By TOM TROY
BLADE POLITICS WRITER
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21

John McCain arrived in Toledo last night, making him the first of the three leading presidential candidates to campaign in northwest Ohio for votes in the March 4 primary.

Hard on his heels is Hillary Clinton, who will stage a "Solutions for America" rally tomorrow night at Whitmer High School.

Barack Obama's campaign is planning a rally for Sunday, probably about 4 p.m. but with details not available as of last night, a source said.

All three candidates are campaigning in Ohio, which holds its primary on the same day as Texas, Vermont, and Rhode Island.

Mrs. Clinton must win Ohio and Texas — which have a combined total of 390 delegates out of the 4,049 to be apportioned at the Democratic convention in August — to stay competitive in the race for the Democratic nomination, political analysts predict.

Yesterday, a Reuters/Zogby International poll showed Mr. Obama surging ahead of Mrs. Clinton nationally with a 52 percent to 38 percent lead.

In Ohio, recent polls have shown Mrs. Clinton in the lead, reflecting her support among older, blue-collar Democrats, and a backing from Gov. Ted Strickland.

Terry McAuliffe, a former national Democratic chairman, rallied a group of about 30 supporters at Mrs. Clinton's headquarters in West Toledo yesterday. Mr. McAuliffe was joined by Janet Blanchard, the wife of former Michigan Gov. James Blanchard.

Mr. McAuliffe hammered on the campaign theme that Mrs. Clinton beats Mr. Obama on readiness.
"Hillary Clinton has been through the fires. She has been vetted. She has continually beaten the Republicans," Mr. McAuliffe said. "[It's] very important for us to win both of these states."

Mrs. Blanchard said she's known Mrs. Clinton about 20 years.

"I admire her so much. I desperately want her to be president of the United States," Mrs. Blanchard said.

..> ..> ..>..>

..> ..> ..>..> COMING UP ..> ..> ..>..> • OHIO: March 4 • DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: Aug. 25-28, Denver, Colorado • GOP CONVENTION: Sept. 1-4, Saint Paul, Minnesota • ELECTION DAY: Nov. 4 • INAUGURATION DAY: Jan. 20, 2009

Jim Ruvolo, Ohio delegate coordinator for Mrs. Clinton, said the Toledo media market brings the campaigns into contact with voters from the 4th, 5th, and 9th congressional districts. Those districts will elect 14 delegates out of Ohio's 92 Democratic district delegates.

"Ohio is clearly very important [for Mrs. Clinton]. Ohio and Texas have a lot to say about who the nominee is going to be," Mr. Ruvolo said.

Mrs. Clinton's 9 p.m. event at Whitmer High School in the Washington Local School District follows an appearance she has planned in Laredo, Tex., earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign announced visits by former President Bill Clinton Sunday to Bowling Green and Lima. Details were not available.

Mr. Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, enters the March 4 phase of the campaign with momentum from 10 straight victorious primaries or caucuses. He leads Mrs. Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York, in delegates with 1,336 delegates to 1,251, according to the Associated Press. The winner needs 2,025 to claim the Democratic nomination.

Mr. Obama has drawn crowds that dwarf those of Mrs. Clinton, and the size of the venues the campaigns choose for their rallies in Toledo likely will reflect that difference.

 

While Mrs. Clinton has chosen a high school gym, the Obama campaign was said to be scouting for a hall that could handle crowds comparable to the nearly 7,000 who attended an Obama rally at Youngstown State University on Monday.

The University of Toledo's Savage Hall can manage 9,000 spectators, UT spokesman Matt Lockwood said. He said no campaign had requested to reserve space in the hall as of yesterday.

Mr. McCain's campaign for the Republican nomination reserved 45 rooms in the Park Inn, the former Radisson Hotel on Summit Street in downtown Toledo. His wife, Cindy, and others in his entourage arrived about 4:30 p.m., hotel General Manager Michael Sapara said.

He said Mr. McCain has a party of 25 people and 20 in the media following him.

Mr. Sapara said the hotel has a history of handling traveling political campaigns on short notice, including having rented about 3,100 rooms during September and October of 2004.

"We have a great relationship with Secret Service. We know the drill," Mr. Sapara said.

The Arizona senator had a campaign event in Sugar Grove, Ill., last night before his arrival at the Park Inn for the night.

