Ohio Valley Politics

Jeff Coryell at Ohio Daily Blog has an important reminder about something that hasn’t really gotten a lot of mention on this blog, the statehouse.  I’ve been taking some steps to fix that, but I’m still running way behind.

Jeff reminds us that this Friday is a crucial fundraising deadline for General Assembly candidates. The reports released from this reporting period will be used by many to indicate which candidates are viable, worth watching, or don’t have a chance.

There are two real House races down in this part of the state that I urge you to take a look at:

94th District

I don’t know as much about this race as I should, but I do know it’s an open seat and the candidate is Jennifer Stewart.

92nd District

This on is a little closer to home, but I still don’t know it as well as I should. The candidate, Debbie Phillips, ran in 2006 but was defeated in a very close election. This time around the seat is open and is considered on of the top 10 Democratic pickup opportunities in the state.

Please consider making a donation to these campaigns soon. You can donate to Phillips online here or mail your donation for Stewart to the following address:

Jennifer Stewart for
State Representative
PO Box 190 • Zanesville, OH 43702

I don’t know if I want to make posting this a regular habit, but State Representative Jennifer Garrison’s (D-93rd district) latest “From The Statehouse” email can be found after the jump.

You can subscribe to Garrison’s email list on her website. Even if you don’t live in the district, it’s a good way to keep up on what’s going on in the Ohio House.

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I’ve already mentioned that an 18-year-old high school student, Chelsi Smith, is running against incumbent Jennifer Garrison for the 93rd district House seat, but now that the deadline for applications has passed we’re starting to learn more about this young candidate.

A recent Marietta Times article provides a first glimpse at what type of candidate she’ll be. You can read the article for yourself here (The article has been taken down.), but I briefly want to examine some of the statements Ms. Smith made.

“I’m still formulating my stance on everything. Education is the main thing that’s important to me, but I’m going around the area, talking to different people and seeing what the 93rd District needs. What’s most important to me is what’s most important to the people.”

She cites education as her main issue, yet she goes to a private school in West Virginia. Does her attending a private school mean she’ll support vouchers? What is her experience with the Ohio school system that she’ll base her opinions on?

I also want to point out the interesting line, “I’m still formulating my stance on everything“. Shouldn’t a candidate already know their positions before they decide to run? I have serious concerns about who will actually be making the decisions on this campaign already, statements like that don’t help matters. Is she just going to be a puppet for the local Republican Party?

It’s still pretty early, but Ms. Smith has a lot of work a head of here if she wants to be taken seriously.

You can also read the Washington County Republican Party’s write up on Chelsi Smith here.

Just a little while back I defended a young persons right to run for office, now I might have to eat those words. An  18-year-old high school student, Chelsi Smith of New Matamoras, is running unopposed for the Republican nomination for Ohio’s 93rd House district (which I live in).

Other candidates for office include an 18-year-old high school senior who plans to challenge state Rep. Jennifer Garrison, D-Marietta.

Chelsi Smith of New Matamoras is still attending classes at Wood County Christian School. She is unopposed in the March 4 Republican primary for the 93rd District Ohio House of Representatives seat, as is Garrison on the Democratic ballot.

I doubt that she’ll be able to provide a serious challenge to Garrison, but it’ll still be interesting.

Source: The Marietta Times

Jill at Writes Like She Talks has brought up an excellent point today: why aren’t bloggers allowed in the statehouse? Consider it for a second. There are a lot of good bloggers out there, in fact blogs have already become my primary source of information when it comes to the state government. My local newspaper (of course today would be the exception), in contrast, rarely discusses anything about Ohio legislative branch during a typical week.

Here’s a few more points I’d like to make in support of this idea. I’m not trying to start an entire blogging vs. MSM debate, just pointing out a few advantages that the format has.

1. Blogs often focus on one topic while traditional media has to devote equal attention to several different topics. Because of this a political blogger is more likely to cover political news than a typical news outlet. This is especially true in rural areas covered by smaller news outlets.
2. Blog news is “fresher” than other, offline news sources. Give a blogger a power outlet and a Wi-Fi connection and they’ll have news online within minutes. Other sources must wait to be published or broadcast.
3. Blogging combines the best of all forms of media. You can’t send audio out through the newspaper or send on demand text through the television. A blogger can go back and forth between media types by uploading MP3’s or posting videos to YouTube.

I’m sure I could go on but for right now let’s just leave it at that.