Brutus_buckeye

COAST is right on about one thing. Chris Seelbach is a Giant Douche

^ Seelbach is an a$$ who is completely full of himself. no doubt he is doing this to get attention

He overperformed a bit, especially in Hamilton County. It is a +9 GOP advantage and he lost by +6. He never really had a chance. Best case for him was losing by 3-4 points. What he did accomplish was that by having his name on the ballot he probably carried Dumas to victory in the Commissioners race.

You can spin and put words in his mouth however you want to match your agenda. Let's take things at face value. Fact is, you do not know his intent, you are not him and you don't speak for him and if you say you do, you are being disingenuous. WHen you interpret things this way, you are taking your own prejudices and preconceptions and trying to project them on to someone else's speech.

Dumas won because of the Aftab effect. Aftab really never had a chance to flip the OH-1, but it was a GOP +9 and he lost by 5 points. That is overperforming, and it happened in Hamilton County. If Aftab was not on the ballot generating the excitement in Hamilton County Dumas loses.

You and Chabot are west side friends, right Jake? GCL buddies?

I hate the dog whistle term. People should take things at face value instead of trying to imply meaning which really is not there. For the most part, people are not that subtle when they speak and there really is not some hidden code of subtleties that only Chabot supporters know about.

They have a number of prominent Democrats who are against Issue 10 from Charlie Luken, I believe Mallory and a few other prominent Democrats are for issue 10. The Democratic party is obviously against it since it will help them consolidate power. It is cleverly worded but not that misleading.

Charter committee leans left but is generally more non-partisan. They will be in favor of 2 year terms and Issue 10 because that is what the city charter called for 100 years ago when they came into existence. That is the point of their being, to uphold the charter. So of course they are for 10. In addition, they also are a good arbiter of fairness and do speak to the moderate middle to ensure that there is minority representation on council. If you do staggered terms you are going to have a rush to the left and the end to more moderation in local politics. I know many of the progressives do not like this, but it is good having an Amy Murray on council to get her perspective, just like it is a good thing if there were a democrat on Mason city council. Having a minority opinion is a good thing for everyone.

Warren County - no. East side Cincinnati - no. Price Hill, Westwood, Bridgetown, Delhi, Green Twp, Dent, Cleves, Cheviot, White Oak. - It is essential. Your connection to Elder matters in those areas and to a lesser extent LaSalle. It also matters a lot in certain neighborhoods in Northern Kentucky too like Ft Thomas, Ft Mitchell and Ft. Wright. Chabot is West Side, Catholic, went to LaSalle. It carries a lot of weight in the district. He has a 60 year head start on knowing that area.

How the people of Utah evaluate Romney's candidacy is concern to Utahans. How the people of the 1st district view Aftab is only of concern to them. Being from "here" means a lot more to the crowd over on the West side of Cincinnati than it does to those who live in Warren County and typically are more mobile. What I would assume Chabot is trying to do by saying that is to appeal to the old West Side connections that may be on the fence and remind them that he is one of them, born and raised on the West Side vs an outsider. Now to your point about Aftab, He has been here pretty much since 2007 with a short stint in DC for about a year. So yes, he is not a carpetbagger to the extent that someone like Hillary Clinton may be. I don't agree that Aftab is a carpetbagger and truly feel he wants to be a Cincinnati resident for the rest of his life. That being said, in politics, that is obviously an easy play on Chabot's part to paint him as someone who is not vested in the community. THat is far different than finding some dog whistle racist message in the ad.

we would be much better off as a society if we quit looking at things through the lens of victimhood and micro aggression. Treat each other nicely and quit trying to seeking hidden meanings in things that are not there or never intended to be there. It really is not that hard to ask.

^ as mentioned, I think most voters see that as creating a sense of place and connection to an area. Like most jobs, employers want to see a reason for coming to a new area besides the job, same with this. In our business, our company works with employers all the time to help them find director and manager positions. Where people are from and their connection to an area is always one of the most important questions there is because it shows stability and creates a sense that the person is committed to the area. When an employer is choosing between hiring 2 people of equal or close to equal qualifications for a position in say Nashville or Charlotte, the fact that the one candidate grew up in that city or has family in the area is very important as opposed to the other candidate who just wants to go to that city because they think it is a cool place to live. The person with a connection or anchor will get the job 9x out of 10 because to the employer it makes them feel like the person is more committed to the area and will stick around when things get tough and not look to cut and run as quickly. Same principles apply to politics.

No, I mean not going through life being a miserable wretch because people are so focused on finding offense and micro aggressions to the smallest things. It is not buying into the garbage that everyone is a victim in some capacity. It is garbage theory and the people that teach it should not really be given credence in academia.

