Rando Sinclair

Did you add dual 600-foot buildings in this, and also is this Bedrock owned property? I say that because if you make those two buildings cylindrical, it would look like a mini-Ren Center (with SW in the background) from this angle. That would give Gilbert a little feel of Detroit in Cleveland.

I agree that there is a shortage of true marketable homes and that has pushed the cost of up on those and I agree there are also crap houses available (and also some non-crap houses that may be in more non-desirable neighborhoods) that are also available. But until a high percentage of those crap houses are absorbed (there are crap houses in all the hot markets that are selling above market), it will limit the sheer number of new building permits. I guess my overall point is that some markets, population growth more directly correlates to the number of new permits. In a city like Cleveland, growth could be occurring just as fast even if the number of new permits is twice as little since there are far more available housing units (that is what BOA's internal numbers seem to show). Plus, for building permits themselves, it would be interesting to see where the majority are going in different markets. My guess is the majority of permits in Cuyahoga County are within 5 miles of downtown; where as in say Austin they may be 10-15 miles out because they are still in the sprawl (or building out) portion of their growth. Cleveland seems to finally be at the rebuilding the core portion of its growth.

I'm not reading too much into the building permit numbers because unlike those other markets, metro Cleveland has a glut of existing homes that had been vacant that need to be filled before new ones are built. Once occupancy catches up there, I'm guessing that if the BOA numbers are accurate, is when you'll see an even bigger jump in new building permits.

Even before the relocation, the old headquarters was in southern Summit County, but since it had a North Canton mailing address it seems like most people lumped it in with Canton. That isn't exactly wrong considering it was across the street diagonally from Timken's HQ, which is in Stark County.

Looks like your question was answered as for why, which is something I suspected – lack of existing adequate rail available to make it a 3C-A-D corridor. I'm not railroad expert, but can follow where rail lines go on a map and it seems like there a a couple options for Akron to potentially be added down the line (probably way down the line ... after most of us are long gone). But there it appears there are two E-W lines that go through downtown Akron that have to intersect with the N-S 3C-D route. The one goes through NW Akron and then through Medina. The other goes more southwest through Barberton and then through Wadsworth and Rittman and into Lodi. I'm sure either would take significant upgrades to what would be 30-50 miles of track (since neither are straight shots), but it looks like there are a couple options to connect Akron (and then maybe even Canton and Youngstown even further down the road) into the main 3C-D line. It won't help for 3C-D, but Akron-Canton specifically could also be connected to the E-W lines through Cleveland via the CSVR. Again, probably too costly to ever gain traction in the near future, but it seems reasonable that if anything happens beyond just the 3C-D line, that Akron (since it would be the largest metro unserved) would be next up on any further expansion in some capacity.

Especially since they just set the market high AF on major sports franchise prices with the Milwaukee Bucks. Smart for them since they already "bought low" on an NFL team a decade ago. If the Bucks are valued at nearly 4 billion, the Browns (or any NFL team) should be double that. Sell off a 10-15 percent minority stake in the Browns and it should be the cash in hand to build a privately funded stadium. Yeah, it's more complicated than that and the Haslams will try to squeeze what they can out of this. But they are sitting on at least a couple billion on the Browns without losing controlling stake if they "need" cash to get a private stadium built. Its gonna be very hard for them to cry about not having the ability to finance a new stadium privately after they just paid what they did in with the Bucks. That's not to mention the potential profit (and the asset) owning your own stadium could (and likely would) bring.

This is me speculating by trying to piece things together. But could the team be looking to build a stadium way south ... like Lodi south? There is land all around the 71/76 interchange. 76 is convenient for the Akron and Youngstown areas. It also chips off 45 minutes from northern portions of Columbus, an area the Browns probably feel like they are losing their grip on. It would suck for everybody in Cuyahoga County, especialy eastsiders, but 271 does merge with 71 in Medina (10-15 miles north of 71-76). On top of that, there is the revived 3C corridor talks. Could a stop be added in that area if there would be plans to build a stadium way out there??? Again, just speculating and I would personally hate it, but the team did look to move to Strongsville in the 70s/80s (where South Park Mall now is), so "going south" wouldn't be a brand new idea.

