Ohio’s Primary is Approaching

With only a week until the Ohio Primary, Frank DeMartini, my friend and sponsor of this web site has asked me to give an analysis this week of where Ohio is leading up to the March 6^th primary.

Much has happened leading up to this Primary that has caused not only a lot of confusion to the voters, but has also caused several Ohio candidates to scramble to change their courses of action.

First of all, historically Ohio held its Primary in May.  Secondary, due to the results of the 2010 census, Ohio did not grow in comparison to other states and as a major result, lost two seats in the U. S. House of Representatives.  Since the number of seats in the House is fixed at 435, Ohio will now only have sixteen members instead of the eighteen previously held.  This caused Ohio to have to redraw their House districts to reflect the loss.

In the area I live, I am right on the border of two counties, Greene and Montgomery. Greene County is a very conservative Republican county; and Montgomery County is predominately a Democrat county.  Both are very strong.  This is also where the Congressional Districts were drawn.  Luckily for us, both Congressional seats are held by Republicans.

These two counties have been served very well by Congressman Steve Austria (Greene) and Congressman Mike Turner (Montgomery).  When the redistricting came down, these two districts were combined.  So Ohioans were going to be faced with the dilemma of choosing one over the other to represent them.  Campaign strategies were thrown off course and there were rumblings of a division within the Republican Party as members were forced to take sides.  Then Congressman Steve Austria made the announcement that he would not be seeking reelection due to the strain it would cause on the Party.  A very noble move on his part, but did secure solidarity of the Republican Party.  Of course there are other Republican candidates seeking this office, but it did at least remove the biggest obstacle.

As far as the Presidential Primary goes, Ohio seems to be all over the place. We will have the complete list on our ballot; Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and .

I took a poll on Facebook to see where my friends were leaning towards this election and the overwhelming response was “Anybody but Obama”.  Matt and Joshua expressed their support for Ron Paul, but mostly, they are looking for specifics in our next President.

Ed says, “I want someone who can help restore our individual freedoms which are gradually slipping away. Someone who will shrink the size of the government, tackle the financial time bombs that everyone is kicking down the road, such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. We need to shrink entitlement recipients, thus removing those wholly dependent on the Government to get out and be productive.  A push towards the things that made this nation great.  And lastly, a person who is honest and truly means what they spout, not like this lame Administration.”  Carolyn and Al heartily agree with him.

Stacy expresses,  “I am looking for someone who is for smaller government (i.e.: Dept of Education EPA and all these other HUGE government agency that eat up tax dollars) who is for a strong military, who wants to wean folks off entitlement programs put more power back to the states and less in Washington!!  I’d also like to see more assistance going to our senior citizens and less to SSI for kids with ADHD and Epilepsy and to the spouses/children rather than just the disabled person! And lets see…. I am sick and tired of lobbyist getting their way with what happens!!  Quit letting reps attach NONSENSE to bills… the bill should be able to stand on it or be redone!!”  Patricia agrees with Stacy.

Cindy wants, “Some one who is for this COUNTRY! Who will get things done, not just saying they will do this or that, but actually do IT! Get this Country on its feet again. More Jobs. More Help here in this Country for those who need it.”

While Joshua and Matt endorse Ron Paul, Matt adds, “Honesty is what I’m looking for and someone who doesn’t have financially motivated interests.”

Sheryl, like all Americans would like lower taxes.

Frank Gilbert says, “The traits I’m looking for are non existent in the current group of presidential candidates. But come the general election, I’ll pull the handle for whomever opposes Obama. As far as local elections go, I’d like to see Jarrod Martin re-elected and new county commissioners. I’d also like to see John Anderson as our republican candidate to congress over Mike Turner.”

Elizabeth’s wish, “I would like to see our next president actually do something to help our country.  I would like to see more jobs so people aren’t struggling.  I would like to see some kind of program to drop drug users off of welfare.  Our tax dollars goes to people who cheat the government.  They get food stamps and use them other then for food.  I think drug tests should be given every month for food stamp recipients and if the test comes back positive, drop them off and make them pay for the test.  I have not yet chosen who I want to win for president but I do know I don’t care for Obama at all…”  Mona agrees with Elizabeth.

Lastly, and most special to me is Linda’s comment. “I have never voted for any Republican. But I do support you Frank in all you do.  Thanks, Linda.  I am officially retired from politics, but I will continue to use that platform to support MSA Awareness.

Susan and I attended the Republican Lincoln Day Dinner Friday night.  It was well attended with candidates for the local races with buttons, stickers and literature.   Tom Koogler, a candidate for Greene County Commissioner had three very nice young men opening the doors for all that attended.  The guest speaker was Congressman Mike Turner, but he gave us a much toned down campaign speech.

One thing I noticed was there was not really anyone there pushing their Presidential candidate.  There was one “representative” from Santorum’s, who was Ohio Attorney General’s wife, one from Paul’s camp who I didn’t see do anything except stand up to be recognized, and one young volunteer that worked the room handing out Romney stickers.

I’ve noticed the same lack of advertisement in the media.  No television commercials, no radio commercials, and I have only seen a handful of campaign signs, mostly stapled to telephone poles and one free standing sign and they were all for Ron Paul.  There’s only been one appearance that I am aware of and it was inCincinnati, and must have been a short stop because it was scheduled in the afternoon and there was a debate inArizonathat night.  It appears that none of the candidates are concerned about theOhiovoters.

As the week goes on, more attention may be focused onOhiovoters.  It seems crystal clear that there is no obvious winner.  Hopefully the candidates don’t think that they won’t have to work to convince us that they deserve our vote.  But we do all agree….. No more Obama!

Tags: Congressman Mike Turner, Congressman Steve Austria, Jon Huntsman, March 6th primary, Mitt Romney, MSA, Newt Gingrich, Ohio, Ohio candidates, Ohio Primary, primary, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul

This entry was posted on February 29, 2012 at 5:52 am and is filed under Conservative, Frank Cervone, GOP, MSA, Republican. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.