Obama campaign on the Ohio battlefield

The Barack Obama campaign is focusing in on "battle ground" states and making sure what happened to John Kerry's presidential bid in Ohio in 2004. "Ohio has the third most electoral votes of all the battleground states," said Steve Hildebrand a deputy campaign manager for Obama during a call with the media. Hildebrand and Ohio campaign director Aaron Pickerell discussed the base that had been laid by the successful bids of Democrats Sen. Sherrod Brown and Governor Ted Strickland in 2006.

Pickrell said that the campaign is spending more time in traditionally Republican districts, following the strategy of Brown and Strickland to target the whole state instead of urban and suburban areas. Much like the Obama campaign organized in Iowa the Ohio strategy involves 1200 neighborhoods organized by resident neighborhood team leaders. Pickrell said that this campaign can build on the foundation of increased Democratic voting rates built by Strickland and Brown.

Strickland said that the manpower Obama has placed in the field will make a major difference. He also said that he is impressed at the efforts to court Clinton supporters and that he, along with Hillry and Bill Clinton, will do "anything and everything" he;s asked to do to support the Obama campaign.

Strickland said that Obama won't win every region of the state, but he won't repeat "the Kerry mistake." Strickland said that he thinks that these effors in Ohio will increase the percentage of Democratic votes in some counties by 10 to 12 percent. Strickland will be a speaker at the upcoming Democratic National Convention; he said his speech will focus on the economy.

Sen. Brown says McCain could have saved 8,200 Ohio jobs

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) held a conference call today criticizing Sen John McCain (R-Ariz.) for not using his business connections with German shipping company Deutsche Post to save 8.200 jobs around Wilmington, OH. McCain and current campaign manager Rick Davis worked with the company during its acquisition of American shipping company DHL four years ago.

According to Brown, Deustche Post recently announced that the company would be shipping roughly 8,200 jobs currently held by DHL in Ohio overseas. However, both McCain and Davis did nothing. He said that both could use their ties to the businesses to negotiate with the company, or perhaps even stop the outsourcing. Brown also said that McCain’s only solution for those losing their jobs was to retrain them for another position.


The Ohio senator believes the McCain campaign should send Davis to Deutsche Post, and make his connections to the companies known in order to facilitate an agreement. He concluded by stating that this issue is not one of partisanship, but rather feels that McCain is giving in to what Brown calls a “corporate lobbyist culture that [McCain] decries”.

Aggressive trade agenda proposed by members of Congress

Members of Congress hosted a news conference today to talk about the aggressive new direction to take the trade agenda. The participants include Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Oh), Representative Mike Michaud (D-Me), Representative Betty Sutton (D-Oh), and Citizens Trade Campaign director, Andy Gussert. They discuss the new ideas that need to be implemented to maximize trade efficiency and U.S. profit.

Congressional leaders discuss aggressive new trade agenda

In a conference call this afternoon, a group of prominent members of Congress discussed launching a new trade bill. Among those contributing were Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Oh), Representative Mike Michaud (D-Me), Representative Betty Sutton (D-Oh), and Citizens Trade Campaign director, Andy Gussert.

Brown said that in 1992 the trade deficit in the U.S. was 38 billion dollars and in 2007 the trade deficit was over 750 billion dollars. Specifically, the trade deficit with China has gone up 1200% since 1992. He said that because of these staggering statistics, he and his colleagues have put serious thought into a bill that will give U.S. trade a different direction. Brown said that one of the major problems with the trade policy is the tendency for U.S. based companies to outsource jobs to other countries, which hurts the U.S. economy, which is why part of the new trade agenda is the Patriotic Employment Act, which is designed to offer tax incentives to companies that decide to manufacture goods in the U.S. The Senator from Ohio said that because this bill contains so many new ideas it probably won’t make it through congress this year, but that it is a step in the right direction.

Michaud said that this new trade agenda is not opposed to trade, it is opposed to the way the US participates in trade. He said that the agenda is focused on developing a set of guidelines that can be implemented and will be used as a “roadmap” for future trade negotiations. Michaud said that bad trade policies were costing Americans jobs and that working class families understand the need for a new trade policy.