that might not be registered and commit to getting them to vote Dem this year. He introduced the next Governor of the Great State of Ohio, Ted Strickland.
Standing Ovations, signs waving, people cheering & whistling... Ted talked up Sherrod and the other candidates. Then he told his story about being 1 of 9 children, his father was a steel worker, his brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews that work as pipe fitters, work in concrete and other construction trades. He told the story about how when he was first elected to congress, his dad flew to DC (first time on a plane), when his Dad got off the plane, someone greeted him and said, "Mr. Strickland, you must be very proud of Ted", Mr. Strickland's response was "I'm proud of all my children". Gives you an idea of how Ted was raised and to value and be proud of the blue collar workers that work hard for a living. I am 100% confident that he will never forget where he came from nor will he forget that it is the citizens of the State of Ohio that he works for and not big business.
It was a great event and a great experience for me. I hope others got the chance to attend one of the rallies on this tour. The energy is overwhelming. One little older lady that went with us, got to have her picture taken with Ted, on the way back home she said, "You know, for me that was better than meeting a rock star".
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