You may remember from the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns the calls for people in states that were securely Democratic to come to Ohio and help out. By October 2004, Kerry headquarters was filled with folks from New York, Illinois and other reliably blue states. And in 2008, the Obama campaign sent its Illinois foot soldiers over the border to Indiana and turned that formerly red state blue.
Ohio’s 11th district, where I live, is the most Democratic district in the state. Marcia Fudge was put on the ballot as the Democratic congressional candidate last fall about six weeks before the election. She still got 85% of the vote and yes, technically, she did have a Republican opponent.
Given the deep blue hue of the 11th, I like to “adopt” other races that need help, by sending donations or doing what little help I can. But those of us in Cuyahoga County, where Democrats rule, don’t need to go too far to find a group to lend a hand to. Although Geauga County is very Republican, it has a very active Democratic organization working hard to make inroads into the area’s political makeup — and judging from their enthusiasm, not getting discouraged by the incremental pace of their progress.
I went to their annual fundraising dinner last night, and as usual, it was a lively, committed crowd that gathered at the Grandview Golf club in Middlefield to socialize and hear guest speaker Lee Fisher, who attended with his wife Peggy. After an effusive introduction by former Ohio appeals court judge and former supreme court/14th district congressional candidate Bill O’Neill (who worked in Fisher’s office when Fisher was attorney general and seemed determined to name everyone else who had worked there then too), Fisher gave the crowd his “director of development” speech, telling stories about the economic challenges people in various parts of Ohio were dealing with and exhorting the crowd to imagine a better future. Although he didn’t mention his Senate race, that future would certainly involve the defeat of Republican Senate candidate and job outsourcer Rob Portman — whether Fisher or his primary opponent Jennifer Brunner is the Democratic candidate. Check out the Geauga County Democrats website; they’ve already got pictures up of the event.
County party chair Janet Carson announced some good news: they’ve just taken a lease on a much larger space in the same strip mall at Routes 87 & 44 in Burton, where they currently have a small storefront headquarters. “The Republicans won’t be able to ignore us as easily,” Carson exulted. She said that the hope is the new space, to open in August, will become a gathering place for Geauga County Democrats — hopefully reminding them they’re not as alone as they may sometimes feel.