Sorry it's a few hours late...my wireless router crapped out and I had some trouble getting alternate arrangements together!
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Challenging Ted Strickland for the Governor's seat is John Kasich. Born in PA, but moved on to attend Ohio State and stick around. He's been a State Senator, and one of Ohio's Representatives in Congress for nine terms.
Kasich is campaigning on the idea of returning Ohio to small, responsible government. He feels the budget is bloated, full of gimmicks, and controlled by special interests. Kasich feels he can create a better environment for businesses, solving the employment crisis. Another point Kasich differs from Strickland is taxes; Kasich wants to cut taxes significantly. On education, the concern is over spending on beauracracy, and underspending on students. Going down the list, Kasich is pro-life, supports sportsmanship with his NRA membership, and wants to eliminate the estate tax in part to help keep farms in the family.
Arguments against Kasich? The famous Lehman Brothers connection, which implies Kasich is the type of person who helped tank the economy in the first place. His conservative record is a turn off for many. With that record comes the standard accusations of GOP congressmen who aren't keeping the interests of the people in mind. There's a school of thought that Kasich is unfairly blaming Strickland for inheriting a disaster economy generated by events outside the Governor's control, and not allowing Strickland enough time to put his budget and job creation policies into place.
Whether Kasich makes sense or not really boils down to whether you feel Strickland is actually doing his job. If Strickland is trimming the budget, controlling costs while encouraging job growth, things in Ohio will improve along with the economy over the next four years. However, if Strickland is actually splurging money into special interests, hiking taxes for the hell of it, and not paying attention to job growth...then clearly that's not setting us up for success.
Tuesday
TIME Features Ohio as a Key Battleground
I was leafing through my most recent TIME magazine, and I was fairly delighted to see Ohio's races being talked about. The races between Strickland and Kasich for Governor, Fisher and Portman for Senate are seen as key midterm referendums on Democratic behavior the past couple years, specifically in regards to the recession. Photo gallery here and story here!
Anyhow, let's do a quick profile on Strickland since we're speaking (sorta) of him.
He's been the Governor of Ohio since being sworn in back in 2007. He's presided over the economic implosion of the last couple years, when unemployment in the state has shot up to 10.5%. He's also faced incredible budget shortfalls, and reacted primarily by having state agencies slash budgets and payroll. There's also been other efforts to increase revenue, primarily through gambling: Keno, trying to put slots in racetracks, and the casino gambling referendum have all happened during the current administration.
But...the budget is still facing an incredible deficit, and many of the state agencies are claiming they cannot make further cuts without serious damage to services. Unemployment is still highest in years, and recovery is SLOW.
According to the Strickland campaign site, the Governor has done much to lay the foundation for recovery. Increasing primary and secondary education funding, keeping tuition at public colleges and universities, encouraging clean energy investment, and improving government efficiency are all accomplishments Ted Strickland claims, and all would indeed put Ohio in an excellent position to capitalize on the recovering economy.
Tune in next time when we look at John Kasich!
Anyhow, let's do a quick profile on Strickland since we're speaking (sorta) of him.
He's been the Governor of Ohio since being sworn in back in 2007. He's presided over the economic implosion of the last couple years, when unemployment in the state has shot up to 10.5%. He's also faced incredible budget shortfalls, and reacted primarily by having state agencies slash budgets and payroll. There's also been other efforts to increase revenue, primarily through gambling: Keno, trying to put slots in racetracks, and the casino gambling referendum have all happened during the current administration.
But...the budget is still facing an incredible deficit, and many of the state agencies are claiming they cannot make further cuts without serious damage to services. Unemployment is still highest in years, and recovery is SLOW.
According to the Strickland campaign site, the Governor has done much to lay the foundation for recovery. Increasing primary and secondary education funding, keeping tuition at public colleges and universities, encouraging clean energy investment, and improving government efficiency are all accomplishments Ted Strickland claims, and all would indeed put Ohio in an excellent position to capitalize on the recovering economy.