You would know more than I would, but I was assuming that which part of town they are being directed toward leans on religious lines ... Ukrainian Jews likely being steered toward the eastern burbs where the bulk of the Jewish community is, and the Eastern Orthodox Ukrainians being steered toward Parma/Parma Heights and the SW burbs where the bulk of the existing Ukrainian community has been established. FWIW, I have a nephew in Parma City Schools and he said all three of the high schools have each seen a handful of new students from Ukraine since the start of the year. As for the city of Cleveland not getting any of the refugees so far isn't that big of an issue, IMO. The inner burbs also have a plenty of vacant housing themselves. I'm guessing the 3,000 or so who have already have been resettled – and those who will follow – have/will be going somewhere in Cuyahoga County. This region is still too caught up on municipal boundaries when my take is that even though they operate as their own fiefdoms, as long as the core 100-200 square miles around downtown are gaining residents, it's still healthy for the city/county/region in the long run. On another note, has anybody seen/read any updates on whether the area is still getting Afghan refugees? Last I saw the number was around 1,000, with the goal of it being 10,000. I think a goal for 10,000 Ukrainian refugees should also be attainable. The region also still seems to be a destination for Puerto Ricans leaving the island, though it seems like the big flux after Rita has leveled off. But I remember looking at some domestic migration data within the last year and from what I recall, metro Cleveland (though Lorain probably accounts for a large chunk there) was averaging something like a +1,000 per year inflow vs. those who were leaving to go back to the island. I think most people on here would love for Cleveland to suddenly turn into Atlanta/Houston/DFW, etc., and start picking up 10,000-plus immigrants a year, but that will take time. And if the region has added roughly 5,000-6,000 over the past two years (between Afghan, Ukrainians and a still steady flow of Puerto Ricans), that is a good start and help further the region's image in terms of future immigrants.

True, there.

Trump as a third party is music to my ears, lol. He would still get 20-25 percent of the vote with DeSantis around 25-30. That would all but guarantee that whoever is running on the Dem side wins in a landslide (in Ohio and nationally). Will the GOP controlled state governor certify the results in that scenario is a huge question? But that's a conversation that can be had in a couple years if that comes to be. Anyway, my take on 2024 is that either Trump or DeSantis are going to be hard to very hard beat in Ohio, regardless of the Dem presidential candidate. I'll counter that with that Sherrod Brown will also be hard to beat regardless of his GOP Senate opponent. I've been looking at the potential 2024 race for a while now and I think that regardless of whether it's only one of Trump/DeSantis on the presidential side and Brown on the Senate side that Trump/DeSantis may win the presidential race by a point or two and Brown wins the Senate race by a point or two. I still believe that if both sides are on their "A games", Ohio is still a very competitive state. Republicans have been on their "A game" and other than Brown, Dems have ran nothing but B and C teamers out there in statewide races (though part of that is Brown is their only "A" candidate). Though I think Emilia Sykes has a chance to be a rising star with her credentials. She checks off a lot of boxes when it comes to the type of Dem that can get the base to turn out. It'll be interesting to see what her plans for the future are.

I agree 2024 will be a huge barometer. On top of Sherrod Brown being on the ballot in the Senate race, it could also be with Trump on the presidential ticket (though I suspect it will be DeSantis). The results between the state's most popular GOP candidate (Trump) vs. the state's most popular Democratic candidate (Brown) would be the truest indication of how far red Ohio has turned ... if that comes to fruition.

Whaley easily is the weakest Dem governor candidate since Ed FitzGerald (FitzGerald before his implosion was still going to get routed) and she was running against a much tougher opponent. Whaley has very little name recognition in NE Ohio. On top of that, it seemed like DeWine was beating her in advertising up here by a 10-1 margin (even as of a couple days ago) even though the governor's race was never in doubt.

Completely disagree that Ryan did anything to help Kaptur, Sykes or Landsman. I know Kaptur absolutely outperformed him in her district and I'm going to take an educated guess that Landsman and Sykes also outperformed Ryan. Plus, none of those three districts really were longshots. OH-9 was redrawn to where it went something like +2/+3 for Trump in 2020. But Marcy Kaptur has a ton of support in Lucas and the counties along the lake (Ottawa, Sandusky, Erie). It was going to take a very good GOP candidate to oust her even if the "numbers" showed it to lean GOP. The GOP candidate was anything but a good candidate. OH-1 was one that had gone from +2/3 Trump to +2/3 Biden between 2016 and 2020. So, it had already been trending away from Chabot. While I didn't see that one coming, the only reason I thought Chabot could win was due to his incumbency. OH-13 was one that I never understood why all the pundits had it as a GOP lean. Even if using Trump's numbers in 2020, it still went +5/6 to Biden. Sykes was a very qualified candidate who has a well-known name, especially within the city of Akron. So, no, I don't think Tim Ryan had anything to do with those House races going blue.