I think the plan for him would be to wait until 2022 and try to run with the new district, run again in 2020 if CHabot retires and he could get the coattails of a presidential election to help him, run for Portune's seat in 2020 if he retires or he would challenge Deters for prosecutor. My bet is on Deters or Portune in 2020. Cant see him wanting to waste any more time in the clerk's seat. If Portune retires, I bet he runs for that seat, otherwise he will challenge Deters. There were rumors he wanted the Attorney General seat but he decided to run for Congress instead. Mitt is a devout Mormon who spent considerable time in Salt Lake through his life, he has a lot of property interests there, he was responsible for bringing the Olympics to Salt Lake so even though he may not be a native or full time resident, he had burnished his Utah credibility to them. You also have to remember that this is Utah and the Mormon thing bears a ton of credibility there. It is like being Catholic on the West Side of Cincinnati, it means something.

If you go around looking to find offense and micro aggression in something you will find it. I tend to believe that the majority or rational people do not view things through the lens of race and gender and take it for what it is on the surface. The majority of people don't go around looking for some hidden dark meaning in a phrase or coded "dog whistle" meaning. They take it for what it is. As a matter of fact, I remember many years ago, Driehaus had campaign ads touting his families legacy on the West Side of Cincinnati much in the same vein that Chabot is doing here. This is just the lie of intersectionalism continuing to bleed itself into everyday conversation where people are so caught up in trying to be angry and miserable they look for offenses in everything and it creates a miserable existence.

Take it for what its worth. I take it as he did not grow up in Cincinnati and on the West Side which still is Chabot's bread and butter. He is from Greenville which really is not even Dayton. WHat he is saying is "I am from here, I am vested here, I will always be here, whereas, Aftab did not grow up here, and there is nothing that really will keep him here long term since he does not have that anchor of family in the local market" That is important in politics, especially in Cincinnati. Democrat or Republican, where you are from matters. People want to know that win or lose, their politicians will stay in the area. This is why the Dreihaus name carries so much weight and the Luken and Mallory names are so powerful. People like to know that if you lose the election you will not take off to Florida or DC or some other state where you can hang your political shingle out. That is what reasonates with people when you say that a candidate is not from here.

If he loses by 4-5 points it is a win for him. He will have a future and will stay relevant. Part of the negative barrage he is seeing now is to beat him up for future races. He still has the clerk job for 2 more years so that will keep him active in local politics. I doubt he runs in 2020 unless Chabot vacates the seat as the new lines are not drawn until 2021. I could see him running for county commission in 2020 for Portune's seat. I don't know how much longer he has left given his health issues. I could also see him taking on Deters in 2020. Cant see him doing city council, think he would feel that is beneath him. I don't think he would be satisfied or happy to stick in the clerk;s office for another term.

The hearing would have been sooner but Aftab tried to delay things with his appeals. He only has himself to blame on that one. This race is over. Aftab has pretty much imploded and he may cause a lot of down ballot statehouse races to go with him. It will be interesting to hear what happens at the hearing today since his campaign manager resigned yesterday and now is really under no obligation to tow the party line and can air a lot of dirty laundry.

They need to be able to make a solid return on their investment and have significant buyers who would be willing to buy the product in 3-5 years when the developer is looking to cash out. The one challenge with Cincinnati is that it does not attract the institutional investor that other peer cities do right now. This slows down development because there are less players in the market to buy the asset when the developer looks to cash out.

If it weren't for the Tribe, Cleveland sports would be a real dumpster fire.

The thing is they are 2-5-1 after 8 games. They could very easily be 6-2 if they got a few bounces and had a kicker who could make a field goal and that would include wins over Pitts and New Orleans. THis is better than Baltimore , Pitts or Cincinnati. If they were 6-2 there is a 90% chance of making the playoffs. Coming off an 0-16 season, this is positive momentum.

Been through this before, team implodes under interim coach. Bring in new hot commodity coach or whatever Browns can get in the offseason. New rebuilding for new scheme. Dumpster fire rages. 2 more pathetic years, start process over with new coach again. I still think the thing that set the team back the most was firing Chud after 1 season

Ben and Jerry shot a commercial endorsing Aftab for Congress. In some markets, they even unveiled specialty ice cream flavors for the candidate. This was a poor decision to get their endorsement since in Aftab's district, Ben and Jerry's is crap compared to the hometown brand.

Jake, if you are texting business matters from a personal phone that personal phone can then be subpoenaed into evidence which will open up a brand new can of worms.