Welcome to Firedoglake! Glad to have you join us today.

Welcome Mary Jo. We should have met you long ago. Our community’s ideals and your own fir hand in glove. I can’t wait to hear an update on the vote count in the race. What’s happened so far this week? We just heard that when Eric Massa’s opponent demanded a recount, Eric’s margin increased tremendously.

Thank you so very much for having me. Howie, you are too kind!

Well first, we aren’t in recount QUITE yet. This is just an extention of a long election night! There are still so many ballots that need to be counted and I am confident that with only a 149 margin between me and my opponent, that when those votes are counted, I will be going to Washington!

you are a breath of fresh air. thanks for helpin. we need it.

Hi Mary Jo,
pulling for you!

Jan Schakowsky and Sherrod Brown are great compatriots.

Welcome to FDL Ms Kilroy (as I flash on visions of the old WWII cartoons of ‘Kilroy was here’)

And what are we going to think about you falling down on the job like this Howie? Aren’t you supposed to work 23.5 hours a day? :})

Thursday night the Republicans on behalf of Steve Stivers showed that they were scared that this election is over and filed suit over some provisional ballots with the Ohio Supreme Court, trying to skip lower courts to a 7-0 Republican controlled court.

want to know if you have been contacted by rahm or the bama team?

thanks for the kind words Elliott, California and Dakine, he’s helping today! So cut him a break! hahaha

We had the honor of working very close with the Obama team here in Central Ohio and they were a true joy to work with. I am so excited about the promise that this new administration holds and I really want to be in Washington to help President-elect Obama pass his agenda in Congress.

What happened when they ran to the Republican judges?

Welcome Mary Jo! Never too late.

congratulations, your victory is a huge boon for progressives.

Your description in the post above, about getting the voters who cast provisional/disqualified ballots back to the county clerk’s office (or wherever they needed to go) to correct the discrepancies in their IDs sounds incredible. How many folks are you talking about, that were in this situation?

maryjo,

we need you to standup for us in dc. it will not be easy. the place is a cesspool. good luck.

Just teasing Howie a little. He does a wonderful job of finding good people from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party that we tend to notice when someone gets missed the first couple of passes.

Well there is some good news to report. The lawyers moved the case to the U.S. District Court because of federal issues pertaining to the provisional ballots. They held a hearing this morning and we are waiting for the judge to rule. We could hear as early as Monday.

The Helping America Vote Act prohibits votes from being discarded based on poll worker error and many of the ballots that Republicans are contesting clearly fall in that category. This is nothing more than Republicans trying to disenfranchise voters.

Mary Jo, so glad you’re here! I’m in OH-18 and I’m hoping you will win.

Digg

That has become a hallmark of teh modern GOP– how to disenfranchise more and more voters. It makes me feel violent.

I remember you telling me that the final count might start today. Will it or does that have to wait now until the DC District Court rules on Stivers’ latest trick?

There were about 27,000 countywide, about half of those in the 15th Congressional District….so the potential pool of votes needing to be cured was huge! Most of these votes have been “cured” except those that are subject to the lawsuit or a very small amount that had fatal flaws such as the voter wasn’t actually registered.

what do you need from us? is that too bold a question here?

Mary Jo, do you know yet how many votes Obama took in the district compared to McCain?

They are currently counting absentees and overseas votes. They are also checking the machine counts again to make sure there were no dropped votes. On Monday we think they will start with cleared provisionals. We will wait to hear what the judge says on disputed provisionals.

California,

We have had to keep our campaign running and add a team of lawyers on top of it. So really, we need help from Blue America to keep the lights on. I would love it if you could make a small donation over on our act blue page at http://www.actblue.com/pages/kilroycountsvotes

I covered it in the intro but the campaign needs financial support to keep their operation going and to make sure the GOP doesn’t steal this one in the count (and, potentially, the re-count). This is the special ActBlue site for contributions.

done.

Do you have any thoughts on the best way to deliver universal health care?

Howie,

I don’t but Obama did very well in Franklin County and lost both Madison and Union significantly. The areas of Columbus I would represent in Congress include areas like Ohio State University, the Short North and German Village and Clintonville which have a vibrant progressive community.

sorry, i just skimmed the intro. no offense. all done maybe it will help.