Tune in next time when we look at John Kasich!
Friday
Registering to Vote
This one's a lil late, thanks to a bunch of visitors from out of town and a brutal work schedule that let publishing the post slip my mind. Sorry!
Here I'm gonna reference an old post of mine, 'cause the first step in an election is actually being registered to vote. Unless you're planning on waiting in line to be turned away by a cranky old lady in November, you gotta be registered.
Elections are on November 2nd this year, which means the Franklin County (or your appropriate County) Board of Elections needs to get your registration form by October 2nd. Don't be late, or all sorts of hell will break loose.
(The post on how to register to vote is accurate, except for one detail: I linked to the Hamilton County Board of Elections, since that's where I lived at the time.)
***
Here I'm gonna reference an old post of mine, 'cause the first step in an election is actually being registered to vote. Unless you're planning on waiting in line to be turned away by a cranky old lady in November, you gotta be registered.
Elections are on November 2nd this year, which means the Franklin County (or your appropriate County) Board of Elections needs to get your registration form by October 2nd. Don't be late, or all sorts of hell will break loose.
(The post on how to register to vote is accurate, except for one detail: I linked to the Hamilton County Board of Elections, since that's where I lived at the time.)
Tuesday
Mid Term Elections (State Offices)
As I touched on in the last post, the first step in responsible voting is knowing who's running. This can get pretty difficult in a year like this one, where so many offices are up for grabs and more than usual don't have an incumbent.
Knowing how a person voted/acted over the last few years makes it easier for me to decide whether or not I'm voting for them. When I have to weight the campaign statements of two people who are playing to their political base...it just gets ugly.
So now that the primaries are out of the way, I'm trying to get a list of candidates together, so we can start to consider them long before we step into the voting booth.
The Races
Ohio Governor
Ohio Senate
District 3
Mark Pfeifer (D) vs Kevin Bacon (R)
Ohio Representative
District 20
Attorney General
Auditor
Secretary of State
Treasurer
Next time? We'll go over the judgeships that you'll be voting on! Woot!
Friday
Mid Term Elections (National Elections)
First things first: It's about to become mid-term election season. This is typically where we have a backlash against the President's party.
People will go to the voting booth, mostly with their minds made up as to how they're going to vote...and very little of that mind will consider the why's.
My goal is to consider the candidates, not the party.
If they're up for reelection, have they represented me over the previous term? Am I comfortable with that person voting for me on such key issues as immigration, energy, and financial reform?
If they're challenging the incumbent, what are they going to do different? Do they have plans? Positions? Or are they just in opposition? Are they really a better fit for the job, or are they change for change's sake?
In any event, we need to know what offices are up being contested, and by whom. Here's Part 1 of that list!
People will go to the voting booth, mostly with their minds made up as to how they're going to vote...and very little of that mind will consider the why's.
My goal is to consider the candidates, not the party.
If they're up for reelection, have they represented me over the previous term? Am I comfortable with that person voting for me on such key issues as immigration, energy, and financial reform?
If they're challenging the incumbent, what are they going to do different? Do they have plans? Positions? Or are they just in opposition? Are they really a better fit for the job, or are they change for change's sake?
In any event, we need to know what offices are up being contested, and by whom. Here's Part 1 of that list!
The Races:
United States Senate
United States House of Representives
12th District
It's the first real set of elections since "third parties" were required to be allowed on the ballot, so the landscape of the ballot is wonderfully diverse.
I'll do a post on this later, but a quick run down is:
S = Socialist Party
G = Green Party
D = Democratic Party
R = Republican Party
Tune in Tuesday for some of the State offices up for grabs and their contenders!
Thursday
I've Been Gone...
...but now I'm back.
We've got a serious election coming up in a couple months, one that will decide what direction the country moves in from here on out. So I think it's about time I start looking at issues and candidates a lil harder...and while I'm doing that I might just as well blog about it. Might make life a little easier for all of you, no?
So stay tuned...watch this space on Thursdays for my new posts!
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