...The Iraq vets' efforts have gained the most headway in Ohio's 15th district, where the first of the 17 members of the organization to win a primary race is State Sen. Steve Stivers. While he says he admires both Sen. McCain and Gen. Petraeus, he isn't making Iraq policy the centerpiece of his campaign. "I'll talk about Iraq with anyone who asks me, but now it's not the first issue on people's minds," the 43-year-old Ohio native says. "Jobs and the economy are where my focus is."
After several prominent Republicans declined to run this year, Mr. Stivers threw his hat into the ring to succeed retiring Rep. Deborah Pryce. He won the March 4 primary with 66% of the vote, but his prospects in November are dicey. Sen. Barack Obama, who has trumpeted his antiwar record, carried the counties that compose most of Mr. Stivers's district, including the Columbus suburbs, where Sen. Obama beat Sen. Hillary Clinton by 14 points. The district is also home to the main campus of Ohio State University, where a Republican candidate's call to "complete the mission" in Iraq is more likely to drive turnout for the Democrats than for Mr. Stivers.....
Stivers supports McCain's 100 year war in Iraq, and therefore, he will not initiate the conversation about Iraq. Democratic candidate, Mary Jo Kilroy, is definitely supporting a safe withdrawal of our troops from Iraq.Stivers says he is focusing on jobs and the economy? Terrific. Unfortunately, Stivers, a former bank lobbyist, is supporting jobs and the paychecks for bankers. His legislative support for banks/lenders and even "payday lenders" shows that he has no plans to help regular Ohioans, consumers, or those facing foreclosure. Stivers is also part of the Republican controlled state legislature which works 2-3 days per week to further their right wing political agendas.
This year I hope that all the votes get counted in the 15th district and that it totals up to a win for Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy.
* There is some big time fighting going on in the Lucas County Republican Party, according to the Toledo Blade. I guess this shows that Ohio's Republicans are not all united together in perfect harmony.
* WTOL is reporting that Republican Ohio State Senate candidate, John Schulte was found "guilty" on Tuesday of felony-level stalking and telephone harassment...
* Did you ever wonder why the telephone-based political polls are not reliable? Many younger voters do not have "land lines" but instead rely totally on their cellphones. Those pollsters are not calling the cell phones only the "older" people, like me, (over 35) who have traditional home phones.
* After watching the Senate hearings yesterday it is clear that the Bush administration and the Republicans want nothing more than to force their Iraq agenda down our throats. Only the Democratic Senators had the backbone to ask the hard questions.
Here are some points that were made:
1. The Bush administration is paying the "Sons of Iraq" to work for our military. They are being paid two times the average salary in Iraq.
2. The government of Iraq has a large surplus in their treasury while our country is ringing up deficits.
3. Senator Lindsay Graham's questions were just repeating the Bush talking points about the war. With so many military men and women from his state in Iraq, he should be looking for the truth and not try to prop up his support of a one hundred year war.
4. Senator Susan Collins tried to act tough but she has voted twice against pulling out the troops.
5. Senator Claire McCaskill said that South Korea, Germany, and Japan had paid the U.S. government to have our troops and bases in their respective countries. However, Iraq is doing no such thing.
6. Senator Ben Nelson tried to explain to Petraeus and Crocker that the money they were asking for was billions of dollars and "not pencil dust."
I think that the hearings helped many Americans see that it is time to let the Iraqis decide their own destinies without us contributing more money and more American lives.