A Tech note for MaryJo and others:

If you want to reply to a specific comment, you can click on the little ”Reply” icon just underneath that comment (to the right). That will bring you down to the ”leave your response” box, with a line that says ”replying to XXX @ ##” above the place where you enter your comment. Once you’ve entered your reply, hit ”submit comment” and your response will have the ”In response to XXX @ ##” attached to it.

First off, we need to clearly state that universality is our goal. It is reprehensible that 46 million Americans continue to do without health care and even those who have it continue to fear losing their job, or having a pre-existing condition that would strip them of their insurance.

What is staggering here in Franklin County, that large health care bills have contributed to our foreclosure crisis. We’ve seen many instances where huge health care bills have pushed people into foreclosure and bankruptcy.

One of the ideas that must be explored in order to lower costs and ensure universality would be a single payer plan. One, but not the only.

Thanks Peter! That makes it much easier!

Mary Jo, this is a tough question and one that I’ve thought about for years– although not particularly about OH-15 of course. After you become a member of Congress, how will you relate to the folks in Union and Madison Counties who seem to be much more reactionary, for whatever reason, than the folks in Franklin County? I keep seeing Democrats who get elected start soft-peddling progressive ideas to appease that part of the electorate. Carol Shea-Porter refused to do it and had a tough re-election race this year (although she prevailed and won by a greater margin than she did originally in 2006). But so many Democrats just seem to get frightened and start catering to Republican voters the way Nick Lampson and Don Cazayoux did– not that that saved them. Both were defeated.

I always admire politicians who actually try to educate their constituents rather than being afraid of them.

Thank you so much California, the help is so very much appreciated.

My pleasure.

Now if only it were that easy to get votes tabulated correctly . . . Good luck to you!

Done. Thank you and good wishes for your future in Washington.

well, ya know, in politics that means YOU OWE ME. :) I could remind you of your commitments from time to time IF you wander. :)

From the post:

As a county commissioner, she was in the forefront of fighting for clean energy vehicles and quality contracting standards that made companies treat their workers fairly before they could be eligible for contracts.

I’d love to see this at the federal level, too.

Mary Jo, which committees would you like to be assigned to, if/when you finally win this race?

You are absolutely right Howie, the people in those counties are concerned about their healthcare and retirement. They are worried about jobs and the financial meltdown just like we are. There is a large auto plant in Union County where a lot of employees are worried it could close or relocate. Just like the Honda Motorcycle plant did.

Many long time farm families are worried about the arrival of factory farms in their communities. In Union County they are trying to bring in a CAFO which would add 8 million chickens into a 3 mile area. In Madison, they want to being a dairy CAFO.

Farm communities out there know that their way of life is at risk. They also know that the policies that I would support in Washington would go along way to ensuring that their farms could be handed down to their children if they want, or that their water and air quality won’t be diminished by these huge facilities. In 2006 Jay Inslee from WA and I did a green energy roundtable with farmers. I want to show farmers our there that they can benefit from a new green economy. Wind turbines on their land, controlled by them or using biomass just to name two. In the end, what we have in common will be more important to them then whatever differences we may have.

That has always been the difference between me and my opponent! I will go to washington to represent you, while he would represent big banks, big oil and big insurance companies.

For those who aren’t up on the acronym:

CAFO = Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation

Well Peter,

First I’m committed to the most important committee right now, Kilroy Counts Votes Committee so I can get there.

I have a lot of interest in Health Care and Green energy policies, so ideally I would want to serve on a committee that ideally would deal with one of those issues.

Thank you so much for your support Dennis!!

for the acronym challenged like me:

CAFO = Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

Hello Mary Jo, it’s an honor to be able to contact you this way. I live abroad, but OH-15 is my district in the US, and I sure am glad that I got my absentee vote in on time. Both this election and the one two years ago really go to show that every last vote certainly matters. Your chances for success mean an awful lot to me, because I have never been represented by a Democrat in the House, ever in my life. I think you’ll be able to do it this time, and I’ll be glad that you’ll be the one to break the blockade. It would make me proud to know that my vote helped you get there.

Just so that this comment is a question: how do you go about straddling the great political differences in the district? As Howie Klein mentioned, OH-15 includes very progressive parts of Columbus, including the fabulously liberal German Village, where my US address is, and the students at Ohio State, but also all of deep red Madison and Union counties. Do you have to put on two different faces when you’re campaigning in different places? How do you maintain a single, coherent political identity, and still appeal to very different constituencies? Debbie Pryce did it by being a stodgy old Upper Arlington conservative, pretending to be a moderate to assuage the progressives, but ultimately going along with everything that DeLay and Bush wanted. Seems to me that the trick will be a bit harder for a Democrat.

