paul hackett, cincinnati, and my family

[maxsolomon]

i left cincinnati for good in 1991. humidity, mainly. but the general political climate & cultural malaise of the city wre factors, too. but i was back there on tuesday visiting the folks.

i met a man doorbelling in mt. adams, which is the closest cincy has to charming & artsy & presumably liberal neighborhood. we stopped & talked about hackett's prospects. he told us that out of 510 in the precinct, only a bit over 100 had voted. that was at 6 pm. pitiful.

later that night i met my liberal brother & his wife for dinner. had they cast their ballots for mr. hackett? nope, they hadn't voted. they have 3 young kids to take care of, therefore, no time to get to the polls. it was 7 pm when they told me. knew all about it, hate bush, think schmidt is a typical cincy wacko christian conservative, but they never bothered to register absentee, never made time to boot out the GOP when they had a chance.

i just want to apologize to paul hackett for my family letting him down.

[Mz Pip]

1. For some reason

conservatives do better at getting out the vote. Don't quite understand that, especially now. When only 20% of the people in a liberal neighborhood get out and vote we do have a problem.

Somehow we need to get people out of their homes and to the polls. What was the turn out in 2000? In 2004? Somewhere around 50%?Nowhere near high enough.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[FreedomAngel82]

10. I agree

For those who have kids and can't make it to the poll maybe there can be a babysitting type of program or something? But we gotta find a way to get people from being lazy and not making an excuse for not voting.

[Misskittycat]

13. We need to target every single possible Dem voter in red states.

Even in the reddest areas, there are some Dems and Independents. Traditionally, voter turnout is relatively low in most elections, so if you can target each and every possible favorable voter, we may have a better chance in red or marginal districts.

Of course, you still need Election Reform or none of it matters.

[Chipper Chat]

2. You pushed the right button here.

Elections are always on Tuesday when middle-class families are working. Politics takes a back seat. Sunday would be a better day, but of course the Pubs know this and wouldn't hear of moving election days.
That said, this does not excuse your brother or anyone else from voting. I remember seeing thousands watching Bruce Springsteen perform for a Kerry rally in Ohio last fall and wondered, "How many of these enthusiasts will actually vote? - probably under 50%."
We'll never win elections until we get an organized 'get out the vote' campaign equal to the highly-successful GOP vote-getter machine.

[Beaver Tail]

5. What are your voting laws?

Where I live it is the LAW that an employer must ensure their employee has a total of four consecutive hours in which to vote while the polls are open (a time which is at the convenience of the employer). If it is on company time than to bad.

Every employee who is qualified to vote shall, while the polls are open on polling day at an election, have four consecutive hours for the purpose of casting his vote and, if the hours of his employment do not allow for those four consecutive hours, his employer shall allow him such additional time for voting as may be necessary to provide those four consecutive hours.


What are the voting laws in your area?

[ohio_liberal]

3. There's no excuse

I'm a single parent and I have 4 kids that go to the polls with me. They could easily take turns if taking the kids inside is a problem.

[Mz Pip]

15. I voted absentee

just in case I was faced with some unforseen disaster that would have prevented me from getting out to vote.

My son, who was in law school at the time, cut his class to wait in line for two hours to vote in NYC.

Lots of things in life are inconvenient but people find a way to make them happen. I have stressed the importance of voting to my kids before the turned 18. I don't think either of them have missed voting in an election.

We are responsible for the direction our country takes and if we don't show up to vote then those that do make the decisions for all of us.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. *sigh* That's a shame.

I know the feeling. I have some friends and family members who are the same way. It's maddening and depressing.

OT: Hearing someone refer to the humidity when you live in Florida is pretty amusing. ;)

[don954]

6. mee too, but I kicked all their buts last november and got them to

vote, all dems in the family but some are procrastinators..

BTW, its really funny for me too, i was just working on my boat and had to quit for the afternoon shower, which cranks up the humidity 1000% everyday wiithout fail...!

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. I'm sitting here hoping we'll skip the afternoon shower today.

Raucus storms all this week around this time. I want to get in the pool when my husband gets home. Rain, rain, stay away!

[maxsolomon]

8. i just went to the hamilton county board of elections site

found the absentee ballot form, emailed my apathetic, lazy bro & his wife. took 30 seconds.

another reason i left was the 17 year cicadas. i missed it last year, so its all working out for me.

[slor]

9. Mt. Adams...liberal?

Sure, it has the appearance of a liberal oasis, but I know of far more right-wing freaks there than libs. Nice area, if you can afford it, but I was really surprised you left out Clifton, and even Northside as liberal neighborhoods, as they are far more well-known for these attributes.
In any event, I am glad you were able to escape. My wife and I are getting sick of the conservative nature of this city too, and are seriously considering the move. I also recently spoke to several friends, smart, creative people, and they too, are moving out soon. The constipation of culture is destroying this city.

[Connie_Corleone]

12. You got that right.

Mt. Adams is not really liberal. The whole city pretty much sucks as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, it'll probably be a few more years before I'm able to move.

[maxsolomon]

16. i wasn't in clifton till later that night.

sad to hear mt. adams is filled with wingers, but the whole city is, i suppose.

it seems to get worse every time i go back: only the poor & the conservatives who hate them are left. what a formula.

as to your move: every friend i ever had in cincinnati left. high school, DAAP, and after. every single one. only my family remains. you will not be alone out here.

[theHandpuppet]

17. Mt Adams *used* to be liberal before it was discovered by Yuppies

Back in the early 70's it was still home to progressives and artists. Rent was cheap so a lot of the students from the Art Academy had apts there. By the mid-70's, however, the yuppies had "discovered" Mt Adams and the resulting skyrocket in housing prices drove out the artists and the eclectic mix of residents was lost for good. Now it's an overpriced, "toney" neighborhood that might as well be a gated community. Its liberals are such in name only because they wear it as if it was a fashionable label; there is no there, there, if you know what I mean.

Meanwhile, the artists, gays, progressives etc migrated to Northside where housing was still affordable. Clifton has always been more liberal because of UC.

Cincinnati is effectively choking itself with its own brand of robotic, fascist conservatism. I don't know what it would take to change that, but the stifling oppression has only gotten worse over the years.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. My lord for the special election here in San Diego

I went to the polls sporting a 103 fever... but I still went... I voted for Donna and against the cross... for once I wish I had done it absentee but could not predict getting that sick that fast that morning.

My hubby and I took turns because we had some people over.... yep your brother has lost all rights to complaint from now on. If he does not play, he has no right to complaint

[Redleg]

14. Across the river from Cincinnati is even worse

We Northern Kentuckians are your redneck neighbors. The only bastion of liberalism in N. KY. is the university where I work and the isolated homes of some of my liberal colleagues.