In 2004, my dad bought me the domain TheChiefSource.com for Christmas. It has been a great run and I have enjoyed it more than I can say. I had planned to keep the site going as is, but the reality is I don't have much fun doing this sort of thing solo. I'm a team player. Plus, after four years of political blogging, I find myself happy my guy won and ready for something new. So, I have decided to change the direction of the site. I have assembled a new team will relaunch the site as a blog focused on photography. I anticipate there will still be some politics and plenty of Akron. The new site will debut on January 6, 2008. Stay tuned. Maybe you will see your picture. Happy New Year.

I've day dreamed with several of my Democratic friends about what we could accomplish in the coming elections by building on our success this cycle. The sophistication of the Obama campaign's targeting has given our party unbelievable voter contact lists. They know so much (email, cell phone, social networks) about the people who helped build the grassroots network that got Obama to 52%. I got an email from Lauren, my local Obama community organizer, to give us an update. She forwarded some info from the Obama campaign:

There was a meeting held in Chicago this past weekend to discuss the next steps of what this organization will look like. Basically, we built this incredible network and these amazing teams, and we want to keep that momentum going. After all, even though we did get Obama elected, there is still work to be done. We are calling it Obama for America 2.0, and it will have two parts: advocating for Obama's agenda and civic engagement. Essentially, the advocating for Obama's agenda component will take the shape of pressuring elected officials to support Obama's initiatives and/or supporting state legislation that works in tandem with Obama's plans. The civic engagement component is basically what it sounds like: giving back to the America that Obama is now responsible for by doing community service. It is still very much a plan that is taking shape, and the details are still being hammered out. I, for one, am incredibly excited about this project. I know that the organization we built is amazing, and I think it's a waste to just let it go after the election. Imagine if this structure was in place for the next four years! It boggles my mind to think about what we could do.

She's right. It is mind boggling. Republicans are going to have to get to work revitalizing their grass roots network of they want to compete with us next cycle. The Obama campaign and Democratic Party Leaders are smart to continue keep the network we've built engaged in the process so that we can continue to build and grow. A mobilized volunteer base supporting the President's initiatives will help get things done that bring about the kind of change the campaing talked about. It is exciting.

Last summer I rode my bike down the leg of the Towpath Trail that cuts through downtown Akron. When you get to Spaghetti Warehouse, it stops, but if you cut across the parking lot it picks back up again and you can continue on to Summit Lake. The trail runs under 77, past the baseball fields, and dead ends next to some public housing along Summit Lake. Late this week the Mayor's office released an update on the progress for the floating bridge that is to span Summit Lake and connect the trail. At the mid point of the bridge there will be a 40' by 42' observation deck. The image above shows the old floating bridge that used to span the lake in the Canal's heyday. The new bridge is being built to bring back a piece of Akron history and is scheduled to open next summer.

Just when we were starting to kick the habit, NBC released a new poll today showed Barack Obama with pretty high approval / disapproval numbers post election. The poll shows Obama with a 67 percent to 16 percent positive/negative rating. NBC notes that Bush had 48/35 and Clinton in 1992 had 60/19. Not too shabby. 77% say he faces bigger challenges than previous presidents have. 75% say he has had the right level of involvement in the issues facing our country since being elected. The honeymoon is just getting started and love for our new president is in the air.

There were a couple of President Bush related questions and the answers are about what you'd expect. Only 18% of those polled said they would miss President Bush when he leaves the White House compared to 40% for President Clinton in 2000. 2% said President Bush was "one of the best" presidents while 48% said he was definitely worse than most.

In a strange final question included in the poll, NBC asked: "Would you be willing to take a 5% pay cut if it meant saving jobs at your place of work?" 64% said yes. On NBC Nightly News, Chuck Todd framed that answer to show that those polled would be willing to make sacrifices to save their fellow Americans. Brian Williams responded, "Well, it goes to show were all in this together." I tend to think that those who were asked that question in the poll understood the question to imply that their own job was at risk and they would be willing to take a 5% pay cut to keep it. Who knows, maybe people are more caring that I think they are. Regardless, it is an interesting bonus question to include in the poll.

Today, my Congresswoman Betty Sutton was selected to be on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Her appointment will start during the next session of Congress. The Energy and Commerce Committee is pretty big-time and will allow Congresswoman Sutton to work on issues like healthcare, public health, energy, consumer protection, interstate and foreign commerce. Sutton released the following statement:

"I am honored to have been appointed to the Energy and Commerce Committee. We as a Congress now have an incredible opportunity to work with President-Elect Obama to support renewable and alternative energy initiatives, invest in the development of green jobs and enact a healthcare policy that will make access to quality and affordable healthcare a reality for the millions of Americans for whom it remains out of reach. The Energy and Commerce Committee will lead the effort on these critical issues for our country and I look forward to working on behalf of the 13th district of Ohio and for American families across our nation,” said Congresswoman Sutton.