It’s so important to try. It depresses me that these people, who are so at risk when standard Republican ideology gets translated into policy, still went and voted for McCain (and Stivers, John Boehner’s handpicked candidate– and a banking lobbyist to boot!) It never ceases to amaze me. Come up with a way of getting the fog out of their eyes and you’ll be a national hero.

i know and that is why there is no other choice. call me if you need me. :)

I’m a pastor in the Kansas City MO area, and have noticed a huge growth in wind power among farmers in neighboring Kansas. They’ve figured out how to blend energy production with their farming operations, with good results for everyone!

First of all, thanks so very much for getting that vote in, I will serve you well in Washington! And thanks for bringing up the fact that this district has been red for so long. Since 1955, it’s only been held by a Democrat for 4 years!

Campaigning with two faces never works. You can’t be all things to all people. You must be true to yourself and your beliefs. I think many voters have a respect for authenticity even if they don’t agree with you. At the end of the day, Madison and Union county residents will see from my actions that I have their interests at heart and they will recieve something they haven’t gotten in many years, quality constituent services. I want to make sure my office is open and accessible to Madison and Union.

This is great to read, Mary Jo. I believe that Obama is urban-focused, and that pressure to tend to rural issues will have to come from Congress in his administration.

I live about a mile from an Iowa hog operation, and it really reeks when the wind is right. We are ruining quality of life in rural areas with these things, and they are helping to make our rivers putrid with runoff from fields after the manure is spread. And never mind what the animals experience so we can have $3 pork.

People in rural areas are among the invisible, as HRC called them. But we are being hit hard by the crash of the economy just like everyone else.

what do they use the power for? is it to pump water? animals, crops?

It’s a rather simple formula Howie,

They haven’t had someone truly looking out for their interests in so long that they don’t even remember what it’s like to have government work for them! All they have is so many years of Republican rhetoric. We need to change the discourse in the media, challenge the Fox News types of the world and this blog is part of that. So much credit can be given to you and the netroots for our recent successes.

I had a chance to tour the area where the chicken farm is supposed to go and there is a wonderful neighborhood group up there that is taking on the CAFO head on. Some of them went out to Iowa to visit a chicken CAFO out there and were stunned by what they heard from people in the community, including elected officials.

Rural voters deserve the same attention that urban voters do, and in Congress I will be a Representative for the entire district, not just downtown Columbus.

Feeding the power grid.

These are enormous wind turbines, scattered across central Kansas farmland — including one large installation of them right along I-70 as you drive from Topeka to Denver.

The beauty of it, from the farmer’s perspective, is that they can plant their wheat (or whatever) right around the turbines with no problem. Little cropland is lost, and the farmers get a stable source of income from the power generation.

So. what if you lose? sorry to be direct. what is the future for that part of the world?

Hi Mary Jo,

You are exacttly the type of person we need so desperately in Congress. Too many Democrats are still beholden to corporate interests and/or think they have to appease the conservatives in their districts. Senator Barbara Boxer of California (my senator) is a good example of someone who mostly sticks to her progressive principles and has earned the respect of California republicans who vote for her in large numbers. I wish more legislators were as intelligent as you are!

yes, we have those in ca. so it is all large scale? nothing small say on an individual farm?

Thats exactly what we could be doing here in Central Ohio. We should learning from other communities and other countries that have figured out that we can generate the power we need using wind, solar, biomass and other new energy sources in development at places like The Ohio State University.

We have them in Iowa. This one is near Charles City. What you see in the photo is a fraction of the total.

That’s very kind of you. We’re the back-up though. Without top-notch candidates like Donna Edwards, Alan Grayson, Martin Heinrich, Jeff Merkley, Jim Himes, Darcy Burner, Tom Perriello and yourself we have nothing to support.

I’ll tell you what we are crying out for, though– a progressive willing to go in and make the Progressive Caucus into a real power so we don’t have to constantly be playing defense against the Emanuels and Hoyers– let alone the Blue Dogs, DLC and “New Democrats” themselves.

You couldn’t be more right Peter. And we want to make sure that farmers share in the profits that are generated from those turbines!

If I lose, I will continue to do what I’ve always done, work for progressive social change, just in some different venue.

