Xennady, what you're describing is a result of the repeal campaign being anchored in an $800,000 union signature drive, followed by the ballot issue being worded such that "Yes" supports the bill as opposed to supporting repeal. We always vote "No" on things we're unsure of, and the unions are spending $30 million to sow fear & confusion.

With the exception of our squish Secretary of State, the Ohio Republican Party has been forceful about Issue 2 / Senate Bill 5... but unions parrot angry talking points for a living. Every public teacher, firefighter, cop, and paper-pusher has received a steady stream of union hysterics since before the bill was completed... and of course taxpayers like Scott and me will be blamed when the lack of reform leads to widespread layoffs.

Thanks for your help, Scott - I'm with you on that last bit, too. Wednesday could be a depressing day if the polling (which is notoriously dicey for ballot issues) is any indicator!

Saw a few minutes of Roseanne on The Early Show last weekend, and I could hardly believe it. My shock was dampened when I realized the topic was not, "holy Moses, look at what a spiteful loon this woman is." Further evidence that the producers of network morning show puff-pieces are unfamiliar with Google.

This, ladies and gents, is just one example of why government union reform is so important for Ohio! My (virtual) voice is running ragged shouting this from the rooftops, so I apologize for being a broken record; here's the skinny on Senate Bill 5. Tell your Ohio friends, or your friends who have Ohio friends, or anyone who could help voters wade through the union B.S. in the Buckeye State!

I'd add one question, which I asked earlier on the Member Feed - will the Justice Department staff who wrote the memo justifying these killings be demonized as John Yoo was for supporting "torture?" After all, it seems killing someone is worse than torture - scare quotes or none!

Thanks, Good Berean - done!

I've got issues with some of the Perry faults Michelle Malkin and other have highlighted over the past few weeks - but that's leaps and bounds different from, "Might as well keep Obama."

Romney is hardly a saint where conservative principles are concerned. Either would be much, much better than a second Obama term.

If the White House is expecting a November union victory in Ohio to billow Obama's sails going into 2012, I'm going to politely disagree.

Tommy, how dare you draw attention to the implicit "During a Democrat presidency..." at the start of that sentence!

What's Ray Nagin up to these days? Still pawning himself off as something other than an abject failure, with the acquiescence of media know-it-alls who will never let blame shift from Dubya?

Godspeed! You (and any Ricochet folks in the path of The Storm) stay safe - and I hope the damage doesn't get much worse!

I demand to know why Paul Krugman isn't burning down his mansion(s) and taking a sledgehammer to his luxury automobile(s) for the sake of the economy. I thought he and the rest of the NYT editorial page cared, unlike those Wall Street fat-cats!

I disagree. For one, I haven't got much time for wonkery - politics as a hobby means I can rarely read anything longer than a magazine article if I want to have a clue of what's happening nationally while fighting for reform in Ohio. Doubt I'm the only one in this boat!

Second, do we want a soaring orator? Anyone with a lick of sense should see that reading well from a prompter in a stadium is the last thing America needs more of. Watch some of Ryan's defenses of the Path to Prosperity again, and you'll see a guy who comes across as friendly and incredibly knowledgeable - not easy things to do when you're in front of a camera, across a table from a reporter desperate to kneecap you.

In fairness, is there any GOP candidate who won't be smeared the same way?

Romney does nothing for most of the base in addition to getting branded as a corporate stooge with a dash of weird religion; Bachmann's already receiving the Palin treatment; Perry will be portrayed as the bigoted second coming of Chimpy McBushitler. All of the above will face the same Mediscare fire hose, because "Party of No wants to kill granny" is the perfect chaser to "I'm going to give you everything, for free."

I have trouble imagining a better environment for Paul Ryan: President Obama continues spouting Keynesian nonsense at every campaign stop, while the wreckage of Keynesian policies is still smouldering around us.

Ryan's brief videos about the Path to Prosperity are utterly devastating - see here and here - and the media blitz accompanying his budget plan would have been an ideal time for the Left to drudge up mud on him if any existed. He's also consistently supported closing tax loopholes as part of a wider reform, which strikes me as common sense "independents" can recognize.

For awhile I agreed that "we need Congressman Ryan too much," but what good is a rock-solid House Committee on the Budget when the Senate has no interest in passing one?

America needs to take its medicine now, not in another several years. I think a wide swath of the electorate is more receptive to that fact than we're giving them credit for... and as a conservative with little enthusiasm for the current pool, a Ryan candidacy would get me excited for our chances!

Bias Alert: I'm not from Wisconsin, but did attend Miami University about a decade after Ryan.

Comments here suggest I should find time to watch the entire speech... I've seen the commercial, which is pretty great with a couple hokey moments (near the end, profile shot of Perry, Perry turns dramatically to stare down the camera - I'll admit, I laughed).

I don't share the pessimism about attacks on Texas. Dubya, with a few glowing exceptions, had a bungling manner that made it easy to land sophomoric jabs at his intelligence. If Perry is really the sharp politician my first impression suggests, he should be able to knock down that narrative with well-placed retorts. Lord knows President Obama and the Democratic Party offer a wealth of comic possibilities!

What does bum me out is the continued talk of Romney as our only hope. In general I think "big tent" arguments leave the GOP with a mess of canvas and no solid stakes. The eventual nominee will be savaged by Obama and the media no matter what; give me a reliable conservative who can communicate principles without being abrasive on the touchy stuff! If Perry can walk that line, all the better.

Why, because Krugman is such a moderate! If he were a leftist nut-job he would demand twenty or thirty times as much!