George Kyriakou, owner of Charlie's Restaurant at River Place on Dixie Highway close to I-475, said he understood the campaign was looking for an independent restaurant for Mr. McCain to stop in and his business was mentioned by someone in the Wood County Republican Party.

"It should be be exciting, as a Republican and a McCain supporter," Mr. Kyriakou said.

Mr. McCain was not expected to make any other local appearances.

Robert Reichert, chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party, said it's important for Mr. McCain to campaign in Ohio to win the general election.

"If he can do 40-plus percent in Lucas County, there's a good chance he could carry Ohio," Mr. Reichert said, recalling that President Bush came to northwest Ohio three times in 2004. President Bush received 39.5 percent of the vote in Lucas County in 2004 and narrowly won the state.

Mr. McCain had 942 delegates toward the 1,191 needed to win his party's nomination. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had 245, the Associated Press said. Mr. Huckabee is attending events in Texas today.

Source: Toledo Blade

Blade article by Tom Troy
February 6, 2008

The question on the minds of a lot of Ohio politicos last night was: Will the suspense remain at least until Ohioans get to vote?

Among supporters of Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, there was no doubt that Ohio's March 4 primary voters will be courted by both campaigns.

"We know enough to know that Ohio is absolutely going to make a difference," said Wade Kapszukiewicz, Lucas County treasurer and an Obama supporter, as he watched the results with other backers of the Illinois senator at a downtown watering hole.

After Super Tuesday, primaries or caucuses still have to be held in 30 states and territories.

Among the remaining Democratic states, Ohio's 161 delegates are the third-highest number to be awarded, after Texas and Pennsylvania. On the Republican side, Ohio is the second-largest prize with 88, after Texas.

Mr. Kapszukiewicz said Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton could come out of Super Tuesday effectively tied in the contest for convention delegates.

"He'll be spending all of his time in Ohio and he'll definitely be in Toledo," Mr. Kapszukiewicz said.

He said a local Obama campaign office will open by the end of this week.

The Clinton camp, which has Gov. Ted Strickland on its side, is also marshaling forces in the Buckeye state.

Jim Ruvolo, a Lucas County Democratic operative who is helping organize Ohio for Mrs. Clinton, said paid staff is beginning to set up temporary offices in Ohio, and Mrs. Clinton could be in the state by the weekend.

"Ohio matters a lot because we're not going to have a nominee after tonight," Mr. Ruvolo said. "Ohio's going to play a major role in this race. I can't remember a time when Ohio made a difference in the nomination."

John McClelland, a spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party, said "even if somebody were to run the table tonight [for the Republican nomination] they wouldn't have enough delegates to put them over the top, so you're still looking at Ohio playing some kind of role."

Doug Haynam, a Republican member of Sylvania City Council and supporter of Mitt Romney, said he was holding out hope for a clear-cut Romney victory in California after last night's "disappointing" results.

"If that happens, that leaves places like Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania, and makes them pretty important," Mr. Haynam said.

Barbara Lang, a former Monclova Township trustee who is a McCain delegate, said she believes Republican conservatives will warm up to Mr. McCain. "The Lucas County Republican Party will absolutely back John McCain," she said.

CNN has announced that it will join the Ohio Democratic and Republican parties to hold debates at the end of February. The Democratic debate will take place Feb. 27 while the Republican debate will follow on Feb. 28.

 

Source: http://www.toledoblade.com

 

Young Voters:
The New Democratic Base

The 2008 election cycle is crucial to the consolidation of a Democratic youth base.  Studies have shown that if a voter casts a ballot for one political party three elections in a row, they are likely to remain a loyal party voter for the rest of their lives.  If young voters are mobilized to vote for Democrats in the 2008 election cycle, as they were in 2004 and 2006, we will successfully create a bloc of young voters who make voting – and voting for Democratic candidates – part of their civic identity.  But, young people will only turn out when targeted, communicated with, and made to feel included in the process. 

The Young Democrats of America is turning young Democratic voters into a political force.  YDA's own field experiments, as well as numerous independent studies, have shown that young people will vote if asked and are more likely to cast a ballot when contacted by one of their peers.  Since 2004, YDA has run proven, peer-to-peer, voter mobilization campaigns to motivate young people to vote for Democratic candidates.  In partnership with our nationwide network of state and local chapters, YDA will run highly effective programs in 2007 and 2008, aimed at turning out young voters for Democrats up and down the ballot. 

