I AM NOT A PA(RRO)T!!!

Mr. Tiberi is trying, but it just gets stuck in his throat. There's an interesting article in today's Dispatch about the Editorial Board's meeting with Tiberi and Shamansky, with the headline:

Tiberi latest Republican to break step with Bush

but it doesn't sound to me as if his heart is really in it:

... Tiberi, expanding on his remarks later yesterday, didn’t call for Rumsfeld’s resignation.

"If I were president, he would not be the defense secretary," Tiberi said. "I haven’t been impressed with his leadership skills. He has been less than accessible to members of Congress and begrudgingly debriefs us on an irregular basis, and he does not take criticism and advice very well.

"I think the president could do better."

Tiberi said Democratic efforts to cast him as a presidential lap dog are unfair.

According to studies by Congressional Quarterly, Tiberi’s support for the president has dipped in recent years. While Tiberi voted to support Bush’s position 91 percent of the time in 2003, that figure dropped to 71 percent last year...

The article also talks about some recent campaign funding developments, namely that Bob has now poured a cool million dollars into his campaign (triggering an increase in the individual contribution cap for Tiberi). This is going to be an interesting autumn.

Plunderbund Moving On Up

Eric at Plunderbund, the most readable Ohio politics blogger, IMHO, is moving into a fulltime political position and out of the blogosphere. He says Plunderbund will continue with new voices. I hope so, and I'm leaving the link up.

The Kickoff

It's Labor Day weekend. Here in central Ohio that means the huge spectacle is imminent... as of tomorrow college football is finally fully underway. In between work, the baby, the house, and the politics, my ability to focus on football is likely to be impaired this season.

I'll probably only catch a game a week.

I think I'm going to try and catch a Crusaders game live. I live closer to Capital's stadium now than I have to any of the football stadiums of colleges I was attending, and it looks like fun.

Oh yeah, the campaign season unofficially begins this weekend, too. I'll start actually promoting this blog next week.

The Shamansky Campaign update letter

The Shamansky campaign sends out updates to everyone on their mailing list, but they don't post them to the website (the information tends to be redundant). I can't, therefore, link to them. Regardless, I like the summary format, so I hope they don't mind if I post the latest one in its entirety. If you like the format, you can go to the Shamansky for Congress link over there on the right and sign up.

Dear Friends and Supporters,

This was a great week for Team Shamansky. Bob has done everything from dinner with the Delaware County Farm Bureau to singing with Frances Strickland. We also took part in the Westerville All Dog Parade, part of uptown Westerville 4th Fridays, with the Westerville Democratic Club.

On Saturday Bob joined volunteers and talked to independent voters door-to-door in Powell. In the weeks to come, Bob will join other candidates in Columbus and Pataskala. Please contact us to bring Bob to your neighborhood to campaign!

We are contacting voters on the phones and at the door every day from now until November 7th. We have space available for 10 phone bankers every evening, so please join us in the afternoon or after work or school. If you'd prefer to knock on doors, we're able to accommodate as many volunteers as possible? Just drop in!

Saturday afternoon we joined the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 189 Picnic at Jackson Lake Park. Candidates Marian Harris and MaryJo Kilroy were also there, as were many of the great Democratic judicial candidates. On Sunday Bob attended church at Grace Baptist, and then joined the Eastside Democratic Club in Columbus, where he was able to talk to fellow Democrats about attacks on civil liberties and the travesty in Iraq.

Our headquarters is up and running here in German Village at 520 S. 5th St! Please join us for Volunteer Appreciation Night, Tuesday August 29th to meet Bob and other volunteers.

On Saturday, August 26th, we'll be teaming up with the Sherrod Brown for Senate campaign to canvass independent voters in Powell, OH. Meet at 10am at Murphy Park, 47 Murphy Parkway, behind Handel's ice cream. All you need to bring is a good attitude and comfortable shoes, and together we will turn around Ohio!

Request your absentee ballot before the October rush! The application is available at http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/electionsVoter/forms/11a.pdf
and can be mailed back to your county Board of Elections. Absentee voting
is not only convenient?it leaves a paper trail, and leaves you available to
volunteer to Get Out The Vote on Election Day!