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that's just my opinion, but anyway.....
in 2004 we were that close
and a lot of people were willing to give up and they were just sort of shrugging their shoulders
like we did everything we possibly could
i'll never forget there were two articles in the Sunday York Times Magazine by Matt Bai B-A-I
if you read that or remember that name
he wrote a story about Karl Rove and the Republican machine prior to the '04 election
and then right after the '04 election. I remember reading that about
how they worked the churches so well and their neighborhoods
and worked through
both corporate interests and
the anti-choice, anti-gay initiatives and all that.
And I just remember saying to Connie, my wife, 'I don't know how we win in this state again'.
And then
2004 and early 2005, and you began, little bit then early two thousand five
yes
you organized through '04 and you didn't quit after '04 and that's the real key
there's nobody in this state that I saw
as quickly get up
after losing and dust yourself off and come right back at it.
Literally, nobody in the state did what UA Progressive did, but you could also argue that no one in that state had as far to go as you all did,
but what you were able to do was so incredible and a model for Democratic organizations
whether it's County parties or women's clubs or young Dems on campuses
or labor trade unionists
all over the state environmental groups, children's advocates that saw what you did with UA for Kerry and UA Progressives joined
that saw what you did with UA for Kerry and UA Progressives
and that really did set a tone
then if you remember in early '05
when Karl Rove was saying that
there's going to be a permanent
Republican majority
and the UA Progressives said 'No there isn't'
then Bush tried to begin to privatize Social Security
then it was Katrina
then the war continued
---more policies--- the deregulation of Wall Street, tax cuts for the rich,
bailout for the drug and insurance companies in the name of health care privatization
two wars that weren't paid and the voters began to understand what UA Progressives
had understood for years and that was really the beginning
In '06
you elected a Democratic governor and Democratic Senate
and several Democratic statewide office holders
and then in '08 you worked with Ted Celeste and others and elected a Democratic legislature
and
you recall that the when they called Ohio for Barack Obama
that's when the Obama campaign
nationally knew they had won the presidency
and we're still in the same situation this year
this year and leading up
to 2012
The White House will say...
they've not quite said it
publicly but they said it to enough people, including me from the top down
that the Ohio governor's race is probably the single most important race in the country for the
White House
you know they absolutely don't want to lose Harry Reid, we don't want to lose a majority in the House
I don't think we're going to
we don't want to lose too many seats in the Senate, we're going to lose a small handful
but the governor's race in Ohio means everything and it means not just the apportionment board
for the next ten years
and a strengthening Democratic Party. Look what we did in '06 we won governor and Senate
'08 win the legislature, 2010 the governor wins, we keep the legislature
we then control redistricting
and instead of the Republicans having to for twenty years
that's a big big big difference with the house and eventually even the state senate where we've had
little chance to even get close to a majority in the last decade and a
half
and you can see what that's going to mean for Barack Obama. If instead
we have
someone like John Kasich who has consistently been on the wrong side of every single issue
who made millions off Wall street, who voted wrong on
everything in Congress
Look for a moment
at the historical perspective, these numbers are are worth remembering
when you talk to your friends and neighbors and people at work and at church and
at school
Eight years of Bill Clinton, these are
exactly right numbers, eight years of Bill Clinton 22 million net increase
in jobs ---- 22 million jobs
incomes went up during Bill Clinton's presidency, 8 years of George Bush, January 20th to
January 20th
8 years of George Bush, one million jobs as opposed to twenty two million, not even keeping up with
with the graduates from our universities let along other population growth
incomes went down
George Bush took the largest budget surplus in American history and eight years later handed the
largest budget deficit in American history to the Barack Obama
And across the country Republicans are saying we want to go back to what
we had
well Ohio actually has three candidates that got us there Mike DeWine, Rob Portman and
and John Kasick and these are three people that got us in this situation. Deregulation of Wall street
wars and not paying for them, tax cuts for the rich that bankrupted the country
privatization of Medicare
all the things they did
that put this country in the ditch where we found ourselves.
Last set of numbers -- when Barack Obama took office we were losing 700,000 jobs per month
we are now
gaining jobs, have for the last 7 or 8 months Ohio... [applause]
Ohio is first in the nation in growth in clean energy jobs
under
the Recovery Act
There's a lot of things to brag about: health care reform, 32 million people will have
insurance
S-CHIP, reinstating the equal pay
for equal work, the Lilly Ledbetter case
all these things ---
the Wall Street reform, the credit card consumer
legislation. All these things that we've done
that the media don't much write about, the Tea Party doesn't want to think
about
and we don't talk about enough. So we have we have something to tell the voters and what we've done and what
we're going to continue to do. All they could do is let's go back to this is a bankrupt
policies that got us into this and that's what the election is about. It's not about
'Are you happy with the situation we're in,
if you're not
then vote against the incumbent party.'
It's 'Look what they did
and look what we've done, make the comparison and make your decision based on that.' If you do then
we're going to see a much better year than we expect. I expect Ted Strickland is going to win
this race [applause]
Lee Fisher is behind and he is underfunded
but don't give up on him because again when people make a contrast of what Rob Portman
was --- budget director, trade representative [under George Bush], they know that he does represent Ohio values
and he's a big reason as is Mike DeWine,
as is John Kasich for getting us in this situation
The debate's about to being in 5 minutes. Most importantly
we need you knocking on doors, doing what Democrats do so well. They got way more money. This awful awful
awful Supreme Court decision that said
that 'corporations have just as much right to free speech as Melissa Hedden' is garbage.
Melissa Hedden has more free speech than anybody here, because she's so outspoken.
What they've done with the money they are pouring into legislative races now
the money they're pouring into the governor's races around the country, the money they are pouring into
Senate races and House races
they just dumped $800,000 more on Zack Space, they're dumping money against Kilroy
they're dumping money against Bocceri in northern Ohio, they's already dumped
more than a $1 million against Fisher, they dumped who knows how much from the Republican
Governors Association against Strickland. All this corporate unreported money. Nobody knows
what it is, nobody know where it comes from
except it's having an impact. That's why your grass roots efforts, knocking on doors, individual
people talking to people, in school, at church in your neighborhood, at work
makes all the difference in the world, because they're going to trust you, whom they know
whom they know
has expertise in politics more than they are going to trust some TV ad. But you've got to be in their face,
you've got to talk to people
Encourage our friends to vote early, get them to the polls, walk them there, drive them there
cattle prod them there
whatever you have to do to get them there it's so important that you stand up and do that, that's
why you're here tonight. I know you're you're the best activists in Franklin County
I'm proud of that, I'm thrilled to be here with you and
my daughters are going to join us in a few minutes. In don't think they are here yet
they say they are, they live in Columbus and they are in their 20's so who knows if they will really show up
[laughter]
Ted know one of them is responsible because she works with him.
Thank you for all that you do. You make such a difference. Enjoy the show!