Thanks for doing that psyche777.
Every one was loaded with ideas, plans, etc. except Rob Ludeman. His site has gone nowhere since May 5. That's terrible. I can't support someone who ignores the internet. It's where I go first because I do not always have the opportunity to see the candidates in person.
Too bad. He was my first choice originally.
posted by thinkingwoman at 03:30 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
It's rather frustrating because the media nor either one of the lucas county dem sites or republican one for that matter seem to provide website links. Then add to that trying to find out information on the independents. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll find them all before the election. Toledo City Paper has had a few of them.
The two lucas county dem sites and the Republican one doesn't even update when they should.
I thought perhaps a group like the League of Women's voters would have information but they don't either.
You'd think if the goal was informed voters someone would take the time to make these websites available for all the candidates.
:-)
posted by psyche777 at 05:57 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
I know for a fact that neither Opal Covey nor Don Gozdowski have websites as of today (I've interviewed them both). Not sure about Martin Okonski.
posted by historymike at 06:05 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
I called the BOE this morning and talked to the IT guy. He said they would be up by the end of this week. I'll believe it when I see it.
posted by fequalsma73 at 06:45 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
Thanks historymike that explains why I can't find any for them. I haven't found one for Martin Okonski either.
fequalsma, I am beginning to feel the same way, they were supposed to fax a copy to me Friday, called again today, still no fax yet, I'm considering just going down and getting it in person.
posted by psyche777 at 07:10 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
Good job, psyche777. These websites will be helpful. I don't watch the local TV news. We don't have cable. We only get the Blade on the weekends. I do pick up the weekly papers. But I get most of my daily info via the web.
Why these candidate aren't posting something new every day to their websites no matter how small or simple the message, is beyond me. They need to take a lesson from Frank Szollosi on political blogging. In literally five or 10 minutes, you're publishing to your own website if you use Blogger.
If candidates can't grasp this simple and somewhat still new but rapidly growing form of communication called blogging, how effective can they be at accomplishing complex tasks?
posted by jr at 09:30 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
How many people in the city of Toledo do you think will actually pay attention to these websites? I think it is great that active people on this website do; and it is nice to meet more people that care about politics like I do... but I get frustrated with so many people that are not educated about their choices! UGH! What do you all do to reach out to others and help share your zeal?
posted by alexandra at 10:46 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
I come to places like this and I blog, I read other blogs and comment there, some local, some national. I talk to people, if they are interested tell them about some of the places I go, like this one.
Some people are going to continue to not care but sometimes? The zeal can be spread.
:-)
posted by psyche777 at 11:05 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
jr, thanks, I also have no cable and get most of my information from the net. Blogging is very easy to do, having done both webpaging and blogging, both are easy but blogging has become even easier than html. (Unless you want to start playing with your templates - lol)
I too would like to see more politicans have blogs, even if they don't want to be as gutsy as Frank has been on his, it is a great way of sharing a message and communicating.
posted by psyche777 at 11:09 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
I can't believe Ludeman's website (or lack thereof). I'm a strong conservative and vote Republican because I agree with their ideals, but I won't be voting for Ludeman. If he can't keep up with his website then he obviously isn't what we need to attract new high-tech jobs. I really liked how Wilkowski spelled out exactly what he wanted to accomplish. I thought his was the best website of them all.
posted by HeyHey at 11:53 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
I have a feeling that Ludeman never intended to be a serious candidate. Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems he's not even trying. Okonski and Opal are doing more to get their message out.
Rob probably drew the short straw and had to be the token Republican representative. I bet no one from the Republican party was interested in running for mayor. The local GOP, however, probably figured it wouldn't look good to skip the mayor's race. Borrowing from baseball where a pitcher chooses to walk a batter by throwing outside of the strikezone but he doesn't use the obvious pitchout, Ludeman is the unintentional intentional pass.
posted by jr at 12:11 A.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
I'd agree with you, heyhey on Wilkowski's site being the best one as far as ideas. I was glad I finally found it today.
