Obama Administration Going After Republican Congressman

With the new divide among the Republican Party caused by the release of the audio where Donald Trump describes what is essentially sexual assault, Democrats are going after more than Trump. The Democrats see this as an opportunity to go after both Senate and House seats, and they are using Donald Trump to do it.

Essentially, the Democrats want use this to give their party momentum and stun the momentum of the Republicans. They will most likely be running adds all across the country in an effort to attack the incumbent Republicans and be sending people to campaign in the key areas. In Ohio, the person doing the campaigning is currently President Obama. He isn't holding anything back, attacking those like the Republican Senator Rob Portman for standing by Trump only until now. He believes they aren't deserving of their seats in Congress because they sat by for the last year while Trump spewed out racist and sexist rhetoric and have only now abandoned him due to immense pressure. 

Now, I doubt this will do much in Ohio, it really looks like Senator Portman has this wrapped up, but this could help Clinton win in Ohio and this strategy could have immense effect around the country.

Source

http://www.ohio.com/news/politics/national/obama-campaigns-in-ohio-says-republicans-deserve-no-credit-for-disavowing-trump-1.719066?localLinksEnabled=false

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Leaves Strickland

Senate candidate for the Democratic Party, Ted Strickland has seen his funding been stripped away from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The national organization aids nominees across the country in Senate races they will be competitive.  Polls have shown Strickland down 17 point to incumbent Republican Rob Portman.

Why is this a big deal? I think this is representing the way Ohio is going to vote this presidential election. I cannot imagine a way that Hilary Clinton is able to win Ohio while at the same time having a Senate candidate and fellow Democrat be down 17 points. Although I do not think that Clinton will lose Ohio by that large of a number, I think Trump and the Republican ticket will be insurmountable.

However, the caveat with this article is it is from October 7th, the same Friday of Donald Trump's scandal involving explicit tapes with sexually-suggestive content. It will be interesting to see if the polls will show Republican voters who are now reluctant to vote for Trump, impacting down-ballot races due to low Republican turnout. If the Trump's flub causes Strickland to close the gap on Portman to a more manageable level, will the DSCC regret pulling funds?

http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-daily-briefing/2016/10/10-07-16-strickland-dscc.html

Why Ohio is Leaving Donald Trump for Hilary Clinton

A little over a month ago, it looked to be clear that Ohio was going to go to Donald Trump, now it appears that Ohio is Hilary’s to lose. Trumps opening debate statements did not do him any favors, couple with the controversial tape from 2005 and the whole Miss Universe debacle, things are starting to slip away from Trump. The reason Ohio was favoring Donald is his pull on working class white men that typically vote democrat, in contrast the Democrats pushed there hardest to register voters that are minorities and that are young. With early voting beginning this Wednesday, Clinton boasts a 4 point lead of 46 to 42 over Donald.

            One big point that is killing Trump in Ohio, is that he has had the support of iron workers, until information about his purchase of steel from China. Many workers felt betrayed and felt that he can no longer be trusted. I found it interesting that 9 of 10 Trump voters polled were not waiver by the tape released in 2005. Though that is still a 10% lose in votes for Donald if the polls translate to the larger population. Many Trump supporters would not change there vote no matter what happened, whereas there are also many voters that are just on the fence and are still not sure, that is why this is such a sensitive time in the election process and why the Presidential debates are so influential.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-ohio-is-leaving-donald-trump-for-hillary-clinton/

Ohio Senator Backs Pence

The audio tape released that has Trump saying those vulgar words about women has left the Republican Party scrambling to decide what to do about him. Many are removing their official support for him, others are vowing to vote for Pence, and many are even demanding he drop out of the race. Of course, the big guy has no intention of dropping out of the race, and this is clearly going to only divide the party further. Many see this as the nail in his coffin; however, this makes things a lot trickier for the other Republicans running for office.

Take Ohio Senator Rob Portman, he is up for re-election and has been able to keep a stable lead over his competition, but there is no doubt this sort of thing could shake up that campaign. Now, I'm not saying this scandal is going to destroy his campaign, I believe he is pretty safe since since his average lead is over 12% and he acted very quickly by removing his support for Trump and backing Pence. This could shake things up around the country though, a politicians move one way or the other could send their voters packing. Not to mention, the growing divide among the party and the lack of moral could seriously effect voter turn out, and the same time the growing animosity towards Trump could improve vote turn out on the Democratic side.

