Salon reports on the importance of Ohio in the election. It seems things have gotten pretty bad there in the ten + years I've been gone:
Despite 270,000 lost jobs in the last three years, the Republican-controlled state has focused on culture-war, wedge issues, such as a year-long debate to allow "intelligent design" to be taught in Ohio's public schools as an alternative to evolution; enacting one of the most far-reaching gay marriage bans in the country (which also prevents unmarried heterosexual state employees from extending benefits to their domestic partners); making it legal to carry a concealed weapon; and introducing a resolution to declare the Ten Commandments the moral foundation of Ohio's government. As one Cleveland city councilman told Cleveland Scene, an alternative weekly paper, "The Dukes of Hazzard have taken over Columbus. Next thing you know, we'll be installing outhouses."
[Ok, that last bit is funny but derogatory; besides, it's not like it's all the Southern Ohioans who are the conservative ones, affected by their proximity to West Virginia and Kentucky. There are incredibly conservative communities in the greater Cleveland area, which is strongly Catholic. So the right turn isn't all from some encroachment by "southern" or rural attitudes.]
Posted by Heather at August 23, 2004 12:56 PM
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