11th Dist. Caucus Parade - Part I

Yesterday I marched for secretary of state candidate Jennifer Brunner (D-Columbus) in the 11th Congressional Distict Caucus Labor Day Parade, on Cleveland's east side, organized by Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Cleveland). The parade started at 147th and Kinsman and ended at Luke Easter Park. Unlike the parade in Parma two days before, it was sunny and the crowd was large and enthusiastic.

This is 8th District Court of Appeals candidate Melody J. Stewart (D-Euclid), posing with her crew of young volunteers before the parade started. She had two cars, a red Dodge Viper and a silver SUV. The volunteers are armed with plastic buckets of sugarmints.

I asked attorney general candidate State Sen. Marc Dann (D-Liberty Township) and secretary of state candidate Jennifer Brunner (D-Columbus) to pose together before the parade started. These are the two Democratic officials who will bring clean and fair elections back to Ohio, and also hold people accountable for the travesties of the past few elections cycles. There's a post on DailyKos today about the expanded power Dann will have as attorney general to investigate and prosecute election fraud that may have occurred in 2004, under a little-noticed provision of House Bill 3.

This is supreme court candidate and former state senator Ben Espy (D-Columbus), who asked me to send him a copy of this photograph. I will, but it's going to have to be by snail mail because there's no email address on his web site.

Cleveland City Council Member Zach Reed (D-Cleveland), in whose ward we marched, with State Rep. Lance T. Mason (D-Cleveland), now running to replace term-limited State Sen. Eric Fingerhut (D-Shaker Heights) in the 25th Senate District, and Armond Budish (D-Beachwood), running unopposed for Mason's 8th House District seat. Mason, an impressive candidate and a very nice guy, had three or four cars and a small army of volunteers.

Dann greeted hundreds of parade watchers. This woman talked at length about something I couldn't quite hear. Dann listened patiently for a while and then gave her a card. "Here's my phone number, here's my email," he said. In the background you can see Jennifer Brunner's son, John, in the white hat.

Mayor Frank Jackson (D-Cleveland) was a big crowd favorite. He speaks rather softly, and he's a very sincere and personable man. He made a huge effort to talk to everyone, especially children, with the result that he gradually fell back to the rear of the parade procession.

This is Ohio Senate candidate David Lynch (R-Cleveland), former mayor of Euclid, who is running against Lance Mason in the 25th District. He worked the sidewalks only because he wasn't given a place in the procession by parade organizer Rep. Tubbs Jones. He had a tent set up in a strip mall parking lot near the end of the parade, with a DJ, free food, and face painting. Nowhere in his literature does it say that he is a Republican. It talks about health care and education reform and blames the current legislature for sitting around and doing nothing, just as though he were a Democrat. At the reviewing stand, Rep. Tubbs Jones warned the crowd that Mason is her endorsed candidate, not Lynch.

State auditor candidate State Rep. Barbara Sykes (D-Akron), being driven by husband and Ohio House of Representatives candidate Dr. Vernon Sykes (D-Akron). The two of them together really energized the crowd. To go with her sweeping white skirt, Rep. Sykes had a huge straw hat with a black bow.