Which ever way you look at this it's bad for Trump and it's bad for the Republican Party, and it's not likely that the debate tonigh is going to help anything.

Sources

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/senate/oh/ohio_senate_portman_vs_strickland-5386.html

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/portman-says-hell-vote-for-pence-instead-of-trump-229393

Voter Distributions

The particular article that I chose for this week’s discussion is one that requires a lot of spatial analysis. Immediately when I found the website that came from the NY Times it was clear how much it was related to Geography and how it is critical to understanding the upcoming election. There is a series of maps using a various number of different techniques that convey different variables that contribute to the distribution of voting in Ohio.  A proportional symbol map was used to show how both Republicans and Democrats voted in respect to the candidates inside there own parties.

I really enjoyed reading about how college education and the population of an area are directly related to how an area votes. The counties were broken down and analyzed individually. I found it interesting that John Kasich is doing so well, to be honest I had not been hearing a lot about Kasich and up until seeing all these proportion maps I wasn’t aware he was doing so well. The areas that favored Barrack Obama in the 2008 election tended to side similarly with Clinton. In high population centers such as Cleveland and Columbus the vote clearly went Democratic, as we know areas of high poverty tend to go to the Democrats. This site was very informative and with just a little critical thinking they were very helpful in understanding how and why the voting is the way it is in Ohio.

http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/ohio

Clinton Campaign to Go After Trump Voters in Ohio

Just a few weeks ago Ohio looked to be falling into Trumps lap; the emotions stirred up by the conventions had subsided and Hillary's illness immediately gave more strength to The Donald in the polls. However, no matter what conservative news sources try to say, Hillary won the first debate and that has given her new life in this particular swing state.I am not saying she was ever out of it, but this constant back and forth shows that Ohio may in fact still be up for grabs. I find it hard to believe that so many voters have not made up their minds yet, but who knows. Besides, it's not like the campaigns are going to assume anything, they are gonna fight till the end.

So with this new life the Clinton Campaign is going to go after the areas of Ohio where Trump is polling best like Athens and Canton to try and shake things up. Now, they are not sending Hillary but they are deploying a pretty top notch weapon, the former President himself, Bill Clinton. I am sure they are hoping that the witty a charming Bill can swoop in and be the fun and confident politician that Hillary is not allowed to be; try and lighten the tone of the campaign and use Trumps laid back speaking style against him. This, paired with the backing of hometown hero Lebron James and the barrage of debates to come gives me the feeling that Hillary can and will slowly pull away from Trump in the polls. It's not like he is doing himself any favors on twitter either.

Source

http://www.ohio.com/news/politics/national/bill-clinton-to-swing-through-ohio-s-trump-territory-this-week-stop-in-canton-1.716230?localLinksEnabled=false&cache=18961415304345%25252525252525252525252Fnews%25252525252525252525252Fohio%25252525252525252525252Fcss%25252525252525252525252Fresults%252525252525252525252525%252525252525252525252527+and+1%25252525252525252525253D1+and+%252525252525252525252527%25252525252525252525

Clinton Gets LeBron on Her Side of the Court

In perhaps one of the biggest endorsements from a non-politician this election cycle, LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers has thrown his support behind Hilary Clinton. Even after a slew of big-name newspapers across the nation went against their Republican leanings by backing Clinton, I think this is one endorsement that carries the most weight. With areas of eastern Ohio turning to Republican candidate Donald Trump, Clinton desperately needs a high turnout in the urban areas of Ohio.

The one person who is most revered in the state of Ohio is LeBron James. I don't think James' influence will be able to turn Republicans to Democrats anytime soon. However, I do believe that James will have a bigger impact on the African-American community, especially in Ohio. James has increased his role in the realm of social justice over the past few years, highlighted by an appearance at the ESPY's this past summer discussing social change. One thing I think LeBron will be able to do well is galvanize the African-American vote in Ohio around Clinton; pushing a higher turnout that will help make Ohio more competitive for the Democrats.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/10/03/ohio-politics-now-hillary-clinton-returns-to-ohio-gets-lebron-james-endorsement.html#