BB New Year's Resolutions

1) More Bexley. My vision for this blog was to stay grounded in my community, and to blog about politics that affect my community. As a result, I talked about the 20th Ohio Statehouse District, the 3rd State Senate District, and the 12th U.S. House district. I didn't, however, talk much about Bexley in particular. That was in part because I'm a newcomer and I'm not tied into "my" community as much as I should be. So, more Bexley means both within the blog, and in my life outside the blog.

2) More Blue. I've always been leery of party functioning, and my initial impressions of the Ohio Democratic Party and the Franklin County Dems were not incredibly positive. These impressions were and are, however, primarily based on only seeing what I expect to see. There is a strong community of Democratic Party activists in Bexley, and the blog should certainly be more reflective of that.

3) More Transparency. My name is Jason Sullivan. I'm 35 years old. I work for The OSU. I have a BS from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and an MA from the University of Illnois at Urbana-Champaign. I will continue to blog as bonobo, in part because I feel no need to advertise my identity, and in part because I like the name (off-topic, our bonobos are sick, and one has died. As of 2002, there were only 141 bonobos in captivity worldwide, so every loss is significant. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery for the survivors.) However, I don't feel like I have anything to hide, and I think that anonymity detracts from credibility. So there you go.

4) More Original Content. Blogging takes more time than I really have, but that hasn't stopped me so far. What would take even more time is relying less on making comments on stories from print media and other blogs, and providing more content from original sources. But that's the stuff that makes this blog worthwhile, so I resolve to focus more on that.

5) More Long-Term Projects. A while back I asked for opinions on the winnability of OH-12 in general, considering that the effort this past election was substantial, and didn't really come close. I actually got a few responses off-the-record from people who watched the campaign at least as closely as I did, and the consensus was that the district is winnable, despite the results this year. Although there was little consensus beyond that, it seems that folks would like to see a commited candidate and more party support. Those are things I can work on from here. For instance, my draft-a-candidate post elicited suggestions that Emily Kreider or Bev Campbell run for the seat. For my first act of random irresponsibility of 2007, I'd like to throw out the name of someone I've never met, and know little about:

Marcia Phelps is a Licking County Commisioner. I personally would like to see a candidate from Licking or Delaware Counties who has won elections against Republicans in one of those counties. There are two prongs to any winning strategy for the district: pull some moderate voters in Licking/Delaware counties, and push turnout up in Franklin County. Given 2004, I'm guessing that the presidential election will result in a lot of GOTV in the city of Columbus, so the outstanding problem is in the suburban counties. I have no idea if Ms. Phelps is interested in higher office, nor do I have any idea whether or not I'd support her if I knew more about her than her resume page. But for what it's worth, that resume is one I could get behind. If anybody has strong opinions about her or anyone else, the comments are open.