Her appointment is good news for Northeast Ohio as we try to transition our local economy into new industries. Hopefully she will be able to help those businesses in our region and recruit new companies to set up shop. Congrats to Congresswoman Sutton on the opportunity.

There is something about these 30 second campaigns ads that is both funny and sad when scandal breaks. Here is one of Rod's campaign spots from his 2006 campaign for governor.

Unrelated: I apologize for all the spam that has peppered our comment threads over the past month. I have been researching the issue. My sense is that these spam programs search the internet for phrases already posted on various sites and then return to add more comments. So, I have closed down all comments on posts older than seven days. Then, I have spent hours manually going through every comment thread and deleting spam comments. I am half way through 2006. My plan is to scrub all 4 years worth of posts and hope that makes a difference. In the mean time, thank you for your patience.

Hillary Rodham Clinton: Dreams Taking Flight - Over the past couple of weeks there has been an increase in email solicitations from various people looking to retire Senator Clinton's campaign debt. The latest offer is an email from Hillary's mom Dorothy to interest Democrats in a "personally" autographed copy of Dreams Taking Flight: Hillary Rodham Clinton for a contribution of $250. It is interesting to see "Rodham" being reintroduced to the Clinton brand post-election. From the synopsis: "Hilliary took another risk by deciding to run for the presidency of the United States. She didn't win her party's nomination this time, but she opened the door to other girls who want to fly as high as their talents will take them. A inspirational book for every daughter who wants to be the best she can be." There is something half-empty about the phrase "as high as their talents will take them." Too bad they weren't able to add the Secretary of Defense ending. I hope that Chuck and Bob are no longer reading the site because I'd hate to spoil their holiday gift from me.

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope - This is the perfect gift for the children of your Republican and Democrat friends alike. "Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Chicago, from the jungles of Indonesia to the plains of Kenya, he has held on to Hope. Even as a boy, Barack knew he wasn't quite like anybody else, but through his journeys he found the ability to listen to Hope [capitalized on Amazon] and become what he was meant to be: a bridge to bring people together." Yikes, ixnay on the Indonesiaway. Unfortunately this book was released in August of this past year and doesn't end with Obama winning the election. I suspect many people who buy the book are going to be disappointed with whatever open eneded ending the story has. I'd think they would have had an alternate ending version of the book ready to go to press if Obama won. I picture parents reading this story to their kids before bed and having to ad-lib the real ending. As an alternative to this book, I'd recommend The Little Enine That Could. All you need to do is substitute Barack Obama for the engine and instead of "I think I can" say "Change is coming to America." As it neared the top of the grade, which had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying, "Yes--we--can, yes--we--can." It reached the top by drawing out bravery and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself by saying, "Yes we did, yes we did."

Back in August, I made the argument that Barack Obama was going to win Ohio with the help of our strong Congressional Candidates fighting incumbents in Republican Districts. I focused on four races that I thought we could win. The map is the final score card. With the results of Mary Jo Kilroy's race finally in, Democrats picked up three out of four districts and competed in parts of Ohio that used to be gimmies for Republicans. Democrats John Boccieri, Steve Driehaus, and Mary Jo Kilroy all picked up Republican districts and Driehaus unseated an incumbent. These three wins weren't a fluke or simply because it was "just a Democrat year" in Ohio. The Democrats approach to campaigning in Ohio shifted in 2004 and has been paying dividends ever since.

I remember going to (and posting on) the Ohio Democratic Party Convention in Parma during the primary of 2006. Rookie Chairman Chris Redfern and Gubernatorial Candidate Ted Strickland had this "Turn Around Ohio" plan where they talked about their 88 county strategy. It was their plan to campaign in all parts of Ohio because they knew that Ted Strickland wasn't going to be Ohio's next governor by just campaigning in the cities. They organized and invested in rural Ohio. It paid off in 2006 allowing Democrats to win five out of six state wide offices and put Sherrod Brown in the Senate. It also laid the ground work for 2008. Barack Obama ran a near perfect campaign, but his win in Ohio was a coordinated effort where Democrats worked together and won nearly across the board as a result. It was a Democratic year because our party earned it. Hats off to Chariman Redfern and Governor Strickland for having that forsight in 2005 and the leadership make it work.

Unrelated: An article in today's Toledo Free Press references The Chief Source's staff departures in an article about Ohio blogs.

Sunday, the Franklin County Board of Elections announced that Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy. The final vote including provisional ballots showed Kilroy winning the county by 2,311 votes, which was a margin large enough to win the seat. This was the only Congressional race that remained unresolved this late after Election Day. It is very good news for Democrats in Ohio. In a statement through the Ohio Democratic Party, Governor Ted Strickland reacted to Kilroy's win: "Congresswoman-elect Kilroy joins other newly-elected Democrats, like John Boccieri and Steve Driehaus, who together represent a new generation of Ohio Democrats. They will be strong advocates for the people in Washington. I look forward to working in partnership with the next Congress to rebuild and renew Ohio's economy."