On the Ground in Ohio

I can only offer one person's perspective.  Anyway, here it is...

It is interesting, I have avoided the usual political smearing -- my candidate is bigger than your candidate garbage --that is happening here in Ohio.  Oh yes, we get the flyers (when did these things have to become laminated), the phone calls, the reporters covering important policy issues like crowd size and enthusiasm. Forget what they say (or not).  Who has the posters and signs?  Where are they?  And let's not forget the only question that matters to the TeeVee crowd... how big are the crowds?  Ah the media, avoiding their job as they always do.

Sigh.

Alright, local news coverage... Wow, Obama has some rocking music in his commercials.  He has mastered the art of the upbeat campaign commercial.  You watch it, you smile.  Hillary Clinton wants to show us how hard she works.  Um, not very inspiring. I already work too hard.  Why do I want to see her sitting at her desk at night?  How is that going to inspire me?  I already assume she works hard.

Crowd size in Ohio.  McCain drawing very small crowds, not much bigger than Huck's gaggle.  Doesn't that seem odd to anyone?  But the story here is clear:  Obama is drawing huge crowds.  And the people are excited.  Really, truly excited.  They will go out and vote on Tuesday.  Maybe crowd size does tell us something about general interest, but does it tell us what people will do -- how deep is their support for a candidate?

So we must acknowledge that a rally is more than mere crowd size (sorry, Faux Newz).  What's the interaction?  What is the candidate saying?  Obama seems to be talking more specifics and vision.  He is clearly demonstrating some command of the issues.  And now that we see McCain for the wee Bush wanna be and Obama's willingness to show him the door, Obama's very large crowds are only going to get bigger and more enthusiastic.  Not good for any of his rivals, especially the Republican ones.  Aw, too bad (should there be more sarcasm here?)!

It is interesting living in Ohio.  At least politically, right now. I drive around several main roads, interstate highways, and cities... and I do not see signs for McCain or Huckabeegee.  The signs here are for Ron Paul.  Yup, RP has the interstate, several city streets, and county roads all sown up.  Whatever good that will do him.

Obama posters and signs though are going up.  All over.  I wonder what that means?