Ryan didn't flip anything other than Lorain County. Look at the 2020 map (Trump +8) to the 2022 map (Vance +7), there was zero changes outside of Lorain going from +3 Trump to +2 Ryan. Even most of of the other 87 counties that stayed the same had margins that were like +/- 2/3 percent of what they were in 2020. What was similar in 2020 and 2022? It was the lack of votes from the two most populated and Democratic counties that moved the state from being competitive to +7/8 GOP at the top of the ticket. Once again Cuyahoga and Franklin lagged way behind ... though I don't think the Twitter guy's numbers are correct. Maybe if all three of Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton reached 55 percent, Ryan would have won. I'm guessing that would add up. It wasn't just Cleveland that had abysmal turnout. Almost predominately black precinct in Cuyahoga came in at 35 percent or less. Black voters go Democratic by a 90-10 margin and Ryan ignored them. And lets be real, for all the talk about how good of a campaign Tim Ryan was running, he dropped the ball a couple months ago when he went full "running as a Republican." He raised $50 million and spent nearly every last penny on constant ads for two straight months talking about how he "voted on trade with Trump"; testimonials from 60-year old white "Trump supporters" who don't trust Vance; and tossing around footballs with Bernie Kosar. He did virtually nothing to reach out to key Democratic demographics (those under 30, women, blacks) despite that record fundraising. I guess the ad with his wife about agreeing 7 out of 10 was his ad toward women ... As a Democrat, Vance turned that one around on him with the "he only agrees with his wife 7 out of 10 times, but with Joe Biden 100 percent of the time." That one landed hard, imo. I'll admit I was among those who thought Tim Ryan was best candidate for that race (assumed he could follow the Sherrod Brown map). He failed at that miserably. Not only did he not flip SE Ohio or rural NW Ohio to any significant degree (at least Brown was able to do that), he also alienated the key Democratic blocs (Brown gets them to the polls). ... Granted, Brown is a different situation but he's run a lot more progressive than what Biden and Ryan did the past two major elections. I think what 2020 and now 2022 show is that Republicans have a +7 or +8 advantage in Ohio as long as the Democrat at the top of the ticket is a Joe Biden or Tim Ryan type.

It's living high off the chitlins. I wish that was a clever joke.

Both Lakewood and Cleveland Heights had a higher percent of losses than Cleveland. According to these numbers, the only places in Cuyahoga County that have grown since 2020 are Olmsted Falls (+59), Berea (+42) and Orange (+14). The outer ring burbs (Westlake, North Olmsted, Strongsville, North Royalton, Broadview Heights, Brecksville, Solon, Mayfield, Mayfield Heights, Highland Heights) combined to lose 2,000. The inner burbs, according to the latest numbers, lost overall at as high or even higher percent than the city of Cleveland. I wouldn't read too much into these revised numbers. Estimates from 2010-2020 were about 40,000 off for Cuyahoga and looks like it's basically saying our estimates were better than the actual census count. Statistically, both counts were bad and Cleveland/Cuyahoga was undercounted more than anywhere in Ohio if you base if off of what was released about which groups were under/overcounted nationally. I also wouldn't worry about population, anyway. Metro Cleveland does have an older population, nothing it can control there. It's still in the cycle where naturally, they will die off (or retire and move to a warmer climate) at a faster pace. What the metro area can control is job creation. There, the Cleveland area is holding its own nationally and has been the top performing metro in Ohio in the last 1.5 years. First, I'll look at the 3Cs in the 2020 census period (which ran from roughly March 2009 to March 2019). In that period, job growth, by metro, was: 1. Columbus - 171,400 2. Cincinnati - 113,400 3. Cleveland - 61,100 Cleveland was clobbered by the other two and way behind nationally. Since the new census period, starting April 2019 to present, the numbers stand: 1. Columbus - 5,700 2. Cincinnati - -19,800 3. Cleveland - -27,900 The pandemic killed the numbers for all three, though Columbus was still able to stay slightly in the positive overall. Since the pandemic (April 2020 is when every metro in the country took huge losses), it's: 1. Columbus - 149,000 2. Cincinnati - 140,500 3. Cleveland - 133,800 Columbus still has gained the most since the pandemic (April 2020) and is 0.89% above its pre-pandemic total ... Cleveland is -0.66% and Cincinnati is -1.24% below. So, Columbus is still doing better, but it's not like Columbus is way ahead of its pre-pandemic numbers or Cleveland or Cincinnati are way behind in just getting back to even. Since the start of 2021 (last 16 months), it's: 1. Cleveland - 49,100 2. Columbus - 36,400 3. Cincinnati - 32,900 Year-over-year (April 2021 to April 2022), it's: 1. Cleveland - 28,800 2. Columbus - 25,100 3. Cincinnati - 15,400 Long story short, Cleveland is doing ok, especially considering where it had been, even if it may not translate to population gains in the short term.

