Guest blogger #2

Greetings all. My name is Adam Bartel, and I will be one of the guest bloggers while Brian is on vacation. Some of you may know me from my posts on here under the name ‘Adam’ (not as creative as FunnelCake, but it gets the job done). I currently run a blog called Reality Bytes, which covers such important topics as pop culture, reality TV, sports, and the like. It will be a (welcome) change to go from writing about Carrie Underwood and Big Brother to local politics and current events. As Brian had mentioned, he was looking for a leftie, and he’s got one in me (left-handed too, but that’s another story), so hopefully we’ll be able to keep the debates going on both sides.

More on Bush's Creationism Meme

Kevin Drum has a great post on Bush's recent statement in support of teaching ID in public schools and brings up his past comments on teaching Christian Creationism.

Side note: why do supporters of Christian Creationism not label it as Christian Creationism? They could throw in Jews and maybe Muslims somehow, but since when did the religious aspect of the issue get lost on the vernacular?

Gangs

This is an interesting story. I think this is going to get spun by the Boycott 'gangs' (both A and B) to maximum speed. If true this is bad, but not as bad as it will be played.

Post Mortem

What I am most baffled by is how Hackett won all of the East Counties? How did he when bible belt Adams County? I think this shows the breakdown for the GOP. SW Ohio is solid for them, though not as solid as they think, but South Central Ohio is in Play. After all, Strickland used to have much of those counties, so it really should not be that much of a stretch for Hackett to win there.

52 to 48 Schmidt

First off to those fools on the right who thought Schmidt would get 70, let alone 60 percent of the vote, they really were not paying enough attention.

Secondly, I am perplexed by why half of Clermont county was the last to report in the entire district.

After all six other counties in the district had completed their ballot counts in what was a low-turnout election, Schmidt’s home county, Clermont, had reported a little more than half of its precincts.
“I have no idea what is going on over there,’’ said Hamilton County Board of Elections chairman Tim Burke. “I don’t know what their problem is.’’

They have electronic optical scan machines, which means they should have been done the fastest. Why were they later than Hamilton County? I am not look for conspiracies here, just like to point out things that look like incompetence. I hope they double check how they vote. What makes this look bad, is that before the rest of Clermont county finally submitted their votes, the race was a dead heat, 50/50. It just looks bad. It would be nice, especially since the newspaper is reporting it, that the Clermont county officials come out and say why they were delayed. That can put to rest, assuming they have a valid and plausible excuse, and fears of hanky panky.

Democrats should hold their heads high. This was a long shot race and in the end, the bigot vote and nutty anti-women (anti-abortion) vote won out. There are still people who can't get past those issues. They can disagree on everything else, but those, and they still will give their vote to the extremist. Well, the same kind of fools voted for Bush, and in America fools do grow on trees.

The House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has this to say in press release:

"Paul Hackett is a war hero who campaigned with the same dignity and honor that he served our country. Paul ran an excellent campaign and made what should have been an easy Republican win a tough contested race.



"The issues, political, and ethics environment are good for Democrats and Paul Hackett's campaign in a Republican district proves it.



"Republicans are on notice -- Americans are demanding a change. Americans will no longer tolerate the Republicans' continued abuses of power and catering to corporate special interests at the expense of the public interest.



"Democrats are committed to expanding opportunity, growing prosperity, and increasing security for every American."

She is right; Hackett proved that Democrats are alive and kicking in this city. We are not rolling over and this should be making some statewide GOP folks mighty nervous right now.

Hackett Party

I made my way downtown to the Paul Hackett party at the Aronoff Center. Very nice event, spirited crowd. I think everyone felt good. I could not stay late and missed Paul addressing the crowd. The media was there fairly heavily, including a couple of national outlets, like Mother Jones.

Elections Results

The polls closed over an hour ago and things appear tight in the early returns.

Check WCPO for Results

The Enquirer's site is running slow and overloaded. They are to have results here.