Ohio Valley Politics

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, so I’ll just get right into it…

This Wednesday there will be a meeting of the group “Mahoning Valley for Obama”. They’ll be planning out their pre-primary activities at the Austintown Panera Bread (5503 Mahoning Ave.) in Youngstown. If you live in the area (Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana counties) come out and participate, I’m sure they’d love to have your help. The meeting starts at 7 P.M.

This Friday marks the beginning of Zack Space’s “Renew Ohio” summit series with a kickoff breakfast in Zanesville. If you’re interested in attending, you’ll need to RSVP with Space’s office (866-910-7577).

I also want to point out that I’ve brought back the “Ohio Political Calendar” feature that I used to keep over at Left of Ohio. It’s still the same calendar (so old feeds and links will still work), just rebranded to reflect the new site. You can find upcoming events in the sidebar or on the “Calendar” page.

Apparently Sen. George Voinovich isn’t a big fan of Barack Obama. In a conference call earlier today Voinovich had the following strong words (as quoted from CNN) about Obama’s foreign policy experience.

“He hasn’t any experience in foreign policy. Give me a break,” Voinovich said of his colleague from Illinois, who also serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Many people think it would be good to have “somebody that was of his background” become president, Voinovich said, because it would be a “good message in terms of culture.”

But Voinovich warned “things are very fragile in this world” and “we’re pinned down all over the place. It’s not going to be an easy deal for our next president to come in and deal with these problems.

“Between now and the election there are going to be many things that are going to happen in this country that will have an influence on people’s choice in terms of who the next president will be,’ Voinovich said.

Of course, Voinovich may just be jealous that his political career has already peaked.

Source: CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Voinovich takes aim at Obama « - Blogs from CNN.com

I just wanted to quickly remind everyone that tonight the caucuses to elect Democratic delegates are being held tonight. All caucuses will start at 7 P.M. with registration starting at 6:15. All of the caucus location can be found here.

I’ve been kind of secretive about this, but a few weeks ago I filed my paperwork to run as a delegate for Barack Obama. While I consider this a long shot bid, I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t try.

So if you’re in the 6th district please come out to Marietta tonight and participate. Even if you don’t vote for me (that’s David Potts by the way), it’s still a chance for you to take part in the election process.

Caucus Location:

6th Congressional District
Marietta High School
208 Davis Avenue
Marietta, Ohio 45750
(740) 374‐6540
www.mariettacityschools.k12.oh.us

Again, registration starts at 6:15 and the actual caucus starts at 7:00.

The Barack Obama campaign sent out an email to it’s Ohio supporters today urging them to support Robin Weirauch in next weeks special election. Weirauch is running against Bob Latta to replace the late Paul Gilmore in the 5th congressional district.

In related news, fellow Democratic congressional candidate Rosemary Palmer will be campaigning with Weirauch this Saturday, just days before the 12/11 special election.

You can read the Barack Obama email after the jump.

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At a recent campaign event Barack Obama was asked if he’d consider taking on Al Gore as his presidential running mate. Obama laughed off the idea by saying that “having won the Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar, being vice president again would probably be a step down for him”. But Obama did offer Gore a “very senior capacity” role in his administration if he was interested.

This brings up an interesting question, where does Al Gore fit in if he doesn’t run?  Gore seem’s to have shaken off the problems that

I don’t really see Al Gore running for president at this point and I certainly don’t see him settling for VP, but I’ve constantly wondered what would happen if he was offered a role like Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency or even just as an advisor. If global warming is really his top priority (and I believe it is), I don’t see how he could possibly turn down the opportunity like that.

On the other hand he’d have to be confirmed by the Senate, a process that might not go so smoothly. He’s also got some business interests he’d have to think about. He’s been on Apple’s board of directors since 2003  and is the chairmen of Current TV.

When taking everything into account I’d put my money on a Democrat offering Gore an advisor role, but I think at this point nothing is off limits. Any campaign with Gore onboard will probably gain a lot more support.