Looks like LaTourette won’t be able to coast thru this race:

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio - Former Appeals Court Judge Bill O’Neill will set a new record for first-time candidates in Ohio’s 14th congressional district when his campaign files its report with the Federal Elections Commission this month.

The campaign will report that it has raised more than $100,000, which is the district’s all-time first-quarter best for a first-time candidate, topping even the incumbent Rep. Steven LaTourette. The figure is also more than double the combined amount raised in first quarters by Democratic challengers in the past two cycles.

O’Neill for Congress 2008: O’Neill Breaks OH-14 Record for First-Time Candidate

Kinda pathetic:

Much of the conversation about the ‘08 campaign online has revolved around things like voter-generated media (the 1984 video) or controversies brewing at the blurring edge between the blogosphere and campaigns (PhoneyFred.org). By and large these are controversies that wouldn’t have been possible last election cycle, which speaks to the medium’s rising viability as a place for anyone to get a message across. But when it comes to what the campaigns themselves are doing, I’m afraid the truth is far closer to Mark Cuban’s “The Internet is dead and boring.”

Take a gander at the ‘08 sites. Then look at where DeanforAmerica.com was at this point in the cycle. Or the Bush and Kerry sites three years ago today.

Can we seriously argue that we have evolved? Big images have replaced gobs of text. Video is now in Flash instead of Windows Media. We have Facebook and YouTube icons. But that’s pretty the only difference. Fresh content is still all too sparse; the blogs are if anything even less ambitious than they were in 2004. Do you get the sense from any of them there is a real, massive, always-on, press-the-flesh campaign?

If you look at the apples-to-apples comparison between Dean and any of the Democrat sites, then we are actually backsliding…

techPresident – From Meetup to MySpace: Are We Innovating?

Redhorse reports:

I drove around this afternoon in Wards 4, 8, 1, and a smidge of 3. Four had the most poll greeters, and even that was light.

Which makes one wonder: in the primary, do avid voters tend to vote absentee, thereby deflating actual day-of voting?

Kyle earlier reported Plusquellic had a smoooth op moving. Considering what I saw, I’m guessing it was highly targeted. I’m privy to a portion of the afternoon plan and, frankly, it’s solid (read, targeted).

The Beacon reports turnout is light everywhere. Friends of the Stable report turnout in Barberton is way off…

Damn fine reporting from a member of the MTB network of blogs.

Psychobilly Democrat: E-Day Field Update #2

From an email:

So far religion is not proving to be a clear-cut positive in the 2008 presidential campaign. The candidates viewed by voters as the least religious among the leading contenders are the current frontrunners for the Democratic and Republican nominations — Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, respectively. On the other hand, the candidate seen as far and away the most religious — Mitt Romney — is handicapped by this perception because of voter concerns about Mormonism…

Pew Research Center: Religion in Campaign ‘08

Think he capitalized on it?

Barack Obama, locked in a fierce competition to claim the Democratic nomination for President on the United States, today dispatched an environmental advisor to share with advocates for America’s Great Lakes how deeply the senator supports protecting and restoring one of the nation’s most important freshwater ecosystems.

By doing so, Obama became the first presidential candidate on either side of the aisle to directly address the environmental and economic importance of sustaining Great Lakes waterways. All of the candidates were invited to attend the Third Annual Great Lakes Restoration conference in Chicago. Organizers, in fact, scheduled time for an in-depth panel discussion.

But the campaigns are focused intensely these days on early primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire. Not so much on the 78 of 270 electoral votes - including key battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio - in the greater Great Lakes region. So, for twenty minutes at least, Senator Obama had the Great Lakes stage all to himself…

Worth reading the whole thing.

Great Lakes Guy: Even In His Backyard, Obama Hesitates on Great Lakes

Was over at Rosemary Palmer’s website and noticed this post on her blog about our lunch a couple of weeks ago:

Yesterday, I met with a group of technology-focused entrepreneurs who declared that that is the wrong question to ask. Instead, we have to think about opening our minds to new ways of doing business and making Cleveland and its suburbs vibrant again. Innovation, value, and wealth opportunities should be the focus, and technology is an area where that can happen.

The technology business is all about networking, about collaborating. A specialist might not be an employee of a technology company but work for himself. If one person has a project going, he can call upon the experts he needs in a specific area, and they work in tandem for the benefit of all. Each has a specialty and connects with others to get opportunities.

These entrepreneurs contrasted that to the traditional model where each person jealously protects his own turf and tries to make it on his own.

The question should be, “how can we help each other” rather than “how can you help me,” they said. To collaborate, each has to give a little to work with others with a similar agenda…

One of the things that struck me was her willingness to listen. The group I gather had a ton of opinions and ideas, and I’m glad Rosemary engaged them like she did.

FYI, here’s some excerpts from the Meet.The.Bloggers* interview from last night:

• Roseary on blogging, politics, and journalism
• Her ideas on economic development
• Some experience as an educator particular in Collinwood
• Her thoughts on the foreclosuresituation

While I appreciate her willingness to engage others, collaborate, and get the story from many angles, I’m looking forward to hearing the positions she’s taking on thing like healthcare or the mortgage crisis. Sure, it’s early in the race, but sooner then later, we need leaders willing to be decisive and take action.

Rosemary Palmer for Congress