Yesterday I had the good fortune to catch Rep Sherrod Brown speaking outside the
Hoover plant in North Canton, OH.
From his website, he was going to be "holding a news conference on Monday to shed light on how products made with sweatshop or prison labor takes jobs away from working Ohioans."
The event showcased a little bit of the good, and a little bit of the bad, of Ohio politics (and I dare say US politics in general).
I went to the event with the intention of listening to Brown speak, take a few notes, and then report back to my fellow Kossacks with take on what Brown said. However, I cannot do this.
This was very specifically a "news conference." His staffers, wearing slick haircuts like uniforms, herded the 40-50 people there behind Brown, to be used as a backdrop, and instructed us to hold campaign signs to feature the website in photos. Brown spoke to the cameras and the microphones, the electronic audience, and consequently anyone standing more than 3 feet from him heard not a word.
What I do know about Brown is this - he has strong ties to labor, and to unions. He authored a book called Myths of Free Trade and strongly opposed CAFTA. And I know he isn't afraid to be up front about any of this in his campaign. He was speaking yesterday on how exploitive labor practices elsewhere hurt the Ohio economy. I worry about where the moral compass of any party is if it must qualify injustices by its relationship to its constituents. However, I applaud a state campaign like this when it is able to effectively bridge the local with the global. Sweatshop labor is a sickening thing, and must be stopped - not so much because it may hurt Ohio's economy, but because it destroys the people it exploits. It is a strong characteristic of Brown to look not only inwardly at Ohio, but outwardly as well, for factors that are affecting this state.
And now the brief, but obligatory, look at the polls. Rasmussen has Brown 7 points behind DeWine. However, Zogby and SurveyUSA puts Brown in the lead, by 12 in Zogby, and by 9 for SurveyUSA. This race has been fluctuating around 40% for either candidate, and currently I would call it neck and neck. Brown appears to be ahead for the moment, but the lead is slim and it is early in the game. Will DeWine's support for the flag desecration amendment help or hurt him?
DeWine has never really enjoyed much base support. Brown is running a fairly liberal campaign, rather than playing at being a moderate. Bringing labor and economy into the forefront (even the campaign slogan "We're In This Together") is a good bet in Ohio politics, and will probably go over better than an Iraq policy campaign, although I expect that will take more notice as the election nears.
So what do you all see happening?