• Watch the rare and unscripted interaction between Michelle, Barack and his children at the end of Michelle Obama's moving speech at the Democratic Convention last night. Michelle's life story video was also great.
• Montana's Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer provided the red meat at last night's Democratic Convention: "We simply can't drill our way to energy independence, even if you drilled in all of John McCain's backyards — including the ones he can't even remember."
• Hillary Clinton delivers for Obama. About 15:00 minutes into the video speaking directly to her supporters, she said: "I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that young boy and his mom struggling on the minimum wage? ..."

Friday, August 22, 2008

By Darrel Rowland and Mark Niquette

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

As Ohio Democrats pack for their national convention in Denver next week, they have quietly rolled up an advantage that almost no one has noticed: nearly a million more registered voters than Republicans.

Almost three times as many Ohio voters have become Democrats as have become Republicans since the summer before the last presidential election.

Read the full story.

Here's a Google map of about third of the Obama supporters displaying 'UA for Obama' yard signs. Click on the map to expand the image.

Your response to our sign initiative has been outstanding. Over the last several days we distributed over 100 more signs! Lots of people signed up for a yard sign online and at events.

Be a part of the movement here in UA. Planting a sign really makes a difference in ways you may not know. Your public show of suppoort impacts people in your neighborhood who trust and value your opinion.

Signs are also a great way to fight back against the smears against Barack Obama that will only get worse.

Our goal is to distribute 300 more signs before Barack's historic speech this Thursday. We need you to sign up to turn UA blue by planting a sign in your yard. Already have your sign? Encourage your Obama supporting friend or neighbor-who may not know of our initiative-to sign up.

Sign up here to have a sign personally planted in your yard during the week of the convention. We will include an envelope with your sign in hopes you will mail us a contribution to help defray our costs. We thank you in advance!

Additionally, UA for Obama and Ohio for Obama signs will be available at the Obama Acceptence Speech Party (sponsored by the Worthington Area Democratic Club) this Thursday, August 28, at the Holiday Inn Griswold Ballroom, just south of I-270 on High Street in Worthington. Signs will also be available at our booth nearby the UA Labor Day Arts Festival. Check back with the website in a few days to get more details about our location!

Abraham Lincoln famously said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." That is what John McCain is hoping when he urges Hillary Clinton supporters to switch to the GOP. We cannot let him succeed.

The primaries were exhausting and sometimes acrimonious and divisive. We know and understand the utter disappointment of Hillary Clinton's supporters; many of our group are among that number. But we must look to the future and November.

UAPA wants to foster an atmosphere of unity. We are dismayed by some voters who seem to be walking away in anger from the progressive cause. That decision will only ensure a Republican victory in November, giving us eight more years of the Bush presidency; degrading environmental policies; disastrous foreign policies; a destructive conservative majority on the Supreme Court, and more of the same in Iraq with no end in sight. With apologies to Aesop, it can be summed up like this: "United we conquer; divided, we elect McCain."

Our goal is a Democrat in the White House. Hillary's goal is a Democrat in the White House. Right now, she is working with Barack Obama at the convention in Denver to heal any lingering wounds.

Don't let Hillary down. Vote for Democrats. Vote for Obama

UAPA needs you now more than ever -- because we need to capture Ohio. Let's do our part -- together -- to win this state and nation for the Democrats.

For Hillary's stirring call for unity, see her Convention speech.

If you live in neighboring communities (or anywhere in Ohio, for that matter) we have yard signs that you'll love!

Announcing our Ohio for Obama signs! These weatherproof signs will take you through the election and beyond. Display your pride with your new Ohio for Obama sign, and announce to the world that you support Barack Obama and his platform of change we all can believe in!

These durable signs are a steal at only $7 each. If you live in the metro Columbus area, we encourage you to send us an e-mail ohiosigns@uaprogressiveaction.com and someone will be in touch to make arrangements about getting you your sign. However, if you live out of Columbus we can send you only the plastic sleeve -- we cannot mail the wire frame since it can't be folded. All you have to do is find or make a wire frame (a standard size that measures 26 inches wide by no less than 18 inches high) and you can easily slide the plastic sleeve over it.

Pick-Up in Person

You can pick up your Ohio for Obama sign from one of our Obama Gear volunteers. Just send us an e-mail at ohiosigns@uaprogressiveaction.com and one of our volunteers will contact you to make arrangements for you to pick-up your sign. Please note that we accept only cash or checks.

Additionally, Ohio for Obama signs will be available at the Obama Acceptence Speech Party (sponsored by the Worthington Area Democratic Club) this Thursday, August 28, at the Hilton Hotel ballroom, just south of I-270 on High Street in Worthington. Signs will also be available at our booth nearby the UA Labor Day Arts Festival. Check back with the website in a few days to get more details about our location!

