Like millions of Americans I watched 60 Minutes tonight and felt the pain of the people of Wilmington, Ohio. The layoffs at DHL and the sad stories of the residents as they loose their jobs and try to figure out how to survive in this trickle down, boot strap economy.
I wanted to know more about their district so I went to the internet to search and discovered that in Wilmington, McCain won big. That's not all....
I googled Wilmington, Ohio and was very surprised to learn that it is a solid Republican district. And I wondered why 60 Minutes didn't mention that...
Many of the hardest hit counties in Ohio — some of which have unemployment rates above 9% — are traditional Republican strongholds. Those areas helped Bush beat Kerry in Ohio by 118,601 votes of 5.6 million cast. And in the last election guess what...
Chuck Baldwin (CON) . . . . . . . 34 .18
Bob Barr (LIB). . . . . . . . . 67 .35
Richard Duncan. . . . . . . . . 11 .06
John McCain (REP). . . . . . . . 12,409 64.16
Cynthia McKinney (GRE) . . . . . . 21 .11
Brian Moore (SOC). . . . . . . . 8 .04
Ralph Nader. . . . . . . . . . 197 1.02
Barack Obama (DEM) . . . . . . . 6,558 33.91
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 37 .19
I also wondered who their Congressman was and his record and this is what I discovered:
Representative to Congress - 3rd Dist.
(Vote For Not More Than ) 1
(WITH 38 OF 38 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Jane Mitakides (DEM). . . . . . . 5,183 27.93
Mike Turner (REP). . . . . . . . 13,374 72.07
And what is Turner's record?
Turner supported Bush's tax-cut plan and an energy bill that would have allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve in Alaska. He voted to ban a late-term abortion procedure and to protect gun manufacturers from liability if someone misuses a gun. And he sponsored a resolution naming Dayton as the birthplace of aviation, a bill that glided through Congress over the objections of North Carolina lawmakers.
The American Conservative Union gave Turner's 2005 voting record 80 points out of a possible 100 points. The liberal Americans for Democratic Action gave him 5 points.
I'm not going to pretend that Democrats hurt more than Republicans but I wish 60 Minutes had asked them if they thought to connect Republican policies with their lot?
It was painful to watch and I'm sure even more painful to live but I wonder, do they connect the dots?