For Future Reference

A few weeks ago, I got upset at my polling place. I wrote about it, people read about it, some folks talked to me directly about it or left comments on stories elsewhere.

One thing that became apparent to me is that something I thought was widely known, at least among the subset of people who have an interest in elections in Ohio, remains a source of confusion to many. So, here is the law as it appears in the Ohio Revised code, Title XXXV "ELECTIONS" Chapter 3501: "Election Procedure; Election Officials, in 3501.01 Election procedure - election officials definitions:

(AA) “Photo identification” means a document that meets each of the following requirements:

(1) It shows the name of the individual to whom it was issued, which shall conform to the name in the poll list or signature pollbook.

(2) It shows the current address of the individual to whom it was issued, which shall conform to the address in the poll list or signature pollbook, except for a driver’s license or a state identification card issued under section 4507.50 of the Revised Code, which may show either the current or former address of the individual to whom it was issued, regardless of whether that address conforms to the address in the poll list or signature pollbook.

(3) It shows a photograph of the individual to whom it was issued.

(4) It includes an expiration date that has not passed.

(5) It was issued by the government of the United States or this state.

Effective Date: 12-23-2002; 05-02-2006; 2007 HB119 09-29-2007

Robinson's Campaign Taking Off in OH-12

David Robinson, the Democratic challenger in OH-12, has a general election campaign kick-off meeting this Sunday (03/30/06) at 2pm. Details and directions are available at this link.

If you'd like to meet the candidate and learn more before volunteering, there's a breakfast in Newark tomorrow (Saturday) beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Bake-n-Brew restaurant, 1821 W. Main St.

That Wasn't Cool

I was going to write something decrying the sensationalism that has accompanied the story of a Bexley resident who has allegedly behaved pretty badly. As of this posting, three of the five stories on the Bexley news feed over in the right hand column are about Ms. Tatum, and I watched ONN do pretty extensive coverage this morning.

My holier-than-thou tendencies were no match, however, for the surge of gleeful immaturity that welled forth within me after I mentioned this story in conversation, and the reply was a spot-on impersonation of the PSA with the woman sitting with a cup of coffee at her kitchen table:

"I didn't know it was illegal to seduce my kid's friends after serving them alcohol in my own house! That I could be fined, arrested, even jailed? ... And I was. And that wasn't cool."

Geek Toys

I love numbers. I love the Census Bureau's Website. I love Adobe Readers' Snapshot Tool. I'm a fan of Google Applications.

I put the following together to tell a story about the unique characteristics of the 12th Congressional District, but if you're interested in any part of Ohio, you might find this interesting (darker always means higher/more, range is calibrated for Ohio).



The full size slides are available here.
This data was pulled from the Geographic Comparison Data in the 2006 American Community Survey as accessed through factfinder.census.gov

Was this included in the movie?

For a complete change of pace...

Do you like Silly and Spooky?

Read This.

Then read This.

Coincidence? You decide.

Tiberi - Neither Particularly Powerful Nor Particularly Moderate

These types of rankings are always best taken with a grain of salt. Having said that, I think this set represents evidence consistent with what's actually true. For context, the Columbus Dispatch offered two reasons for their one-size-fits-three endorsement of Pryce, Hobson, and Tiberi in 2006: Re-electing incumbents means that Central Ohio will have more influence in Congress (Pork, etc.), and that these three were moderate centrists, which represents the people of Central Ohio well.

Assuming that one was inclined to buy this rationale at the time, both in terms of the criteria chosen and the evidence given to support the endorsements given that criteria, it should be interesting to fast-forward a year and a half. In terms of power/influence, Congress.org ranks Pryce at 188/432, Hobson at 195/432, and Tiberi at 281/432. By comparison, freshman Democrat Zack Space is ranked 40 spots higher at 241/432. It would appear that perhaps the CD had a point about Pryce and Hobson, but electing a Democrat might have given us more influence in D.C. than re-electing Tiberi did.

What about the vaunted Central Ohio Moderation Squad? Well, the National Journal ranked all members of Congress from most Conservative to most Liberal based on votes in 2007. Here we see a flip. PT is ranked 123/429. If you divide the rated members of Congress up into 1/3 Conservatives (143), 1/3 moderates(143), and 1/3 liberals(143), Pat is firmly in that first group, not the second. By comparison, Pryce is 182/429, Hobson is 176/429, and LaTourette, Regula, Turner, and Gillmor join them in that middle group. Tiberi isn't just conservative compared to Democrats, he's conservative compared to the majority of his fellow Ohio Republicans in the House.

I realize that for some folks, probably including some in OH-12, a Congressman who supports the President and isn't capable of doing much beyond that is a dream legislator. For everybody else, it remains to be seen how far Tiberi can stray from what they voted for before they start seriously looking at alternatives.

So-and-So Explains Such-and-Such

Notice:

This post once contained a link to a news story, and some snarky commentary about the insularity of local government/politics. Regular readers of this blog were aware of (or at least could be reasonably assumed to be aware of) the context in which the post was made. It has come to my attention that this post is now most commonly viewed after a Google search, by folks who don't have the benefit of that context, leading to some confusion and misunderstanding.

This puts me in a bit of a bind, as community standards for political blogging strongly discourage the scrubbing of content. Even retracted material is typically indicated by striking it like so, rather than deleting it, and nothing in this post warranted retraction. On the other hand, I've always sought to be fair to the subjects of my posts, and I've been open with my readers that I was willing to make reasonable accommodations for public figures who were willing to go on the record.

So, as a result, the original content of this post has been moved to a private archive. There wasn't much to see here, and the story I linked to is still accessible on the 'nets. In addition, if you think you have a legitimate interest in seeing what I wrote, contact me.

Thanks.