Through the Mail

You can order and pay for your Ohio for Obama signs (remember, only the sleeve can be mailed) through snail mail for your ease and convenience. Simply send us a check for the number of signs ordered (@ $7 each), and your sign will be sent to you within seven days of your order; postage is included in the $7 price per sign.

Make checks payable to UAPA, and send with your full name, address and phone number to:

UAPA

P.O. Box 21224

Upper Arlington, OH 43221

Be the first in your community to display your Ohio for Obama sign!

Barack Obama: "Ordinary citizens can have an enormous influence in what happens in Washington. The problem is citizens are just not organized right now, and so those who are organized, the corporations, the special interests and the big lobbies, have a disproportionate influence. Part of what this campaign is about is to tilt the scales more in favor of ordinary people." Watch the video.

Want to know the centerpiece for Obama's strategy for winning Ohio? In two words it's:

House Meeting

On-the-ground, good-old-fashioned grassroots field organizing and social networking is the game plan for winning in 2008. Yup, it's that simple.

It's not going to be the usual candidate campaign tactics in which hordes of political types swoop in and knock on thousands of doors without regard to communities, churches, neighborhoods, cultures and existing networks.

This community organizing and house meeting video describes the house meeting concept. It's not too much different than the UAPA house parties you may already be familiar with, but a big difference is emphasis on grassroots social networking compared to other campaigns. Read 'Obama's paid staff dwarfing McCain's'.

Can you host or attend a house meeting? Sign up here.

Not sure what hosting a meeting entails? It's really easy. Check out our House Meeting Frequently Asked Question list.

Sign up to host or attend a house meeting and we'll contact you with details on how to organize your network to help Obama!

The Worthington Area Democratic Club presents

The WADC Democratic National Convention Obama Speech Watching Party!

Thursday, August 28
6:30 p.m. - Midnight

The Holiday Inn Griswold Ballroom

7077 N. High Street, Worthington (map)

(Just south of the intersection of High Street
and Wilson Bridge Road)

Cash Bar • Order food off the menu

Even if you can't attend the convention in Denver, WADC promises you a special evening in Worthington as Sen. Obama gives his acceptance speech!

We'll have big screen TVs so everyone will have a front row view.

In addition, candidates have been invited, and tables will be set up to allow participating campaigns to pass out material and sign up workers. Come join the party with a few hundred other Obama supporters and hear what's promised to be a historic and inspiring address!

Sign up here!

Andrew Sullivan nails it:

"What the Obama campaign has lost sight of, I think, and what it needs to regain control of, is the essential message of his candidacy. After the last eight years, we simply cannot risk a continuation of the same reckless, belligerent, argument-losing, ideological and deceptive foreign policy of the current crew.

The damage that neoconservatism has done to America, to the Middle East, to democratic norms, to Israel's security, to civilized values and fiscal sanity is immense and deep. From his knee-jerk COld War posture over Georgia to his Rovian campaign tactics, McCain is simply too close to this disastrous record to contemplate. McCain's trigger-happy temperament, shallow understanding of the complexities and passion for military force as the answer to everything is the bigger risk. He is a recipe for more, wider and far more destructive warfare:"

Democrats target Ohio GOP suburban stronghold

EDITOR'S NOTE — What makes Ohio, the nation's seventh-largest state, a swing state? One in a series of regular stories profiling regions of Ohio and swing areas within the state.

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press Writer

UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio (AP) — Democrats' display of support for John Kerry four years ago in this Republican stronghold ruffled more than a few community feathers.

Despite the efforts of the group UA for Kerry, President Bush beat his opponent handily. But Kerry also received a record number of votes for a Democrat in a city that just two decades ago was voting for Republican presidential candidates by 4-1 ratios.

Emboldened, the group has its sights set on the unthinkable this presidential election: turning a bright red town blue.

"My goal for Upper Arlington is for Obama to win, to get 51 percent," Melissa Hedden, a group founder, said flatly. "That would be my definition of success."

Read the rest of the AP story here.

Jon Stewart's 'Dick Move of the Week' (video): McCain Attacks

"John McCain thanks the Hilton family for their support. Now if you'll excuse him, he's got to take a nationally televised dump on their daughter."

Also, NPR's Peter Sagal on this week's "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me" pokes some fun (audio) at the McCain ad campaign.

"Faced with an opponent who can draw massive screaming crowds in this country and abroad, the McCain campaign has decided to convince voters that this is in fact a fatal flaw.