We Are Growing

Commonly called the Millennial Generation or Generation Y, young voters rival the Baby Boomers in size.

• Voters ages 18-29 were 21% of the electorate (41.9 million) in 2006.
  
  
• Millennials will be nearly 50 million strong in 2008.
  
  
• By 2015, this generation will make up one-third of the electorate.

We are the most diverse generation in history.

• 39% of Millennials identify as non-white, while over 81% of those over 65 identify as white.
  
  
• Young Latinos account for the largest percentage of the population boom.
  
  
• The vast majority of young people are not in college; in fact, only an estimated 25% of 18-24 year-olds attend a four-year college full time.

We Are Engaged

The increase in young voter turnout is not a myth or "fuzzy math."  In 2006, for the second election in a row, turnout increased among 18-29 year-olds.

• Approximately 10 million young voters went to the polls in 2006, up nearly 2 million from 2002, according to 2006 exit poll analysis.
  
  
• The 2004 elections marked the largest increase in young voter turnout since 1972.  Over 20 million young people ages 18-29 case a ballot (42 million were eligible to vote), an increase of 4.3 million voters.  This was a 9 point increase in turnout over 2000, more than double that of any other age group.  In 2004, there were more voters under 30 years old than voters over 65 years old.
  
  
• In the 10 most competitive 2004 battleground states, turnout was 64.4% among young voters, compared to 48% across all other states.  Like older voters, young people will turn out in higher numbers when targeted.
  
  
• Young people care about politics.  According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 77% of 18-29 years olds say they are interested in local politics, up 28 points from 1999, and 87% are interested in national affairs.
  
  
• Millennials volunteer in record numbers.  They possess strong values and political opinions and connect volunteerism to social activism.  And they will vote if asked.

We Are Democrats

Young voters are trending Democratic.  Young people are with Democrats on the issues and turn out to vote when mobilized by candidates.

• In 2006, young voters ages 18-29 supported Democratic candidates by an impressive 58%, six points higher than the voting-age population as a whole.  Democrats made gains with young independents while Republicans lost ground with their young voters.
  
  
• Harvard University's Institute of Politics credits young voters with victories in the Virginia and Montana Senate races.  Increased turnout in Charlottesville and Norfolk, both large college towns, made the difference for Jim Webb in Virginia, while turnout at the University of Montana put Jon Tester over the top in Montana.  Freshman Members of Congress Joe Courtney (CT-2), Harry Mitchell (AZ-5), and Patrick Murphy (PA-8) also owe their margins of victory to young voters.
  
  
• Young people are increasingly self-identifying as Democrats.  Unlike the general population, party identification has increased among young voters.  In 2006, 43% of young voters called themselves Democrats as compared to 37% just two years ago.  Among all ages, 38% identify as Democrats, up only two points from 2004.
  
  
• Young people ages 18-30 were the ONLY age group to support the Democratic ticket in 2004.  Kerry received 54% of the youth vote to Bush's 44%.  This is a significant gain over 2000, when Gore and Bush split the youth vote nearly evenly, 47%-46%.
  
  
• Support for Democratic congressional candidates has steadily increased 10 points since 1998, when young people split their vote at 48% each.
  
  
• Young African-Americans, young Hispanics, and young women are particularly inclined to support Democrats, both on the generic ballot and when asked about specific candidates.
  
  
• Young voters support Democrats on the issues.  On the war in Iraq, college affordability, the economy, health care, and general support for government programs, young people cite Democrats as being better able to handle the issues that matter most.

Source: http://www.yda.org

The Lucas County Young Democrats will be sponsoring a Campaign 101
Training on Saturday, April 21st from 9 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. at the
Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 50 Hall, 7570 Caple Blvd in Northwood,
Ohio. The event is FREE. For lunch, you can brown bag it or pitch in
for pizza. Please e-mail me at BrianM.Kaiser@gmail.com to RSVP.

This innovative training program will help aspiring candidates,
campaign managers and party activists at all levels to lay the
foundation for success. Participants will have the opportunity to join
sessions led by experienced professionals on fundraising, field
organizing, and message development. We'll also be exploring how 21st
century technology is changing the way campaigns are run and how you
can benefit by becoming an early adopter. Special guest speakers will
address some of the challenges facing our state while offering insight
into the world of professional politics.

Hope you can join us! Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Lucas County Young Dems