Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. In a talk at St. Stephen’s Church in Niles, Ohio, this morning, I asked: “Does anybody remember the word ‘modesty’ as it relates to dress anymore?” Later we did a whistle-stop event in downtown Niles. A television crew and reporters from Youngstown and Warren were there. I said to Stephen Oravecz of the Tribune Chronicle that in a “saner society,” wouldn’t it be better if, instead of spending billions of dollars on Space Programs to get to Mars to see about water there, we were spending that money on projects to make the water clean on this planet so scores of little children didn’t have to die from contaminated drinking water in the Third World, every day. (On an 8-month tour of Ohio in 2002, I said the same thing to a reporter in Wapakonata, Ohio — home of the first astronaut to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong. Ok, so maybe we lost a few votes in Wapakoneta, but…)
8/4/04
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz Tour cont… Tomorrow we do a noon whistle stop event in the shadows of the William McKinley Presidential Library. Out front there is a display explaining there have been eight presidents from Ohio. I’ll be the 9th.
8/4/04
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz Tour cont… We met with Fr. Karl Kish in Cortland, Ohio today to hear about C.H.O.W. (Courtland Humanitarian Outreach Worldwide). “We see a world that suffers from an unequal distrubution of goods and resources that results in poverty,” according to C.H.O.W. literature. To help, Fr. Kish pointed out churches and other organizations here have united to: send winter clothes to Kosovo, school desks to El Salvador, medical supplies to the Honduras… Our platform calls for such initiatives across the country, en mass, and the Meadville (PA) Tribune recently noted our campaign has adopted the motto: “Live Simply So Others May Simply Live.”
8/3/04
11:44 a.m.: We have just crossed the Ohio line on Rte. 90 heading west. And the Average Joe Buckeye Blitz Tour is underway. Let the games begin! … And they did. Our first stop was Cortland, Ohio. We were eating dinner in an outdoor pavilion by ourselves when, out of the blue, a group of some 16 bocce bowlers showed for their weekly game. They, graciously, asked us to play, but again there was no suggestion of me ‘throwing out the first…’ er, ‘rolling the first ball’ as the visiting presidential candidate. (See 7/27 entry from Sanford, Maine.)
8/2/04
I just read that President Bush stopped over the weekend at Hiram College in Ohio to meet with the Cleveland Browns at their training camp as part of his current campaign tour. That’s going too far! I’m the Brown’s fan! He’s from Texas for crying out loud… ON TO OHIO!!! Note: During a talk at Annunciation Church on Cleveland’s south side a couple years ago, I said I didn’t pander to any constituency group. Then winked and said: “However, I just wanted you people to know when I do get to D.C., one of the first things I’ll do is have the Capital Dome painted orange and brown (Cleveland Brown’s colors).
8/2/04
Still heading back to Ohio for the next phase… We stopped back in Jamestown, New York where I saw an article about our campaign in the Western New York Catholic newspaper. It noted that I had a “consistent pro-life ethic.” That is, I’m against abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty… but I am also against such conditions as poverty and pollution. For instance, if a little four-year-old child dies of starvation in Uganda, partially because I, as an “average American,” haven’t chosen to cut back on my lifestyle more to help in the poverty ravaged Third World — then this too, I believe, becomes a “Pro-Life” issue in a very real way.
8/1/04
Still heading back to Ohio… We took the kids to the Corning Glass Museum in Corning, New York, today. Phenomenal experience. It’s a ‘glass cornacopia,’ if you will. Glass artistry. Glass demonstrations. High-tech glass technology (phiber-optics, photo-tonics…). According to literature here, Corning Glass is one of the “oldest businesses in the world,” starting in 1851. And it has been one of the more innovative. The company, for instance, developed the original Polymore Telescope mirror.
7/31/04
Still heading back to Ohio, we stopped in Oneonta, New York where we met Jo and John Terwilligier. They are involved with the “Come Share a Meal at Our Table” program. Wonderful people and a great program. Jo and John explained throughout town here, for the past 12 years, volunteers and local businesses (in the form of food donations, etc.) provide a daily meal “for everyone.” The reason: “So no one in town has to be hungry.” Afterward, Joseph and I went to the Oneonta Public Library where we read a book about Jackie Robinson, who was the first Black Major League Baseball player and the first Black player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame — which is just north of here in Cooperstown, NY.
7/30/04
Heading back, we are traveling on a rather mountainous Rte. 9 in southern Vermont and have had the bullhorn out several times as we passed through small towns along here. In Wilmington, Vermont, we saw a cemetery with the quite apt, and simple, name: “Resting Place.” But unfortunately, there is no ‘rest’ for an independent candidate and his staff (read: family) in a set of rather slow campaign vehicles, so we rolled on…
7/30/04
We are heading back toward Ohio to campaign for the next 30 days, calling it the “Average Joe Buckeye Blitz.” (Again, we are doing this without paid campaign consultants.) Ohio, according to all kinds of reports, is going to be the bellweather state this Election. During 2002 we campaigned for eight solid months in Ohio, going to all 88 counties (see “Ohio Tour” on website Tour Map). We gained some supporters and we were in a good deal of media all over the state. We are going there to build on that. And, what’s to say we won’t be the ‘Nader Florida factor’ in Ohio — or just win outright for that matter. I mean, being from Ohio, I am a “native son,” of sorts.