The ad shows images of Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears, two icons of substance-free fame, then it calls Obama the biggest celebrity in the world.....

This meme has caught on. Pundits are suggesting that by being widely beloved, Obama runs the risk of losing popular support. ...."

The I-35W Mississippi River bridge catastrophically failed during the evening rush hour on August 1, 2007, collapsing to the river and riverbanks beneath. Thirteen people were killed and approximately one hundred more were injured. The average age of American bridges is 43 years, approaching the normal lifespan of 50 years. One fourth have a problem.

The U.S. has built 810 schools, 4800 water and sewage projects, 1047 roads and bridges.

Not in America. In Iraq.

Al Franken has an excellent video about this called 'Invest Here'.

Now the LATimes is reporting today that after the I-35W bridge collapse killing 13 and injuring 100 last year, 'Urgency has buckled since Minneapolis bridge collapse' due to lack of state funds for infrastructure projects.

From an AP story 'Little progress made in bridge repairs across US':

"An Associated Press review of repairs on each state's 20 most-traveled bridges with structural deficiencies found just 12 percent have been fixed. In most states, the most common approach was to plan for repairs later rather than fix problems now."

Of the 20 deficient bridges studied in Ohio, 40% have not been fixed or improved.

With $10 billion a month spent in Iraq we're short money for bridges and roads, tin-cupping to fund American schools, underfunding our water systems. And now President Bush is predicted to leave a record $482 billion deficit to his successor.

Update (Aug 6, 2008): NYTimes is reporting ('As Iraq Surplus Rises, Little Goes Into Rebuilding') that

Soaring oil prices will leave the Iraqi government with a cumulative budget surplus of as much as $79 billion by year’s end, according to an American federal oversight agency. But Iraq has spent only a minute fraction of that on reconstruction costs, which are now largely borne by the United States.

Six states - Arkansas, Georgia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Oregon as well as the District of Columbia - have now effectively banned "payday loans". Incredibly, Ohio's payday lenders are asking voters to reinstate their 391% interest rates --- eliminating the new 28% interest rate cap just passed in HB 545.

CBS Evening News produced this excellent new segment video entitled 'Payday Advance Loans Seem Simple, But Can Lead To Endless Cycle Of Debt'.

"In the current state of the economy, about 2,600 Americans a day file for bankruptcy. Others are turning to a financial quick fix called "payday loans."

They've now grown into a $59 billion industry.

Incredibly, Ohio's payday lenders are asking voters to reinstate their 391% interest rates --- eliminating the new 28% interest rate cap just passed in HB 545.

The payday loan issue is yet another reason to ensure that Democratic candidates are elected to office this fall:

• Ted Celeste, District 24 Ohio House representative and candidate for re-election, is solidly behind regulating the payday lending industry and co-sponsored a bill this year to cap payday lender interest rates.
• Mary Jo Kilroy's opponent in the race for the 15th Congressional District, former bank lobbyist Steve Stivers, previously opposed efforts to effectively regulate the payday lending industry claiming that it would actually hurt consumers to limit this brutal form of usury. When it became clear that the G.O.P. couldn't prevent genuine payday regulation, Stivers decided to own it instead, attempting to defuse a powerful campaign issue in the general election. Comparing campaign donations between the candidates, it's not hard to see how Stiver's could easily change his mind back again after the election ---- but this time, if elected, his influence would be at the federal level.

Original CBS story: Payday Advance Loans Seem Simple, But Can Lead To Endless Cycle Of Debt

On W. Lane, two homes will likely be replaced by two 6,500-sq ft buildings to house restaurants, stores and offices. The developer, Metropolitan Partners, needs the approval of BZAP to build on a site less than 70 percent of the required 1 acre. Map source: Columbus Dispatch. Click on the map to enlarge.

The economic development vs. private property rights issue has popped up again in UA. And with Council's emphasis on economic development, this probably won't be the last time we'll see it.

Earlier this year, the controversy was around Tremont development (Columbus Dispatch: Upper Arlington rezoning to allow office to replace houses approved). This time it's on Lane Avenue.

Here are three recent newspaper articles on the topic:

1. July 20th, 2008, Columbus Dispatch: Homes rare on stretch of Lane Avenue: Arlington leaders prefer redevelopment
2. July 15, 2008, Columbus Local News: Developers of Lane site continue discourse with neighbors
3. July 9, 2008: This Week: Residents concerned about Lane Avenue development

The Upper Arlington Board of Zoning (BZAP) will review final plans for a 13,000-square-foot commercial redevelopment on Monday, July 21.

Update:  UA zoning board delays decision on Lane Avenue project