Opportunity to ask Sherrod Brown Questions

[Columbus]

Here is the invitation:
"Saturday, October 08, 2005
"Why is Sherrod Brown running for Senate? Ask him at "A Candidates' Night with Congressman Sherrod Brown", Sunday, October 9, 2005, 6:30 p.m., at The Blackwell Hotel, The Ohio State University,2110 Tuttle Park Place (between the Holiday Inn and High Street off of Lane Avenue). Sponsored by UAPA."

"Join UAPA for a captivating evening that's all about Grassroots and Winning?1 Learn why it's critical to pass the Reform Ohio Now amendments."

There is also an announcement of a Paul Hackett meetup.

[Columbus]

1. oops

I apologize for omitting the fact that I copied the post from
www.Ohiohonestelections.org

for those wanting the Hackett meetup information.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

2. I have been assuming that someone has consulted with

Sherrod regarding the stolen elections and how to detect the fraud as he was previously the Ohio SOS, back when elections were elections. I would think he could shed some light on the cheating possibilities regarding registrations, etc. Of course, he ran things much differently than Blackwell, but should know what systems are vulnerable.

Maybe we shouldn't assume, though?

[Columbus]

7. no questions on election reform issues

I do not think Brown ever did anything on this issue. I might be wrong. He did question the election result after the Noe scandal story broke.

He answered only a few questions so there was no real opportunity to get to verified voting issues.

The meeting was in support of the RON ballot issues as well as a candidates'night.

[Bill Bored]

3. OK, but WTF is the Blackwell Hotel? ! nt

[Columbus]

8. The answer is even funnier

I believe that the Blackwell hotel is owned by another Republican (not the Ohio SOS) who was recently convicted for financial shenanigans.

[Bill Bored]

4. Someone should ask him this:

Why are Ohio ballot orders rotated among collocated precincts instead of just among polling places and why did Bush's name line up with Kerry's so often on ballots in collocated precincts in the 2004 Election?

Does the ballot order rotation have to go by precinct according to Ohio law or can it be rotated by polling place?

Could the ballot orders have been set up so that vote switching between Kerry and Bush could not have occurred?

Why do Ohio punch card ballots NOT have precinct codes punched on them to prevent the ballots from being read by the wrong machines?

[Bill Bored]

5. I just noticed that this event is over!

But if anyone wants to post about it, it might be interesting.

[Columbus]

6. It was interesting

The meeting went well. However Brown, his wife, and supporters seemed to be stunned that anyone was asking him about his decison to plunge Ohio Dems into an internal fight and the consequent waste of money in a primary.

Brown was in his usual good form answering questions but in a real sense the answers were robotic, regurgitations. He did not seem to be aware of the anger he is causing nor the shallowness of his responses.

Three instances of the above

1. Asked very politely about his "flip-flop" on running after saying he would not run and giving a thumbs up to Hackett to run (Hackett taking him at his word and getting a staff together and buying a campaign bus and getting the word out he was running) Brown gave the hack response that he got out of the race because of family needing his attention (his daughter was getting married, etc.). This is a hack answer. Daughter getting married, wife's job, etc. are situations that are not exactly unpredictable. He could have said he would decide after the November election in Ohio. But no, he said he would not run and now he is trying to force Hackett out of the race. His response was well delivered but lacking credibility, as Ohio newspapers have noted.

2. His wife and Brown kept insisting to questioners that this (the why did he change his mind question) would go away if only the questioners would stop bringing it up. The questioners pointed out that there was a story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer that very day asking the very same question and painting a rather unflattering portrait of Brown and his responses. Mr. and Mrs. Brown kept insisting that it would all go away and that Hackett changed his mind too (about going to Iraq, a canard in my opinion). They both appeared to be annoyed that people were questioning the coronation and that Hackett had supporters in the very very left liberal progressive meeting. They were also very forceful in stating that Hackett was not going to run so there would be no divisive primary in Ohio. How they knew this they would not say.

3. Another politely asked question was how he would get the votes of rural and southern Ohio voters who seemed enchanted with Hackett but most of whom do not vote for Dems (including Brown the last time he ran statewide). Brown's answer was that he would "run on the issues." That was it. What issues, how things have changed to cause those voters to change their voting behavior this time, nothing. "Run on the issues" was it, a platitude.


As a long-time Sherrod Brown supporter I was disgusted with him.

There is a post on the meeting at
www.ohiohonestelections.org
as well as both Mother Jones magazine articles from the current issue that are extremely favorable to Hackett.

There is also a Citizens for Hackett meeting posted to take place this coming Sunday, October 16.

[Bill Bored]

9. Ohio Dems seem so disorganized sometimes.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be a choice of candidates, but Chuck Schumer and the DSCC <http://www.dscc.org/> are trying, for better or worse, to get people elected against incumbent Repubs by NOT having too much in fighting and primaries and money spent on them in '06.

That said, do you know who Schumer and Reid support? It's not like they can ask your Governor for a suggestion!