VIP Police Escort Up Vine?

About 5 "VIP" charter buses just got a police (Sheriffs) escort up Vine Street towards UC. Anyone have an idea who it was? Could it be the Rutgers football team? Why would they need the police escort?

Red-Faced Anger Used To Be Blue

The Republicans (at this moment) are losing this election. And they're angry about it.

We see evidence of Republican anger everywhere. We see it right here at the Cincinnati Blog, where every post that comes close to touching on the presidential campaign spurs a commenter (generally known as "the Indiana troll") to make dozens of comments, most of which were cut-and-pasted from right-wing websites. We see it at Republican rallies, where McCain supporters recently have begun calling out disgustingly unacceptable epithets. We see it in the ads that John McCain, an once honorable man who promised to run is resuming a "respectful" campaign, has chosen to run in these waning days of the campaign.

The Republicans' anger is understandable. Their candidate is, after all, a genuine war hero--a scarce commodity in American politics these days. He's been in the Senate for decades. He's widely considered to be a moderate, the kind of politician who should be broadly appealing. His opponent, on the other hand, is a first-term senator who never served in uniform but still dared to run for office while the nation is at war; moreover, at a time when Americans are more suspicious of outsiders than they have been since, perhaps, World War II, he has an exotic-sounding name and background. Had one described such a scenario four years ago, it would have been laughable that this could even been a close election: McCain should be leading by double digits.

The Republicans are angry because they aren't just losing this election; they're losing their grip on the American electorate. Today, FoxNews (yep, that's right, Fox) released a poll. Like every other poll, it puts Obama in the lead (46-39). But the "internals" are what must be particularly disheartening for Republicans. Of those polled, 52% said they trusted Obama more than McCain (32%) to handle health care; 50% trusted Obama more than McCain (35%) to handle the economy (the most important issue for 49% of those surveyed); 45% trusted Obama more than McCain (40%) on energy independence; 46% trusted Obama more than McCain (41%) on taxes; and 42% trusted Obama more than McCain (40%) on cutting government spending. With respect to the war on Iraq, only 47% trusted McCain more, while 42% trusted Obama more. 46% think the Democratic ticket has "better judgment" than the Republican ticket (39%). That the Democrats have the confidence of the voters on so many issues (especially taxes and cutting government)--and that the Republicans are believed to be better able to manage the Iraq war by such a slim margin of voters--would have been unthinkable a year ago.

As Democrats, we can feel the GOP's pain, so to speak. After all, we felt much the same way eight years ago. Then, our candidate was the sitting Vice President, part of an administration that presided over eight years of peace and prosperity. His opponent was a relatively inexperienced governor whose primary claim to the office seemed to be genealogical. The Democratic base was furious about the campaign our candidate ran, just as the Republicans are angry with what they see as a lackluster McCain campaign today. Back then, we got angry. We questioned the Republican candidate's intelligence, even though he had degrees from Ivy Leagues institutions. We attacked his family. We made inquiries into his past that had no bearing on whether he was now qualified to lead. And we still lost.

Eventually, the anger will retreat a bit, and we will all sit down together and work through the serious problems we face. In the meantime, though, Dems should be tolerant of their Republican friends' anger; we've been there and done that. And Republicans should remember that they're not the first to be on the losing end of an election that they didn't think they could lose, and it won't be long (for Congress, two or four years, and for the White House, four or eight) before they're back on top again, wondering why we're so angry. So let's try to weather the next three-and-a-half weeks with some dignity, and make sure we can all hoist a beer together on November 5, once this election is over.

UPDATE: Earlier today, John McCain remembered who he was and why is so admired by so many from both political parties: he called for his supporters to be respectful. According to this report, he took time during a campaign rally to defend Obama as "a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States." As you all know, I have no shortage of disagreements with McCain with respect to the direction in which this nation should go. But today's events prove that at root, McCain is a classy guy, and I'm glad he remembered that. That's why the second paragraph of this post has been edited.

Never Know Who You Pass

On my way home from work tonight at a little past 6PM, I was faithfully following the speed limit (plus a little) down I-71. Over in the northbound lanes I started to see a line of motorcycle cops cruising along with their lights flashing. After a half dozen or so CHiPS look-a-likes, I could see more flashing lights and a big bus up ahead. I felt heartened that I might be passing Obama after his speech in Hyde Park. I wanted to attend the event, but I had to work. It sounds like a huge crowd came and that getting there was a mess. I was surprised they used Ault park as the location. It makes for a great photo, but a horrible place to get tens of thousands of people in and out of.