I am also starting to get the same feeling jr stated, about Ludeman.
posted by psyche777 at 12:24 A.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
I have a feeling that Ludeman never intended to be a serious candidate. Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems he's not even trying. Okonski and Opal are doing more to get their message out.
Rob probably drew the short straw and had to be the token Republican representative. I bet no one from the Republican party was interested in running for mayor. The local GOP, however, probably figured it wouldn't look good to skip the mayor's race.
-------------------------------------------
Bingo.
posted by Foolkiller at 01:24 A.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
It's the typical response from the LC Repubs. The only offices they seriously campaign for are judgeships & a few other high-profile offices (Commissioners, etc.). Sad but true. Especially since, with the hard-core dem vote & independents being split so many ways, ways, he may actually have had a chance to advance. I still stick to my original prediction, though-Finky vs. JFo or Finky vs. Wilky.
posted by Foolkiller at 01:26 A.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
I'm still leaning towards it being Carty versus Rob, only because I think Wilkowski will get some of the democrats who don't like Carty yet are unhappy with Ford.
But? I've been wrong before
:-)
posted by psyche777 at 02:06 A.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
It's gotta be Carty vs. J-Fo. Most of the blacks will vote for J-fo. The rest of the democrats will vote for Carty. Ludeman only has about half of the south side and I honestly have not heard much stir from the Wilkowski camp. I say it comes down to race, Carty and the whites vs. J-Fo and the blacks. As sad as this may be, I think it is the truth in a pretty segregated city such as our beloved Toledo.
posted by fequalsma73 at 02:39 A.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
Well, I go back to my original...despite the lackluster website and candidate personality, I believe Rob will make it through the primary because the Republicans will vote - primarily - for Rob with some voting for Carty. Wilkowski and Ford will split the same votes as they're both A-teamers. While Ford will do better within the central city and minorities, there just aren't enough of them who vote to put Ford into the general.
As for blogging, Szollosi has the time to blog because he doesn't have a "real" job outside of politics. He spends more time blogging than actually responding to the needs of the city.
So I guess the question is...With limited time would you rather an elected official do their job or blog?
posted by intrepid at 06:41 A.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
I agree completely intrepid. Blogging should be about quality as well as quantity. Szollosi's blog is also censored; make sure he likes your messages. Having said that at least he's doing it.
Rob may make it through the primary because he's a Republican but it will take way more than that to get my November vote.
posted by thinkingwoman at 07:49 A.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
thinkingwoman - AGREED!!!!
posted by intrepid at 09:34 A.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
Here's my prediction:
Carty versus Ludeman in the general election.
Carty has a solid core of supporters; I bet he gets 30% on September 13.
Rob, as the sole Republican, will get 80% of Toledo's Republicans, plus he will carry his district. He gets 25%. Don't believe those stupid online polls showing him tied for 4th with Opal Covey. Plus, Ludeman has almost no negatives, unless you count being a nice guy as a negative (I don't).
JaFo gets 70% of the African American vote, but that's only about 15% of the total. I give him another 8% to wind up at 23%.
Wilkowski gets the rest of the mainstream Dems, and he clobbers JaFo in the critical Old Orchard neighborhood, winding up with 19%, and costs JaFo a shot in November.
The rest of the candidates (Covey, Onkowski, and Gozdowski)split the remainder (historymike grabs calculator), which is 3%.
I don't see any way Carty can lose in September or November. He has too many fans, and none of the other candidates is charismatic enough to beat him.
Plus, he is the "calmer, wiser" Carty, right? Maybe being a member of the media has also taught him some lessons about watching what he says.
posted by historymike at 09:51 A.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
Historymike, I am inclined to agree with your prediction(s). I have attended different functions where JFo, Carty and Rob have all been present and I can tell you that Carty controls the room - hands down. I haven't met Wilkowski yet, but fully intend to do so in the near future. I have met Okonski, and met Opal Covey in passing a while back. As for Gozdowski - couldn't even tell you who he is.
