Stop the presses -- Toledo's own Samuel Joseph "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher has formally "endorsed" Sen. John McCain for President.
Since his accidental encounter with Sen. Barack Obama, Mr. Wurzelbacher hasn't yet met a microphone he doesn't love. He's got the conservative GOP talking points down pat, and he's said that he's considering his own run for public office. His world-view seems to be informed exclusively by the voices emanating from the dashboard of his plumbing truck, so naturally he's become a populist darling.
I love the fact that Mr. Wurzelbacher is seizing his moment in the national spotlight, really I do. He's no smarter than me, or my neighbor, or my spawns' school-bus driver -- but he's smart enough to have realized that if he's going to be a tool, he might as well take full advantage of the moment.Hughes uses hues
Here on the north side of Columbus, Republican state Rep. Jim Hughes is facing attorney Danielle Blue in the race for the 16th District's vacant State Senate seat. Ms. Blue has the endorsement of popular Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, and she'd seem to have the perfect surname for a Democrat.
The GOP candidate is running a television ad questioning Ms. Blue's lack of experience -- no surprise there, but the spot uses his opponent's name in a rather creative way. "Blue" is displayed in large, gold block letters and outlined in dark blue -- to citizens of Buckeye Nation, that's a clear reference to the maize-and-blue of hated Michigan.Rep. Hughes appears later in the commercial clad in a red -- er, scarlet -- sweater, chatting up four young people dressed conspicuously in Ohio State garb.
It's hilarious -- and it just might work, because in this neck of the woods, accusing a political opponent of official corruption isn't nearly as lethal as linking them to the University of Michigan.