If Ryan outperforms Sherrod Brown in SEO, then he will win the election. Brown didn't win any counties south of Mahoning, but he kept them close (unlike in 2016 and 2020 where Trump steamrolled that area). Ryan will do well in the Mahoning Valley and should get much of the Brown supporters in NE Ohio and along the lake over to Toledo. Franklin is about as blue as Cuyahoga at this point so he should run up a margin there; Hamilton is increasingly getting more blue so he should be able to get some separation there, even though it's Vance's backyard. Rural areas outside of SEO have always been huge GOP areas so that will draw Vance closer, but he'll likely need the SEO vote in Trump like numbers to pull in front. I see why almost everybody has Ryan as the underdog (some places have it solid Republican) based on recent elections. But recent elections don't don't really tell the whole story as to why Ohio has been trending red. Obviously, the biggest is that Trump is the most popular (also the most hated) politician in Ohio. His support though outweighs those who hate him. And since the 2010 election when Kasich narrowly defeated Strickland (by 77,000 votes), it set the table for the recent GOP wave. Kasich's win gave the GOP all three branches of the state government, which allowed them to control the redistricting process that resulted in Ohio's 12-4 House map (not one House seat has changed since those maps went into place). Kasich's win also set the table for the last decade's crop of state legislators ...DeWine, Husted, Yost, Mandel, etc., who all won races along with Kasich in 2010 and have moved up the ladder as either incumbents or as close to incumbents as you can get. The Trump phenomenon strengthened Ohio trending red, but Sherrod Brown showed in 2018 that there still is a blue map to navigate in Ohio. It's a map that Ryan, due to his background, can emulate. Granted, 2018 was a Democratic year nationally (DeWine narrowly won re-election that year ... kind of why he straddled the Covid fence straying from other GOP governors before walking his way to the right on the issue), but Ohio still is a state that has a ton of voters (mainly along Lake Erie and then into Southeast Ohio) who will vote for whichever candidate they feel they can relate to over party. Scrolling at past election results by county shows that. It's easy to see that there were tens of thousands of voters who went Obama in 2012, Trump in 2016, Sherrod Brown (Senate race in 18) and Trump in 2020. Whoever can capture those votes wins this race. Ryan has the advantage in being "relatable" to those voters, plus he will have a big ally on his side in Sherrod Brown. Vance will try to relate to the Applachian voters in SE Ohio, but like Yabo alluded to, will those voters relate to him or see him as a candidate that has exploited his roots for personal gain? Will touting "Applachian roots" relate to the working class voters in NE Ohio and along the lake who for the most part aren't Appalachian, especially when Tim Ryan is pretty much one of them. Vance also has the Trump factor, but he is not Trump. True, Tim Ryan also isn't Sherrod Brown. But Brown will likely hit the trail hard for Ryan if it's a close race, I can see Trump abandoning support to Vance, unless he sees it being a shoe-in. If it is tracking close, Trump will hedge and distance himself from Vance (see just a couple weeks ago when Trump said he supported J.D. Mandel just before the primary). If Vance then loses, Trump will call him a loser who talked bad about him in the past and never was a true MAGA, which is why he stopped supporting him. If he still wins, Trump will then call Vance something like a "true fighter and patriot" and act as if he never hedged that bet.

