I am amused to note that the previous three blogs are all on the same theme. Now, much can be said about this, but, being a moderate man (with only one vice), I restrain myself. The only thing I will say is that in this age of hyper-politics (with an interesting election just days away) half the active bloggers at NLT are talking about wine! I will not restrain myself on one thing: I predict that the Democrats will take back neither the House or the Senate, and that the senior senator from Ohio will retain his seat (GOP will also retain MO, TN, VA). Blackwell will lose by about three to five points, I am sorry to say. The only House seat the Dems will gain in OH will be the 18th (Neys seat). Watching the post-election Democratic blood-letting will be interesting.
What brand of confidence are you drinking? Please send me some!
The polls might be off a little, but not THAT much. DeWine is doneski.
Peter, dont forget that you are only a recent convert to moderation and only ONE vice!
Peter...I would love to hear your thoughts on what seems like some rosy predictions.
Hmmmm . . . But wine is a celebratory drink, not a drink for sorrows. So heres a bit of anecdotal information that is cheering.
My grandmother--a lifelong FDR Democrat if shes anything (shed say independent, but she doesnt really like Republicans) informed me that she had already cast her absentee ballot. "Rats," I thought. "I have no chance to sway her now!" So, very tentatively, I asked if she would mind telling me who she voted for. "Oh, I voted for that Blackwell, if thats what your after!" she snapped. "You did," I said, "but what was it that convinced you to do it?" It was the Strickland comments about Ohioans being backward in their values. (By the way, her husband and my grandfather, died in 2000 from Parkinsons. She is rather leaning toward favoring stem cell research--but not government funding of it.) Strickland is too arrogant in her view. She did not like Blackwells views on the turnpike, but decided that was less objectionable to her than the general tenor of Stricklands views.
We had a nice chat about how much I admire Blackwell, how he is courageous and decent and good and she pressed her point on the turnpike. That was fine. "But," I asked her, "dare I ask you who else you voted for?" "Oh," she said, "Ive never done this but I voted Republican down the line: Blackwell, DeWine, and Padgett." Now isnt that interesting? She, by the way, has voted with Ohios majority in every presidential election that I can remember.