As the bus got closer I saw to my chagrin the name "Palin" on the front. Disappointment came over me like a huge waive and it was only a fraction of a second later that I was back focusing on the driving. I felt sorry for the traffic jam that lasted on I-71 Northbound from around the Cross County to nearly all the way Downtown.

5th and Race Under 3CDC?

The city has taken another step(next to last paragraph) in turning over development of the empty parking lot at the corning of 5th and Race Streets Downtown.

The Enquirer reported on the plan last week.

Suit Seeks Free Speech for City Employees

Two Cincinnati police officers (including Keith Fangman, former president of the local FOP) have filed suit against the City of Cincinnati, alleging that the City's blanket prohibition on city employees campaigning for political candidates is overbroad and violative of the First Amendment (as incorporated against the states by the Fourteenth Amendment). According to the Enquirer, they seek an injunction forcing the City to permit them to donate money to and distribute literature for the presidential candidate of their choice (one favors Obama, the other McCain--apparently, there's no police officer who wishes to be identified with Nader). The case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Michael Barrett. The plaintiffs are making it clear that they wish to take part in campaigns off-the-clock and (presumably) while dressed in civilian attire.

I've long thought that the City's prohibition was ripe for challenge, and I'm happy to see someone doing it. Should City employees be actively involved in the mayoral or Council elections? Probably not. But is there any coherent reason to exclude rank-and-file employees (not policy-makers) from participating in federal, state, and county races? Not that I can see. If the City is smart, it will quickly resolve this matter: the harder it fights, the higher the bill it will have to pay to the plaintiffs' attorneys once the case is concluded (because this is a civil rights case, a prevailing plaintiff is entitled to have his or her attorneys' fees paid by the defendant).

Full disclosure: I am a former associate (from 2004 - 2006) of the firm now known as Gerhardstein and Branch, which represents the plaintiffs. I no longer have any connection to the firm, nor have I sought to learn anything from anyone connected to that firm about this case.

Quick Hits

Some tidbits from around the local blogosphere I found interesting:


1. After lawsuits that went all the way to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court, "same-day voting" doesn't seem to have been very popular. Ben Fischer reports that for Ohio's four largest counties plus Toledo, the total number of people who cast ballots on the same day the registered is a little more than 4,000. I suspect this is because anyone who was truly interested in this election registered during the hotly contested Ohio primary (this includes Republicans participating in Operation Chaos).


2. Jeff Berding has filed a complaint with the Ohio Election Commission, alleging that Better Ballot Cincinnati is making misleading statements about proportional representation. The Commission needs to update its website, which appears to have been dormant for the last two years, but Berding's complaint seems to be primarily based on Issue 8's supporters' contention that PR is how Obama was nominated by the Democratic Party. I've long wondered about that statement myself, and assume that the campaign is referring the large number of states that use caucuses to choose their candidate. This must be what they mean, as I'm quite sure I wasn't given the option to rank candidates when I voted in the Ohio primary. Nonetheless, I think Berding's complaint doesn't have legs, and trying to suppress speech doesn't really help his argument that PR isn't the most democratic way to do things.


3. Justin Jeffre continues in his quixotic quest to garner a few dozen votes for Ralph Nader. Although I've lost most of the respect I once had for Nader (I really liked Nader, but thought he was much more effective as an attorney and public interest advocate than he is with his perennial vanity campaigns), I appreciate and admire Jeffre's dogged idealism.

Mmm, Soul Food

I'm not sure what took me so long, but I finally got around to trying Flo's Plate Full of Soul today (Get in Mah Belly reviewed the eatery over a month ago). It's a takeout-only place on Court Street, just west of Main, open during the week for breakfast and lunch.

I had the chicken chili, cornbread, and peach cobbler (I know, it's a lot for lunch). The chili, though not what I expecting (it's probably more fairly called a "gumbo" than "chili") was really, really good. Very flavorful. The cornbread was OK, and the peach cobbler was to die for.

I hear excellent things about the mac and cheese, so I'll be stopping in soon to pick some up. The location obviously caters to the courthouse crowd. I'm hoping if they continue to do well, they'll be able to expand (the old Chambers restaurant needs a tenant!).

And by the way: all the food I just mentioned was for less than ten bucks (and included a can of Pepsi). So that's one more affordable place to eat downtown.

Maybe next time I'll take a picture of the cobbler. But probably not--that's Julie's job!