Garland's Rally Big Fat Success

I'm sure it was because of my promotion here at Blue Bexley, rather than the draw of Sherrod Brown or the hard work put in by the folks at the Garland campaign. Approximately 100 people showed up to a meeting room in Gahanna for a September rally sponsored by the campaign of a challenger in an Ohio State House race. I think it was Ted Celeste who said that it has been a long time since a Democrat in the 20th could fill a room like that, and the room was certainly enthusiastic about Nancy Garland.

I recorded the entire thing on audio, and got a few pictures, but I don't know how they turned out because I couldn't upload anything to my computer at home due to Ike. Several pictures and the newsiest bits can be found in a series of reports by Justin Miller on PolitickerOH.com.

Now, to be fair, it's been a while since a Democrat could get most anyone like Ted Celeste into a room in the 20th. It's clear that the state and local party are behind Nancy, and that bodes very well for her chances in November.

It hasn't been as clear to me that there has been that kind of party support for David Robinson, running for the U.S. House in the 12th District. Not that there's been any animosity, but with open seats in the 15th and 7th, Robinson's fight isn't just against an incumbent, it's for attention. Two things popped out at me regarding the Robinson campaign at the rally on Sunday. First, the more people that can listen to him in person, the more votes he's going to get. I'd really like to see what he can do in front of one of those Obama-sized crowds. Second, I'm more hopeful that I'll get that chance today than I was on Saturday. Most of the speakers were understandably focused on talking about Nancy Garland, Barack Obama, and Sherrod Brown, but when Sherrod was speaking he not only mentioned Robinson, he opened with a reference to a (kinda-had-to-be- there-but) hilarious line from Robinson's remarks, and prominently listed Robinson's campaign when talking about the overall battle in November. It was possibly my imagination, but it seemed that the tone of some of Brown's statements were not only approving of Robinson, but disapproving of others who were not treating the race in the 12th with the same seriousness.

Like I said, perhaps my imagination, but Senator Brown is certainly capable of pulling ears that few others could.