Vote for Joe

Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. In Springfield, Ohio this morning I talked with John Polley, 18, a used tire shop manager. He walked with a limp and said his knee “was hurting bad from lifting sem-tires.” But he had no health insurance and was hesitant to get his knee checked. I told a Springfield newspaper reporter later this morning that in Grand Junction, Colorado we researched a hospital run by doctors, nurses, town people doing intakes, janitorial work, and so on… all on a volunteer basis — so people like John could get help. (It’s called the Marrilac Clinic.) Dayton’s Channel 7 News also arrived just as someone was scolding me about parking in a handicapped spot (by mistake). And you think Bush and Kerry are experiencing public relations problems… Springfield’s Paul Campbell thinks the country isn’t so much experiencing PR problems, as it is “business problems.” That is, he said, “if you had a business that was in as much debt as the U.S. Government, well…,” he threw up his hands. I then headed to South Vienna, Ohio where a guy on the street said to me: “Bravo! Fighting the big boys!” I then went to W. Jefferson where Michael Tyree, who owns a small flooring business, said he gets disconcerted at times with local people driving 40 miles round trip to Columbus to look for cheaper prices at Lowe’s. What people don’t factor into those low prices is: gas money, time wasted (that could be spent on family, community) and added pollution to the atmosphere. It was then onto Mechanicsburg, Ohio where I put up a flyer in the window of a Christian bookstore called: Heavenly Touch. And we’re hoping the campaign gets a ‘heavenly touch’ (read: loaves and fishes story) soon. But in the interum, I then drove to Urbana, Ohio where I was interviewed for the better part of an hour by a reporter there. I then went into the New Family Table Restaurant where I stumped with the customers and passed out flyers. In addition, I interviewed owner Brian Waller who said his employees consist of: his wife, step son, mother-in-law, neice… In working together, Brian said it has brought them closer together as a family — just like he used to feel with his brothers and sisters growing up on a small family farm in western Illinois. Note: In a recent Guest Column in The Advocate (Newark, Ohio), Kathleen Pipes wrote: “this year I will write in a candidate of my cholde, Mr. average Joe Schriner. And I urge you to do the same. I am voting to make a statement: “We want to take back our country.”‘

Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. The whirlwind tour continues to roll on down Ohio’s backroads with stops in the last two days in Wauseon, West Unity, Bryan, Ney, Sherwood, Deshler, North Baltimore… While passing out literature at a Farmer’s Market in Bryan, I talked with two organic farmers who shun modern pesticides and herbicides because of their toxic affects. “Average Joe” platform point: “If we want to end cancer, we have to stop using things that cause cancer.” I then told the Bryan Times that I was running on a platform to: end pollution, make the country safe for children, and simplify the Federal Government. At John Weber’s Restaurant (their slogan: “Good Food, Mediocre Service”) in Wauseon, I sat in on a board meeting of the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes. FCA’s Rex Stump said there were 86,400 seconds in a day, and his goal is to get his athletes making the most of each moment, not just for their sports’ endeavors, but more importantly, for God. (One of the board members said he’d seen a Fox News piece about me the night before.) At Marty’s Restaurant in Ney, Ohio, owner (Who else?) Marty told me his plan for curbing unemployment would be to improve health care, for everyone. That is, he said if more seniors had affordable health care, they could retire earlier (and spend more time, say, with community service.) As they retired, it would open the door for more jobs. Made sense. Note: Tomorrow I talk at a Farm Festival in Yorkshire, Ohio.

