What I Would Be Blogging About if I Had Time to Blog

The semester is winding down, so my workload is amping up. I have a ton of papers to grade before tomorrow so my class has them to study for their final.

So, with the possibility that I will not get to everything and may not get to anything on my To Blog list, here's the quick version

• Alex Arshinkoff won and won big in the vote for control of the Summit County GOP. ANN has a liveblog plus audio posted of the event, with some nice tidbits, including anti-Wayne Jones lapel pins. The vote is over, but the bloodletting has just begun. If Alex accomplishes anything other than exacting revenge upon those who opposed him, I will be surprised.


• Speaking of ANN, I'll get around to responding to the ANN critics who commented on this post. I agree that ANN isn't what ohiodotcom is yet, but they are moving in opposite directions. ANN is starting as a website with web functionality and building credible content within that framework. Ohio dot com is starting as an e-version of a dead tree paper and trying to make the web fit that paradigm. If ANN is able to catch up, that will be why.

• Women's Voices Women's Vote, a group supposedly unaffiliated with any campaign was behind a series of robo-phone calls that looked a lot like voter suppression. They have apologized and offered explanations (for whatever reason, I got an email from them.)
  
  Either they were involved in some extremely clever and subtle voter suppression aimed at likely Obama supporters, or they were extraordinarily incompetent. In any event, people like Jill Zimon who was a candidate for their Best Woman Blogger contest are getting unwarranted crap for having promoted the group. If the worst of the allegations turn out to be true, then among other things, WV² used a bunch of bloggers to build net cred. We should be outraged, but not at the bloggers.
  
  Jill has a pretty good roundup of posts on the subject.
  

• Susie at BlueOhioan has left blogging because politics has gotten too "toxic." Normally I don't call people out as they are leaving but, seriously? The woman who called Obama a "petulant little snot" worried about the toxicity of politics? Toxic is as toxic does, Susie. If the kitchen is too hot, fine. But could you please turn off a couple of the burners you lit before you leave?

• The Dann drumbeat rolls on. ModernEsquire has been the most out front as new allegations. I want to see Dann gone as much as the next guy. But there is no clear path to getting rid of him short of the next election. I hope Redfern and Strickland are working behind the scenes to persuade him to step down into some sort of soft landing job. In any event, everything we know about the guy indicates that calling him out publicly as some have advocated will just make him dig in deeper.
  

• And yes, I have more to do on the Supreme Court voter ID case. And plenty more besides. Let's just say I'm OK with the semester ending.