They are incredibly expensive to build. It’s not just the cost of the turbine, but getting the lines to them. I am on the planning and zoning commission with some farmers who wanted to install them, but the cost was prohibitive.

So the power companies are building them.

Mary Jo, how did religious issues/personalities play into your race? Were they a big factor, or well down the list behind the economy, Iraq, etc.?

(I post here at FDL on religious issues from time to time. I’m a firm believer in the separation of church and state, and also a firm believer in having everyone bring their issues to the public square for discussion and debate.)

First, we definitely need more progressive candidates. Those candidates like Darcy who really caught fire this year should think about taking another shot at elected office next time around. I’m looking forward to working with progressive members in Congress and I am anxious to meet some of the new members that you mentioned.

What’s wonderful about this time in our history is we’ve been emboldened by electoral successes and we have the majority we need to enact the policies we all know will put us back on the right track. Ending the war, universal healthcare, tackling global warming, rebuilding good jobs and an equitable tax policy.

Mary Jo, One issue that needs attention is the aging, inadequate, vulnerable power grid. We can build all the wind turbines we want to, but we need to be able to get the power from the source to the user on reliable transmission lines. In February 2007 we had an ice storm in Iowa, and poles starting going down, which cut power to hundreds of thousands of people and lasted five days where I am. Upgrading the grid would increase our national security and create a lot of jobs.

This year religious issues took a back seat to the economy. People in Central Ohio are really hurting and are focusing on what needs to be done in order to fix the mess that Republicans in Congress and Bush created over the past 8 years.

I was hoping for a more personal reflection. but, i understand. you are made for politics with that response. :) maybe you are not so unequipt as I thought. you are an atty? more than ever we need you next if that is the case. just sayin.

I couldn’t agree with you more.

It seems to me that there will be a push towards creating jobs in upgrading our roads, rails, bridges and we must do the same with out energy infrastructure as well. We need to make sure that the transmission capabilities are there, but also so the next generation of electric cars can be plugged right on in at your home or even at a parking lot.

but, what you are saying is that locals want to put the excess back on the grid? Hell, they just want to not have 1,000. elec bills to work the farm.

HAH!

I AM in fact an attorney, and I thank you for the kind words. Maybe I should find a beach to go live on and write a book.

Best of luck, Mary Jo, I’m looking forward to your successful term in Congress.

BTW, OSU now leading 23-13 in the 3rd quarter. My prediction: two more touchdowns for us, one more for Illinois for a final score of 37-20. Whaddaya think? Barack Obama might be rooting for the other side, but my solidarity only goes so far.

Those who want to sell excess to the grid should be allowed, but we also need to focus on conservation to lower bills and protect our planet. We waste HALF the electricity we produce in this country.

First off, GO BUCKS!

They look good, and I am interested to see how Pryor is going to develop as a player. He has all the tools to be one of the greatest quarterbacks we’ve ever had in Buckeye Country.

no, mary. you have to be in the congress of the us. that is your calling. except nothing less. sure, write a book while you are there. :)

Thank you cali!

It will be a really exciting time to be there too!

Anyone in California have an update on the fires? Have they been able to get any of it under control?

conservation is de facto. we are an oil based ecomomy. cost is the only thing that people REALLY understand. it is reality. the us just needs to be smarter. not sure we are.

There are two unconnected fires and neither is under control– at least not from what I’ve heard. My hking partner’s sister and nephew lives in the Santa Barbara and both families were evacuated. The nephew’s house has burned.

no, ma’am. it is deadly serious in LA. crossed I5 and is burning west at 50-60 mph. bad news. power outages in LA.

Wow! That is terrible. I am so sorry for your hiking partner’s family. The winds still keeping up?

it is the price we pay for living in a dream land.

Mary Jo, Howie mentioned that you’ve been working with Jan Schakowsky and Sherrod Brown already. (Jan is one of the names that’s been floated as a possible replacement for Obama in the Senate.) What kinds of projects and issues have you worked with them on?

My daughter lives out there so I try to get out there a great deal…She lives in Larchmont.

fires are north of that i believe. can’t get past the concrete in that area. stop by.

They have been big supporters of my campaign and we see eye to eye on many issues. Sherrod has been paying attention to voters in Union and Madison County. Jan Schakowsky and I have had many conversations on the war and health care.

I

am saddened by the loss of Stephanie Tubbs Jones. She was a big supporter and I really wanted to serve with her.

