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“Help save this congressional district for our community.”

Really—???

Oh, Dennis. I guess there is just about no low you won’t sink to, in order to save your job. On top of everything else you’ve flung at this race, now you’ve robocalled me twice in one day to attempt an 11th-hour Hail Mary throw based on the most absolutely shameless, primitive us-vs-them tribalism.

Apparently “we” absolutely must keep “our” congressional district in the hands of a Clevelander, and prevent its being hijacked by one of “those other people” all the way over in Toledo. Wow.

This is just sad. And, frankly, disgusting. And certainly in no way remotely progressive.

That does it for me. I don’t know who will win this primary, which thankfully ends within a few more hours, but I’m not voting for Dennis ever again. Not sure where that will leave me, as I believe other parties have rarely bothered trying to compete against Kucinich from the left. But if I have to just sit out the election for that office, I will. Just utterly fucking horrible. You’re horrible, Dennis Kucinich, in fact if anyone deserves the name of “slut” it’s probably you. Shame, shame, shame.

Update: Looks like Dennis is all done. Good. Not sure that Marcy Kaptur ran a much better campaign, but one thing at a time. Unfortunately Graham Veysey only received four percent of the vote; at least close to double digits would have been nice. Oh well. Meanwhile it seems Romney squeaked out just enough wins to remain safe as the eventual winner, but not enough to make his primary opponents go away. So that isn’t really too bad.

Update Two: “In a news conference at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Kucinich said Kaptur will have to explain to Cleveland-area voters the negative campaign she ran against him.” Unbelievable. I’m adding this post to the category “brass fucking balls.” So glad this twerp is gone. What a way to go out leaving a bad taste, Dennis.

I still need to put the ballot envelope in the mailing envelope and seal it, then add postage (one of those 65¢ stamps which, um, don’t actually exist) but otherwise I’m done with my primary ballot. As I am participating in the Democratic primary rather than the Republican, of course, I miss out on the “big ticket” contest, for the presidency; if Obama is facing any primary challengers they didn’t make it onto the ballot here in Ohio.

All in all, I might well have just skipped this primary entirely if not for a by-product of Buckeye Republicans’ exercise in broad-daylight gerrymandering. As it is, one of the many ridiculous districts which make up their new map-to-disenfranchisement now snakes along Lake Erie all the way from western Cleveland to Toledo. And, as a (possibly not-unintentional) result, two long-time Democratic incumbents Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur now find themselves fighting over one congressional seat. A third candidate, 20-something “entrepreneur” Graham Veysey has also gotten his name on the ballot. As far as I know the oddsmakers give the latter zero prospect of winning the nomination, while the larger portion of her old “base” preserved in the new district is expected to give Kaptur a slight advantage, though no one is quite ready to write off a veteran pol like Kucinich until it actually happens.

Personally, I’m pretty familiar with Kucinich already, and I tried to give Kaptur a fair look, and after considering the pair of them and their challenger, I voted for the challenger.

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I’m working on a really long post, but I feel obligated to note this item here; it’s important and, in a way, will even tie in to the upcoming phonebook-length essay.

Browsing Cleveland.com today, I decided to see just what exactly Brent Larkin had written under the headline “Drawing the line on Democrat griping.” Had this been a work of, say, reactionary automaton Kevin O’Brien, I wouldn’t have even bothered, but I’ve found Larkin occasionally makes a fair point or two.

He does so, here. Said point is made in his usual crusty, crabby, how-distasteful-this-all-is way, but aside from the fact that I’m hardly one to talk, he does make a significant point all the same: Ohio’s Democratic Party seems to have invited the partisan redistricting heist of which they, and I, have been complaining so volubly.

Old man Larkin notes something I apparently missed in my normal indifference to Ohio politics, that “Last year, Democrats had a chance to take politics out of drawing new congressional boundaries and replace it with a plan that reeked of fairness.”

The plan would have amended the Ohio Constitution to create a seven-member panel to redraw those boundaries every 10 years. Republican and Democratic members of the Ohio House and Senate would have shared equally in the appointment of four members. Those four would have appointed the other three members. The support of five members would have been required for approval.

[The] proposal would have taken effect for this year’s drawing of new boundaries. It required voter approval, which would have been a near-certainty.

The Ohio Senate voted to put the plan on last November’s ballot, but it died in the Democrat-controlled House.

The hectoring editor emeritus goes on to list various reasons why the Democrats did such a silly thing. I would like to think they might offer up at least a token defense of their rejecting this reform, but having few illusions about the nature of politics even in parties I view relatively favorably, I expect that defense would be pretty thin. For what it’s worth, I’m not aware of anyone else even raising this point; presumably Democrats don’t want to talk about it because it makes them look bad, and presumably Republicans aren’t mentioning it because they don’t want to acknowledge the possibility that the current system which they’re exploiting is not the acme of fairness.

So, thank you, grumpy old newspaperman, for informing me of what everyone else finds inconvenient to recall. What can I say; this was an awful choice even if it hadn’t quickly rebounded to Democrats’ and democracy’s disadvantage. (more…)