NOTE: Revised to fix the chronic misspelling of the candidate's name. Apologies.
I got polled last night by the campaign of Ohio Senate 27th longshot Judy Hanna, so my unintentional role of substitute for YellowDogSammy will continue into at least one more race.
I assume it was a Judy Hanna poll based on the assymetry. After the preliminaries -- right path/wrong track, likely voter screening, governor's race (will I vote for Tim Strickland?) -- they startd into the questions about the 27th race. First they start with the positives for Hanna -- basically her position statements. Then -- and this was new for me -- they run through the oppo research on her. Three bad things about Judy and will they make you more likely to vote against her.
Then, when they get to Coughlin, it's all oppo. None of the good stuff. Of course it could just be that there's nothing good to say about Kevin, he said snarkily.
As best I can recall (I was wrist-deep in cooking dinner when the call came) the oppo on Coughlin was:
- A sexual harassment allegation that chased him out of a university teaching job.
- Voting for an income tax cut that went overwhelmingly to wealthy Ohioans.
- Missing the vote on last year's Third Frontier Issue 1 because he was on "an all-expense paid trip" (not clear who paid all the expenses)
Second, the anti-Coughlin pieces were pretty well-framed and very direct. Hanna won't be shy about going after him, though presumably she will look at how the negative messages poll.
Hey, in apparent influx of resources and sharp-elbowed attacks. This couldn't have anything to do with her EMILY's List endorsement, could it? Doing oppo research on oneself is also an EMList hallmark.
Finally the poll shows that Hanna is at least aware of the disaster that is her Inaguration Day blog. How she will handle it remains to be seen.
For example, she might want to put something her blog. Well, she might want to tap someone to ghost a response. Or she might want to shut the blog down completely since the one post there is similarly disasterous. She's written a single post, that one about a March peace rally, which is no help at all. She probably loses a debate about Iraq in the 27th, and if she wins it doesn't help in a state election. What's more, the post shows the same cavalier attitude toward syntax and word usage that make the Inaguration Day post such an -- erm -- interesting read.
12 comments:
It's Hanna.
The poll was paid for by the Senate Dem caucus. Pretty standard and does not indicate Hanna has any resources.
Interesting question on Coughlin and sexual harassment. I doubt that it's true since he's teaching at Akron U currently. I just signed up for his class this fall.
I wouldnt be so sure that it's not true...Have you ever heard a good thing about him?
well yes. in case you haven't noticed Coughlin is quite popular.
if there had been a sexual harassment complaint against him the university would have dismissed him. hanna better be careful on this. Remember Coughlin's wife crushing Tom Bevan last time on TV after Bevan attacked.
agree with second anon, highly unlikely EmList paid for this poll and agreed Sen Caucus is the likely buyer.
appears that July 31st is the next state filing deadline, so no idea about her financial strength until then.
my guess: not strong.
at least she looks like she might fight for the seat. now, if she could only piece together a few coherent sentences...
Is the piecing together of a coherent sentence really all that anyone can come up with? With all that Republicans have done to the state of Ohio, you are complaining about a free-writing blog exercise done by an educated woman? Wow...
yes, Judy. It matters that you have a masters and are teaching but write like a twelve year old.
the content of your ridiculous essay matters too. as a left leaning voter, even I find you to be a wack job. Your life seems to be devoted to proving that the government is conspiring to take away your rights. Please.
FWIW I don't think the penultimate anonymouse was Judy Hanna -- unless she traveled from Bath to Tallmadge to duck-blind her comment. If she did, I'm impressed.
Having said that, I agree with the last anonymouse's assessment, but will vote for Hanna nonetheless. I've crossed party lines before but not for someone as fundamentally opposed to my interests as Coughlin is.
anon1, actually I have other issues, but didn't feel this was the appropriate venue to reiterate them.
But here they are for you: Hanna's the type of D that wins primaries by cobbling a coalition (of the willing) of left interest groups as a voting bloc. Said voting bloc pushes the candidate across the line first in a primary, but is not large enough to do so in the general.
Coughlin's good points - tough campaigner, not the lap dog of Arshinkoff, and incumber - are headache enough for a challenger. But when the challenger feeds the incumbents strengths...
In essence, when we selected Hanna on May 2, we'd already lost the general. "Wow..."
As for her writing: it was a free blogging writing exercise? wtf? It read like a drunken screed. B/c Coughlin reacted well to it, and b/c the PD post it at Openers, one of Hanna's first introductions to voters was that gibberish.
Does her writing ability matter in the campaign? Yes, if she's writing her own releases and website updates. And yes, b/c Coughlin's made it a question of her ability in general.
And, yes, her writing ability matters b/c as an UA instructor, she's supposed to grade essays and help struggling writers get better. Frightening, no?
I'm sure it's pretty safe to assume that Judy has a staff member/s write her press releases & take care of the daily business of an Ohio Senate race.
And again, I find it odd that in a year full of Republican corruption that has permeated every level of government, we are sitting here criticizing a Democrat with good-intentions who actually wants to help the citizens of Ohio's 27th Senate District & other residents of this formally great state.
But instead, let's continue to bash a fellow Democrat while Republicans band together to beat Democrats! Cause we all know how far that has gotten us.
anon, actually, I'm not sure about her press releases/web updates. Read the blog post at the link Pho provided in the original post. It reads the same way.
If she has a staffer completing the releases, both she and the staffer should attend the university's writing lab for a refresher in composing comprehensible written word.
As for criticizing a D, you're damn right I'll do that, especially vis-a-vis their campaign. Hanna is not a good general candidate against Coughlin, it's that simple.
You can join Betsy's Dem Hating Brigade and say it's about Dem hating. In doing so, you'd miss the reality of Hanna's electoral situation.
I applaud her for taking up the baton in this race, but I'm not giving the campaign a free pass based on willingness to do so.
anon,
I think you mean 'formerly', not 'formally.' Judy....Judy....Judy....
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