NO MATTER HOW LAME THE INSIDE-THE-BELTWAY DEM POWER-MONGERS ARE, SHERROD BROWN IS A MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN MIKE DEWINE IN EVERY WAY

When Chuck Schumer, Rahm Emanuel and their vicious little Inside-the-Beltway power cabal conspired, successfully, to drive netroots hero Paul Hackett out of the Democratic primary race that would have chosen Ohio Democrats' pick to take on right-wing asshole Mike DeWine in November, they did the GOP a major favor. They showed many reform-minded, grassroots and progressive Democrats-- the vast majority of whom would have been happy to enthusiastically support Sherrod Brown had he won the primary-- that the Inside-the-Beltway scumbag Democrats are every bit as bad as the Inside-the-Beltway scumbag Republicans. Ohio Democrats were so revolted by Schumer and Emanuel that Brown's numbers plummeted and DeWine is now slaughtering him in the polls by 16%. Thanks, DC scumbags.

I had contributed money to Hackett's congressional campaign last summer and helped convince one of the large lefty public interest PACs to do likewise. But when he came to me for more money I told him and I like him and Brown equally well and that I would contribute to whomever Ohio voters chose. Ohio voters won't be choosing so that'll save me $2,100. Brown has been a good congressman, way better than almost every one of his colleagues on all important issues except Iraq. In November Ohio voters will have to pick between a die-hard Bush supporter whose overall grade is an "F" and Sherrod Brown who I would say is an "A-" or, at worst, a B+. There's a big difference between an "F' and a B+. Today's CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER brings how truly horrible of a senator Mike DeWine has been. "When anti-abortion protesters march on Washington every year, those from Ohio stop by his office to thank him and his wife for continuously battling against the abortion rights given under the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. DeWine sponsored the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004, making it a federal crime to harm a fetus - and implicitly conferring legal rights to the unborn.
He was an original co-sponsor of the ban on what opponents call partial-birth abortion, which was signed by President Bush in 2003, and he opposes embryonic stem cell research. That gives comfort to anti-abortion groups in Ohio such as Right to Life. It also provides ground for critics to label him as a staunch conservative. He supports most Bush initiatives - 94 percent of the time in 2004 and 97 percent in 2003, according to Congressional Quarterly's analysis. Yet he has had trouble with conservative groups, especially over the last two years."

Ever since I was a kid I've hated corrupt, anti-democratic political machines. The first candidate I ever really worked for was Manhattan's Upper West Side congressman Bill Ryan, a reformer much hated by the Democratic bosses in NYC and much-hated by the scumbag power elite in DC who hated that he opposed LBJ's lying us into an escalation of war against Vietnam. My kind of Democrat. Rahm Emanuel is the polar opposite of that. At the same time Sherrod Brown is a decent candidate; Mike DeWine in an atrocious one. Independents, reformers, progressives and grassroots Democrats should contribute to Christine Cegelis', Jerry McNerney's, Chuck Pennacchio's and Jan Schneider's anti-establishment campaigns and still vote in November for Sherrod Brown and against Mike DeWine.