Average Joe Buckey Blitz cont. The Ohio whirlwind tour rolls on… And I rolled into Haskins, Ohio (pop. 1,000) yesterday. Entering the village limits, the first thing you see is a Ohio Bicentennial sign saying Haskins is the “Birthplace of Earl W. North, an American impressionist painter.” I couldn’t help but think how refreshing it would be to someday see a sign that read: “Haskins: Birthplace of Ernie Schwartz, father, good worker and Kawanis member. I then posted “average Joe” flyers at Or’s Sunoco and the Pear Tree Hair Salon, right in the heart of the Haskins downtown. The owner, Jennifer, said she admired what I was doing and one of the customers asked for a button to give to her husband “…who is actually thinking about running for president himself in 10 years.” I gave her the button reluctantly, and smiled that current polls were indicating that I’d probably still be running in 10 years as well– “and I’m trying to discourage competition.” From Haskins, I traveled north to Waterville where I met with Chowder’s N Moor Restuarant owner, and “conservative independent,” Tom Kuran. Kuran talked about politics, and America in general, with a passion. Also, without telling him anything about my Haskins sign idea, he said he and his wife were recently watching a TV episode showing singer Britney Spears putting her hand prints in concrete on Hollywood Blvd. Kuran riled at this, saying: “Once, just once, I’d like to see an average American’s hand prints there (Hollywood Blvd.)!” I had interviewed Tom for our book Back Road to the White House 2, and afterward he gave me a campaign donation: a bowl of their “famous,” and rather unique, White Chicken Chili. And after only a couple spoonfulls — I knew who is going to cater the Inauguration.

Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. In Peebles, Ohio, our ‘almost First Lady,’ Liz, met with Joanne Brockhoeft. Mrs. Brockhoeft home schools her children with a quite innovative, international curriculum that exposes them to a variety of customs and cultures they might not otherwise hear about. In addition, Mrs. Brockhoeft regularly reads her children newspaper articles about contemporary affairs in other countries. On a Fox News morning show in Cleveland, I said my administration would push for a U.S. Department of Peace — with inititiatives like Mrs. Brockhoeft’s being considered in each of our homes.

We then took the Brockhoeft and Schriner children for a hike on a nearby section of the American Discovery Trail, which is the only coast-to-coast hiking trail in the country. (We would have done the whole trail, but, well… not enough potty stop locations.) From Peebles, we traveled to Franklin, Ohio, for a whistle-stop. There we passed out literature and viewed this absolutely fabulous town mural featuring local scenes from the early 1900’s. I then wrote a letter-to-the-editor of the Franklin Chronicle here that lauded the mural (not to get votes, but because I meant it). The letter also noted Liz and I are running as “concerned parents,” and one of the things we are most concerned about is mounting violence in society and it’s affect on children. And I noted Franklin Township’s: “No Abuse at Home,” a new Ohio Justice System program, seemed a step in the right direction for cutting down on the incidence of domestic violence.

Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. During Mass this morning at St. Frances de Sales Church in Newark, Ohio, the priest said that St. Peter Claver spent 38 years ministering to Black slaves. During campaign 2000, I told a Pittsburgh, Kansas newspaper that many Blacks are still “slaves” to poverty loops in the inner cities, with adults and children there dodging bullets, drugs and hunger. (We saw this first hand — as we have seen numerous times throughout the country — while doing research in a ‘gang war zone’ on the South Side of Chicago several years back.) And because of the conditions, we ask American suburbanites, and the like — through creative church outreach, mentoring programs, and so on — to roll up their sleeves and go into the inner city to help… From Newark, we headed further south. At the Coop’s Corners Store in Thornville, Ohio, (pop. 1,000), I fastened a campaign button to the bulletin board, then talked to owner John Gillogli at length about the campaign. He, in turn, told me as a local business owner he likes to sponsor youth activities. He has donated genrously to the local girl’s softball league and to a high school class that had entered a recent Tractor Pull event. Thornville has an actual: Tractor Pull Park. From Thornville we headed to South Bloomington, Ohio, where I played a sandlot baseball game with our kids, as we do often on the road. Afterward, a South Bloomfield police officer pulled up and said vice-presidential candidate John Edwards had just come through here on Rte. 23 last week, “and we were only given two hours notice.” I debated whether to reply: “Well gosh, look at us! We slipped in right under your nose.” But I didn’t. Next stop: Adams County, Ohio.