@LlamaLawyerI agree with your assessment. Just to add a couple of things. Ohio 13th - I agree that Akron turnout will by key and Sykes is the best candidate to bring that vote out. The Sykes name is well known. On a more macro level, the fact Sykes is from Summit County and Gesiott-Gilbert is from Stark County plays into the favor of Dems. Summit County, since it has been split three ways for the past 20-something years, has only been represented in the U.S. House by Betty Sutton (2006-2012), and her district was only the southwest portion of the county. So, it's really been 22 years since Summit County had a representative who would cover most of the county. That is something she/Dems should drill home, and I expect money will be pumped into this race. IMO, this will remain a slight Dem lean district for however long it stays, but a moderate GOP candidate from Summit County could make this one a true toss-up. FWIW, Biden won this district by about 12,000 votes in 2020 and Sherrod Brown won it by +20 (around 50,000) in 2018. Ohio 9th - Again, I agree. While this one based off the 2020 Trump map was +3 GOP (Trump beat Biden by 11,000 votes districtwide), based on the 2018 Sherrod Brown map, it was +19 Dem (Brown beat Renacci by more than 45,000 votes). Kaptur is closer to Brown than what Majewski is to Trump. Kaptur should be able to motivate her base and due to her history, especially on Lake Erie issues, will play well in Ottawa, Sandusky and Erie counties. Once Kaptur retires, this one very well could flip, but it's one that Kaptur can hold onto this year. Ohio 1st - While I think Chabot holds on, I also agree that this one will flip at some point. Though, I would argue that Dems have a better shot at flipping this one this year and making it a 10-5 map, than the GOP has in the 9th or 13th. With Chabot being a moderate and a pretty popular incumbent, he probably holds onto what is a light blue district and one that has continued to shift more blue in recent years (unlike the 9th or 13th that have been shifting from solid blue to light blue (13th) to slight red (9th).

At the US House level, not one seat has changed in Ohio in the last 10 years because the state was controlled at all three levels after the 2010 election when Kasich beat Strickland in the governor's race by 77,000 votes (49-47 percent). That gave the GOP all the power to ram through gerrymandered maps at the US level and even more gerrymandered maps than before at the state level. Consider that Kasich rode in the group of DeWine, Husted, Yost, etc. (all then either incumbents or essentially incumbents moving one step up the ranks who have had a major advantage), there has not been much accountability... though part of that is also on Dems for running out some awful candidates in the same timeframe.

That is correct. Not just in the gubernatorial race, but across the board GOP turnout was WAY higher. But it's hard to read too much into that at this point because the the GOP US Senate primary was by far the most high profile race. The implications there were of general election proportions. There wasn't anything like that on the Dem side. Whaley vs. Cranley ... and even DeWine vs. Renacci/cowboy guy ... was small potatoes compared to that race, though turnout in the Senate race assuredly bled over to the GOP gubernatorial primary. The Dem US Senate primary was set in stone as soon as Ryan put his name in the hat. Ryan sure wasn't wasting any bullets on a primary. Not sure about Whaley-Cranley in the rest of the state, but there were very few ads in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton area that I saw, and the ones I remember were from Cranley (touting Cincinnati's population growth vs. Dayton's). I don't remember seeing any Whaley TV ads (though I'm a streamer who mainly watches sporting events as "live" TV).

Sorry to quote myself, but this should be something that Tim Ryan can jump on. After reading the Vance text message, if he stuck to that stance, it is actually something that would resonate for the majority of Ohioans. Then again, the only thing I would really pick apart is the "maybe" even working class black voters. What's the maybe about that??? You reach out to just working class Ohioans in general and you'll do pretty well both philosophically and politically. But then, you are basically subscribing to the Sherrod Brown/Tim Ryan platform (which has proven to be pretty popular in this state).

In a sane world (even a sane political world) you can't. But I'm sure it will be spun that: A) that is really how he still feels ... to the anti-Trump Republicans B) that is how he used to feel ... to the Trump crowd. The people who subscribe to B probably like him even more. To a reasonable person, he is now either fully in the B category or he is in the C category. C) He's gone full Mandel and because he has no spine will do/say whatever it takes to contort himself into whatever fits his political agenda ... So yeah, if the shoe fits. Way to go full Mandel, JD.

I apologize for that gaffe, I don't know why I thought the Dolans were Jewish. While faith is not a factor for me, I understand how it can be for many voters and I did not mean to spread false information. Granted I'm a Democrat, but I agree with the sentiment that Dolan is far and away the best choice (regardless of faith) out of a cesspool of Republican candidates in this primary. He would be the most Portman (pre-2021) candidate, but I doubt he can survive the primary. Though, if I was part of the still relatively large establishment portion of the Ohio GOP, I would urge Jane Timken to get out of the race and try to consolidate her support into Dolan's. Then, there is a shot since it probably will only take 30% or so to win. As far as flipping over to R to vote Dolan, count me out as well because the D governor race is too important, IMO, and one that I've personally have not decided on who to support.

