Columbus Dispatch: Obama signs are hot property

Columbus Dispatch: Obama signs are hot property

Obama yard sign theft has finally passed the threshold of press visibility, so the Columbus Dispatch did some calling around to see the extent of the problem.

As was the case in 2004 and 2006, Democratic candidate yard signs are being stolen at many times the rate as their Republican counterparts. In UA's case, it's around 100:1.

Again this year Democrats are going to great lengths to protect their signs. Bob Krasen (photo on right) of Blenheim Road in Clintonville has had three Obama signs stolen this year. According to the Dispatch article, "He added a cow bell to the third one as an alarm, but both the sign and the bell were taken. Now he has made a permanent sign and planted it in his yard."

Several UAPA members have had their signs stolen multiple times, others as part of the mass theft operation mentioned in the Dispatch story.

There have been many sign thefts over the past several weeks. We encourage you to take your sign in at night and place it prominently in your yard in the morning.

Remember if your sign is stolen:

1. Request a replacement sign from UAPA free of charge. Don't let the vandals and thieves silence your voice!
2. Put your address on the inside of the sign in case your stolen sign is recovered.
3. Consider donating to UAPA to help defray the costs of new and replacement signs.

Wednesday, September 24th: Meet the Candidates' Night 2008

Join your neighbors at Leadership UA's annual Candidates' Night. WBNS 10 TV's John Fortney will be moderating the candidates's forum to encourage and facilitate dialogue within our community.

Leadership UA has invited the candidates for the following races to participate:

• US House of Representatives, 15th District, Mary Jo Kilroy and Steve Stivers
• Ohio Senate, 16th District, Danielle R. Blue and Jim Hughes
• Ohio House, 24th District, Ted Celeste and Tim Rankin

6 to 7 PM-Informal open house in the lobby of Upper Arlington High School, 1650 Ridgeview Road. Candidates have been invited to be present and provide information to the public at this open house.

7 to 9 PM -Candidates' Forums in the high school auditorium.

Palin hiding from the press: Day 24

The Washington Post notes the historically unprecedented attempt by a vice-presidential nominee to hide from press accountability:

Mr. McCain's selection of an inexperienced and relatively unknown figure was unsettling, and the campaign's decision to keep her sequestered from serious interchanges with reporters and voters serves only to deepen the unease. Mr. McCain is entitled to choose the person he thinks would be best for the job. He is not entitled to keep the public from being able to make an informed assessment of that judgment. Ms. Palin's speech-making skills are impressive, but the more she repeats the same stump speech lines, the queasier we get. Nor have her answers to the gentle questioning she has encountered provided any confidence that Ms. Palin has a grasp of the issues.

There are only a few weeks to go before the United States may pick a potential president who has never given a press conference as a candidate for national office. This is not a functioning democracy.

And McCain is even worse: 40 days since his last press conference.

Read more here.

Saturday Night Live, Round 2

Graphing Lessons: Who's getting tax relief?

Justin Wolfers posts competing charts on the candidates' tax plans. Chartjunk's is adjusted for the actual contribution to revenues. Click here to see an enlarged version.

Dumbing down the VP debate

From the NY Times:

At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

You've got to be kidding, right? We are now rigging the debate formats to compensate for a know-nothing candidate drilled in meaningless talking points? And the Obama team agreed to this? And so did the press?

May we suggest

• Huffington Post: Dirty Secret Of The Bailout: Thirty-Two Words That None Dare Utter
• Olbermann video: Olbermann Gives $100 To Charity For Every Palin Lie, $3700 This Week Alone