2006 Ohio Democratic Party State Convention

I attended the 2006 ODP State Convention at Tri-C West in Parma, Ohio on Saturday. Russell of Buckeye State Blog was also there, wearing a Shamansky for Congress tee shirt. I had opted for a suit and tie, not really sure what to expect. Russell looked more comfortable.

When I arrived most everyone was still downtown for the Bill Clinton lunch reception, so I set up my sound system and experimented with the wifi access and where to put my camera and tripod. There was a little preliminary jockeying between me, the local Fox TV crew, and Gina from the documentary film project "Swing State" for position on the media riser, but in the end the Fox guys moved to the other side of the hall and I moved to the front row of seats. Unfortunately, my camera battery ran down after Marc Dann's speech.

There was a very positive atmosphere at the event. I talked to quite a few people and the mood was generally very upbeat. It was a pleasure to meet Ohio House candidates Dale Henry (D-Springfield) and Tom Holliday (D-Pataskala) and Representatives George Distel (D-Conneaut) and Ken Carano (D-Austintown). I also saw candidates Matthew Barrett (D-Amherst) and Eugene Miller (D-Cleveland), whom I had met before, and it was a pleasure to talk to attorney general primary candidate Subodh Chandra (D-Cleveland), who said that he will host fundraisers for three more Congressional candidates -- I think he said Richard Chema (D-Oakwood), Vic Wulsin (D-Indian Hill) and Betty Sutton (D-Copley). He has already hosted successful events for Zack Space (D-Dover) and John Cranley (D-Cincinnati).

I also saw Kevin Fisher, now with the coordinated campaign but formerly the campaign manager for Stark County Commissioner candidate Todd Bosley. He told me that Bosley is doing very well in his campaign against Richard Regula, leading 47-43 in a recent poll and receiving the unanimous endorsement of the Stark County sheriff's Deputies.

ODP Chairperson Rep. Chris Redfern (D-Catawba Island) started the remarks with a short but energetic opening, in which he emphasized the 88-county strategy. Rev. Jeff Jemison followed with the invocation, and then the Mayor of Parma, Dean DePiero (D-Parma) gave us a rousing welcome and led the pledge of allegiance.

There followed in quick succession speeches by Senate candidate Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Avon), state treasurer candidate Richard Cordray (D-Columbus), attorney general candidate Marc Dann (D-Liberty Township), Senate Minority Leader CJ Prentiss (D-Cleveland Heights), gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland (D-Lisbon), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Niles), Mayor Mark Mallory (D-Cincinnati), Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Cleveland), and keynote speaker Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL). They were all very revved up speeches, particularly Brown Dann, and Strickland, although I agree with Russell that Emmanuel seemed to drag a little. In addition to him being exhausted, by that point many in the audience had moved to the back of the hall to hobnob, which was very distracting and sucked some of the energy out of the proceedings. However, he had some really great lines in his speech. I remember him noting Bush's 39% approval rating and saying that Gov. Taft would like to know his secret; that Ohio Republicans were gathering that night at their usual place, the grand jury room; and that we all will live forever "in George Bush's debt." At 5:30 I had to leave, so I missed a bunch of speakers after that.

Video clips of the first three speakers are in the following posts. I hope to edit and post audio clips of the others tomorrow.