My interpretation is that Trump sees Tim Ryan as a formidable opponent to any Republican candidate in the field and he's banking on the one who, if his guy can out Trump the others in the primary ... and an endorsement goes a long way in that ... has the best shot H2H against Ryan, who already has good name recognition, and due to his stature as a 6-4, 240 pound ex D1 football player from the Mahoning Valley, will have that tough guy look to those who aren't familiar with him. This is putting myself in whoever is advising Trump's shoes: 1. Mandel - As mentioned above, he's hated (for good reason). He can play up his military service, but he's as phony as a three-dollar bill. He's the type that (as evidence when he one his treasurer race) that can ride the coattails, but can't be the face of the party, which he would be this year (see him getting destroyed in 2012 by Sherrod Brown and then dropping out in 2018, where Renacci lost by Trump-like margins to Brown). On top of that, let's call a spade a spade, Mandel is Jewish and from Beachwood. That doesn't necessarily play up to the blue collar and evangelical base in SE and West Central Ohio. I agree, he is by far the weakest candidate in a general against somebody like Ryan who can (and likely will) play off that he is Sherrod Brown, but more physically imposing. 2. Jane Timken - She has the charisma of a rock. It's a coin flip between her and Mandel who is Ryan's easiest opponent. 3. Matt Dolan - He hasn't bent the knee for Trump so he was never going to get the Trump endorsement, though he, to his credit, has never campaigned for it. His problem is, IMO, is that he is also Jewish (and from a billionaire family) so again, it's going to be hard for him against Ryan to capture the portion of the Republican base needed to win. And to his credit, he's not a complete scumbag (like Mandel) who will stoop to the lowest denominator to pander, but just don't see him playing well enough to bring the votes out like Trump did in order to beat somebody like Ryan. 4. Mike Gibbons - Honestly, I had no clue he was even polling as well as he has been since he has the least name recognition. Maybe he actually would be the most Trumpy candidate (especially when his "Gibbons for US Senate" bus blew by me and dozens of other cars at 70 MPH the other week trying to merge onto I-71 at Snow Road during a downpour when traffic was going about 45 MPH was a total Trump move). I don't see him having the name recognition to being able to beat Ryan (plus, it's moot because I would be stunned if he wins the primary without the Trump endorsement). 5. JD Vance - That leaves him as the last-man standing. While he has flip flopped and sunk to Mandel-level lows there, he has a couple of things in his favor. He's not from Cuyahoga County (or Greater Cleveland); he's not Jewish (that's not a knock to me but I'm also not an evangelical, or even a practicing Christian); and he has done a great job being able to deflect being venture capitalist (which plays well with the establishment) instead being known for "Hillbilly Elegy" (which plays well with the blue-collar Trump voters). If the Trump endorsement can push him past the others in the primary field, he would have the best shot at knocking of Ryan. It may sound crazy that I'm saying Tim Ryan would be the favorite over four of the five Republicans in the field, but the Trump endorsement of Vance, I would argue, shows just that and that he is a candidate that they are taking very seriously. Tim Ryan checks off a lot of boxes for blue collar workers (except the D by his name). But as Sherrod Brown has shown, that D by the name isn't automatic defeat. You can come back to this, but I'll make a guarantee. Whoever wins the Republican nomination will refuse to debate Tim Ryan. No way a party that's whole image is based on tough-guy talk and rhetoric is going to get emasculated by Ryan. Instead, they will stick to proxy rhetoric via ads. If Timken somehow were to win, she won't debate him either. Not due to being emasculated, but rather because you would have to check her pulse to see if she is still breathing. ... low energy, lol.

Exactly, to be transparent I'm a Dem (left leaning socially though more toward the middle fiscally, so understand how that is a bit of a contradiction), but I just do not get the Trump loyalty either. He has the party (and his followers) fooled. It's crazy how much I have defended Kasich the last couple years to so-called Republicans. It's really up to people like you, if you really are a middle-of-the ground "reasonable" Republican to take that stand against MAGA and take the party back, not let it be run to the ground only to defend it by saying "you have to cater to the base."