* We have about 11 inches of snow on the ground here in central Ohio. It remains very cold, with the chance of additional snow in the next few days.
* In re-examining the 2008 race for Ohio's 15th congressional district, you have to wonder how certain people feel about the candidates. U.S. Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (Democrat), has demonstrated her commitment to regular human beings by working on legislation that helps people find and secure jobs, get health care, protect and help our veterans, and punish the risky investment behavior of banks. Kilroy and her staff have made huge efforts to help her constituents. Kilroy has also gained even more support among her legions of college students.
On the other hand, former bank lobbyist and Republican candidate for Congress, Steve Stivers, continues to obsess about his loss in the 2008 election, when he said the following (TheHill):
...Ohio State’s 50,000 students undoubtedly helped Kilroy in 2008, but their turnout is expected to plummet in a midterm election, especially since President Obama will not be on the ticket. Stivers said a lower turnout will help him.
“Everything kind of broke against me at the end, with the financial crisis in September and the big turnout on the Ohio State University campus,” he said. “A lot of people came out and voted a straight ticket with Obama and didn’t really even give me an opportunity.”
I have many questions about Stivers and his approach to his second run:
Will Stivers try to stop the high turn out at the OSU campus? Does he think the financial crisis with banks has gotten better and people will forget his ties to the banking industry? With his fundraiser in DC with the bigshots of the banking industry (Financial Roundtable), does Stivers hope to go to Washington, DC to protect the banks, investment firms, and big oil? Why else would these bank PACs continue to provide contributions to Stivers if they didn't think he'd support their industry?
When word got out that Chase planned to outsource thousands of jobs to India, Mary Jo Kilroy worked to keep those jobs in central Ohio. If Stivers had been in Kilroy's position, what would he have done? Would he have defended Chase's move to India?
Have the people of Union County forgotten Stiver's legislative contribution that allowed Hi-Q Egg Farm to have a location for their millions of chickens? Will they vote for a person who allowed Hi-Q to ruin their farms, waterways, air, and soil?
Stivers has not made it a secret that he has made a dramatic turn to the far right. Will even moderate Republicans support him now that he has aligned himself with the Tea Party sheeple?
Answers to these questions will not come right away, but we will all have to keep an eye on the action in the coming months.