A group of Ohio activists announced today they have the signatures needed to block a Republican law, signed by Gov. John Kasich in July, that would have kept many of the state's residents from voting.
It's being called an early victory for the Obama campaign and it's certainly a victory for Democrats in Ohio.
Democratic activists have submitted far more than the necessary 231,000 signatures:
Today, however, opponents of Kasich’s war on voting will submit over 300,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office — well over the 231,000 signatures necessary to suspend the law until it can be challenged in a referendum in November of 2012. If enough of the signatures are deemed valid, the practical effect of this petition will be that Kasich’s law will not be in effect during the 2012 presidential elections when Republicans hoped the law would weaken President Obama’s efforts to turn out early voters who support his reelection.
ABC News is calling it a victory for the Obama campaign in an article called "Obama Supporters Score Early Victory in Ohio":
“It’s a victory for organizing,” said Brian Rothenberg, who led the fight against the new rules.
“A lot of the people who supported President Obama in 2007 and 2008 understand that the more open and accessible our democracy is the more they can participate in it,” said Obama for America state director Greg Schultz, explaining why the organization got involved in the petition campaign.
The left is fighting back and winning. If you're the party standing up for voting rights, for healthcare, for social security, for teachers, for police and firefighters and everyday citizen as opposed to the rich guys who screwed things up for everybody... well, you should be able to win the messaging war. We'll see.