Day 18
9:03 PM ET.

Last week when Rep. Sherrod Brown, the candidate here in Ohio that we’re all hoping manages to knock off Bush-buddy Sen. Mike DeWine, voted for the pro-torture anti-habeas corpus bill I was pretty angry. It just didn’t seem to make sense. Stand up to the president and for American values and you will look stronger in Ohioans’ eyes was my thinking. But now, as we drive north towards Michigan after a few days in the state, I’m starting to understand why Sherrod thought it was necessary.

Up and down the East Coast the conversation is dominated by Iraq. There are of course, many other concerns as well, but the war is at the forefront. But as the busy roads of the Northeast give way to the open highways of the Midwest, jobs and the economy are much more of an issue. Things out here are not looking good. When you get out of downtown Columbus it’s really just miles of empty factories and warehouses.

A lot of people are out of work, and when you’re a Republican in charge and things are this bad there’s not much to fall back on except hate and wedge issues. Check out Peter’s post below to see how dependent the Ohio GOP is on fear of gay marriage and abortion to win votes. Maybe I’m stretching things here, but it seems like the Ohio electorate is pretty scared. And that’s why Sherrod felt he had to vote for this bill. His opponent is desperate, and with the undercurrent of hate and fear that is so prominent in the state’s politics, voting against the bill may have set him up to be (incorrectly) painted as pro terrorist. Of course, I still think he should have voted against the bill.

Ohio is a very different place.

Did that actually make any sense? Either way, we got a lot accomplished in the state, met some good people, saw the second largest Whole Foods in the country (wow!), and we’re now off to Michigan. Signing off now for Disc 2 of the Clinton book. Also picked up the live My Morning Jacket CD today. They’re the best band in America, IMHO.

-Josh