Welcome to Blue America, Mary Jo. I am late but wanted to say HI, and glad you are here. :D

Thanks Jacqrat! It’s good to be here!

How do we waste half of all the electricity? Bad power grid? Bad insulation?

A combination of a bad grid, bad distribution, bad weatherization, inefficient processes and general bad behavior. Its one of the reasons I support major tax incentives to companies and families to invest in energy efficient appliances, insulation etc. It is a great way to also put people to work immediately as well!

And we don’t want any drugs made in China, from Reuters:

Chinese-made heparin, a blood thinner, was blamed for the deaths of 81 US patients.

re. fires: we’re up to four now. two more broke out last night and this morning in corona and yorba linda. winds are fierce.

That is absolutely correct.

One of the most tragic elements of the Bush Administration was the systematic rollback of all sorts of regulations governing food and drugs and consumer products. When I am in Congress I want to make sure the FDA and Consumer Product Safety Commission have the tools they need to stop these products from getting into the hands of our families. My opponent was instrumental and killing regulations on the lead paint industry and shielded them from lawsuit.

When is the Army going to give back the National Guard equipment, so they can help fight the fires?

Yet another cost of the Iraq war…

We need to get out, and we need to get out now. Our job is done there.

What will happen when you’re in Congress and people like Rahm Emanuel and Steny Hoyer say that isn’t a serious adult position? And when they make it clear that it’s a position that has personal political consequences?

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for caring about the Citizens of this great country.

And why does the cost of health care go up 10% every single year. My oral surgeon charges, $1,500 per hour and all you get is a fancy dentist office.
If you are part of a hearing, please ask, health care costs hurting everyone.

It’s my belief that Barack Obama is 100% committed to getting us out of Iraq. Even the Iraqis want us out.

I will always be a reliable vote for getting our troops out of Iraq, and more broadly, for peace.

I know you’re a big Sherrod Brown fan– and I am too, usually– but he’s let us down before. He was the ONLY progressive to vote for Bush’s torture bill (the one that jeopardizes the concept of habeus corpus) when he was worried that opposing Bush would help DeWine. That’s when Blue America withdrew its endorsement of him. He’s been good in the Senate since then and we’ve warned to him a lot– although there has been a lot of anger this week because suddenly he’s a Joe Lieberman apologist.

We need to highlight prevention and primary care as ways to lower the cost of healthcare. We are spending billions to fight preventable or controllable illnesses like Diabetes when we should be promoting the healthy lifestyles that would stop them from developing.

Primary care is also important because every American should have access to a Doctor who knows and understands their health and healthcare needs. We should also make better use of advance practice nurses and other health professionals.

First, torture is not an American value and our Government must never engage in it.

As for Joe Lieberman, his speech at the Republican Convention and his statements about Barack trouble me. Although it speaks so highly about Barack Obama’s character that he is so gracious in victory. Perhaps we are seeing the beginning of a real change in tone in Washington.

Mary Jo, thanks for stopping by today. Please come visit us again so we can share your victory. When do you estimate it will all be over and official?

Howie, and Blue America, thank you SO much for this opportunity and I look forward to being a part of the community for years to come. We will have the official count by November 25th!

I’ll be back if you’ll have me after we win!

Mary Jo, thank you for a great campaign and looking forward to hearing about your future!

YES! Please ask Brad to set something up with us.

I can’t believe you guys didn’t know Mary Jo Kilroy was a progressive. She was attacked for being an anti-American, radical Marxist by the Republicans, the mark of a solid progressive. I guess one of us in Ohio should have let you know…

Howie – I don’t know where to put this, so I’ll put it here:
Here is today’s recount on Eric Massa vs. Randy Kuhl.
As of today, with just the recount in Monroe county(that’s Rochester, and the biggest county), Massa is now up 5,740 votes over Kuhl.
They still have to finish doing the absentee ballots from:
Allegheny, Cattaraugus, Chemung(Elmira), Ontario(Rochester Metro area), Schuyler and Yates. There are 5,900 absentee ballots from those areas left to count.
I’m going to bet a nickel now that Massa takes Chemung and Ontario, which are the highest concentrations of voters for him anyway. Kuhl may take the rest – they are ‘out there’ in terms of geography and rural nature(lots of hunting, gun ownership, etc. but that does not necessarily mean anything). So, I think by the end of next week, we’ll have a final in Mass beating Kuhl. You might want to keep an eye on that and then invite Eric back to BA as well.