Who would have thought that what Cincinnati really needs is a little more Chili? Don't let Ohio make the same mistake Massachusetts did!
If you are sick and tired of reactionary lies, conspiracy theories, tea parties, and hate-mongering, have we got a race for you! If you care about this country and the change and vision for which Barack Obama is striving, there’s another "skinny guy with a funny name who needs your help." His name is Surya but they call him "Chili," and Chili needs your help NOW. Help send him to Washington to support the President and skewer two Tea Party loyalists at the same time.
The truth is, Scott Brown won in Massachusetts because the Democratic establishment didn't get together behind the right candidate in the primary. Don't let Ohio make the same mistake!
You may not live in Ohio’s 2nd District, but if you see the import – and thrill – of helping to send one of Congress' worst back to her tea and crumpets, please visit http://www.votechili.com and contribute now. And tell your friends: there’s another skinny little guy with a funny name who needs your help. Don’t let what happened in Massachusetts happen again in Ohio.
Let’s set the stage. In the same crucible of a state that forged Al Gore’s loss to George W. Bush, in the Queen City that sits square on the Mason-Dixon Line, a battle is brewing for notorious Cincinnati Congresswoman "Mean Jean" Schmidt. As the incumbent in a district with conservative tendencies, Rep. Schmidt’s chances for re-election look good. But as the butt-of-jokes locally and nationally, she can be beat, if we give her the right opponent. She survived in 2008 thanks only to a wealthy Independent who foiled the Democratic challenger by splitting the anti-Jean vote. However, if action isn’t taken soon – and taken by people like you and me from all over the country – Rep. Schmidt will sail through her fourth election to the office because (you couldn’t make this stuff up), that same Independent spoiler, David Krikorian, has re-emerged as a "Howard Dean Democrat" who can bankroll himself right through the Democratic primary! A candidate Mean Jean would only love to tear apart in the general election.
In 2005, Rep. Schmidt garnered national attention for attacking late Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha by stating on the House floor "cowards cut and run, Marines never do". Never mind that she never served a day in the military and that Rep. Murtha had a long and distinguished 37-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, retiring as a colonel from the Reserves, and chairing the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. A hero of the Tea Party before it even had a name, Rep. Schmidt kept up her bonafides by pouring oil onto the most scalding of rumors, when she was caught on video whispering "I agree with you, but the courts don’t" in response to a "birthers’" rant that Barack Obama "cannot be President by our constitution".
Enter David Krikorian: the "true Reagan Conservative" now, suddenly, a "Howard Dean Democrat"(?!). David the panderer, who pops up at tea party rallies while trying to buy the Democratic nomination. If Mean Jean doesn’t destroy David for flip-flopping, she’ll make hay out of the recent mass resignation of his entire campaign staff for, what was termed by one staff worker, "ethical and respect issues." Or she’ll spice things up when she reminds voters of last election when David’s accused her of taking "Turkish Blood Money" (regarding the Armenian genocide,) resulting in an Elections Commission judgment against Krikorian. Or maybe she’ll just point out his dramatically altered positions on abortion or gay marriage.
And now, in irony of ironies, she's already tearing him apart. Read about it on Save Ohio Now's Post: Mean Jean is calling David Krikorian out for racism!
Here’s a little secret from the shores of Massachusetts: Scott Brown won because Bay State Democrats nominated an uninspiring career attorney who had "done her time" moving up the ranks, and then proceeded to dodge the campaign and fail to excite anyone, perhaps even herself. They expected their candidate to slide into Kennedy’s seat without effort. Scott Brown didn’t capture a "groundswell of Tea Party anger"; he just wasn’t challenged by a strong candidate!
But you don’t have to let another house seat slip away by letting the wrong candidate slide onto the Democratic ticket!
And you don’t have to get involved in Ohio’s 2nd solely to defeat Schmidt. Instead, you can get involved to support a compelling and talented young man: Ohio’s own "skinny guy with a funny name," Surya Yalamanchili. Endorsed by a host of local democrats including Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory and Congressman Tom Luken (the last Dem to have held this seat), and the two Dem nominees who have faced Schmidt, Paul Hackett and Vic Wulsin, "Chili" is a 28-year-old fireball of energy, sincerity, smarts and true American values. The American Dream personified. The Real Deal.
Chili relates as easily to an urban constituency as he does to the rural Southern Ohio voter. Born in Pennsylvania to blue-collar Indian immigrants, he grew up in New Jersey. He watched at midnight as his mother went off to work at the U.S. Post Office, and instead of settling, he rolled up his sleeves and set to work to help however he could. He worked his way through college, became a Brand Manager at Cincy’s Procter & Gamble at 24 and, at 26, became Director of Marketing at LinkedIn. Then, instead of parlaying his new Silicon Valley cache into the next big job, he returned to his adopted hometown intent on giving back.
No matter what name he goes by, be it Surya or Chili, the people of District 2 have come to know him as one of their own. His choice to leave sunny California and return to Cincinnati was an act of love for his city, Ohio, his country. As is his desire to go head to head with Jean Schmidt and her well-financed campaign this fall. Call it another act of Chili-love.
But Chili needs more than love – he needs cash and word-of-mouth to fuel his primary campaign and victory!
You may not live in Ohio’s 2nd District, but if you see the import – and thrill – of helping to send Jean back to her tea and crumpets, please visit http://www.votechili.com and contribute now. And tell your friends: there’s another skinny little guy with a funny name who needs your help. Don’t let what happened in Massachusetts happen again in Ohio.