Ken Blackwell for Ohio Governor 2006

No, this is not an endorsement. This is commentary on something I have observed. I am a big believer in a person's right to choose, whether it be at the grocery store, in bed, in the clinic, or at the voting booth. The right to vote is the foundation for our democracy, and the disenfranchising of legitimate voters is downright criminal and unconstitutional. So how can I live with the knowledge that Ken Blackwell, our Secretary of State and Republican gubernatorial candidate, is the man who presided over the 2004 election disaster?

To be honest, I really can't. How can I trust a man who presided over some of the worst election anomalies in modern U.S. history? A man who tried so desperately, while working as co-Chair of Bush's Ohio re-election campaign, to abuse his position as Secretary of State to disenfranchise thousands of voters, primarily in Democratic strongholds? This time it's his campaign he's presiding over as Ohio's chief elections official: how do we trust that?

There are so many allegations of corruption in the 2004 election and how it went down in Ohio, most of them centering around Ken Blackwell primarily (though it is clear that the national and Ohio GOP were involved on varying levels), that it makes me sick. The abuse of people and the stripping of their rights over something seemingly as petty as whose candidate gets to be head of state for the next 4 years. But in Ohio, it's more than that: it's about maintaining the status quo, about advancing Ken Blackwell through the GOP ranks.

Why should we even consider this man for Ohio Governor? If anybody can tell me one reason why he deserves to be our governor, I would much appreciate it. And I will respond in kind, participating -- hopefully -- in a civil debate over his qualifications for governor.