As for Carty being 'calmer and wiser' I have to say he is. I agree that his time spent in local media may have tempered his tongue just a bit and taught him to think before speaking.
Going to be an interesting fall!
posted by DoknowDocare at 06:14 P.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
history mike wrote:
"I don't see any way Carty can lose in September or November. He has too many fans, and none of the other candidates is charismatic enough to beat him."
Not unless Carty slips and lets the Bad Carty out...
So far, Carty's been keeping the Bad Carty under control.
So far...
I don't think Carty can do it. He's already come close to “losing it” a few times, just not in public (yet).
And, the Bad Carty a.k.a. The EVIL Carty has NOT aged as gracefully as The Good Carty...
The older Bad/EVIL Carty is less like an “elder statesman,” and more like “A cranky ole’ Satan.”
We'll just have to wait and see…
I hope we won’t have to find out and y’all can ebd up calling me a fear monger ;-)
I hope…
Carty influenced my becoming a curmudgeon :-)
posted by Hooda_Thunkit at 06:52 P.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
(laughs at the Bad Carty imagery)
Yes, one should never count out the possibility of the Dark Side winning Carty's soul.
posted by historymike at 08:17 P.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
I've only seen a few comments deleted by Frank, you can disagree with him and post there. I've even written things on my own blog I know he disagrees with because he's commented on mine. Yet I've never been deleted and he has my blog linked on his. Which he didn't have to do, I did not ask him to link mine nor to be honest did I really expect it when I linked his. If he was really concerned about controlling the comments he could make it so comments had to be approved or elminate anonymous comments, which he has not done.
I don't always agree with him, nor have I ever claimed to be a democrat, but I give him alot of credit for doing what he has on his blog. How many other local politicans have the guts to do that?
(the following has not been a paid endorsement of Frank Szollosi)
:-)
posted by psyche777 at 01:00 A.M. EST on Wed Jul 27, 2005 #
The commenting blog on Rob Ludeman's web site has been removed.
posted by BrianInFlorida at 03:46 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 28, 2005 #
Maybe it was just down Brian, I am there right now and I still see the forum,unless there was a blog in addition the forum that I missed before.
Ironically one of the topics on Rob's forum is:
Check Out Wilkowski for a Change...
posted by psyche777 at 04:08 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 28, 2005 #
Still nothing on the lucascountyvotes.org site as far as candidates.
It will be a week tomorrow since the list of candidates was approved.
posted by psyche777 at 04:11 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 28, 2005 #
psyche...
I think I am blocked. I was beginning to think Republicans didn't appreciate Sesame Street characters.
I recall it being under the "Donate via PayPal" credit card icons, but as of this posting, the link isn't posted. Would you mind linking it here? I appreciate it, thank you.
Man, what a bunch of dubious politicans.
posted by BrianInFlorida at 06:19 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 28, 2005 #
http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=34259
There's two icons that I see to the forum one on left sidebar that says:
HOW CAN WE FIX TOLEDO?
VOICE YOUR OPINION!
Then up at the top next to Contact Us it lists "Public Forum"
http://robludeman.com/
Hopefully that will help you Brian....
posted by psyche777 at 07:08 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 28, 2005 #
Snuffalupagas?
lol
posted by psyche777 at 07:09 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 28, 2005 #
(;~
posted by BrianInFlorida at 08:16 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 28, 2005 #
Psyche, I think you're looking at a cached page. I just visited the site for the first time and I'm not seeing either one of the links you've mentioned. Looks like the links to the forum were removed, but the forum itself is still there. Or there's some weird glitch. Or the same people who are blocking Brian are blocking me. Ok, now I'm paranoid. ;)
posted by valbee at 08:20 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 28, 2005 #
It's still not showing up on my main page. The link you have, "HOW CAN WE FIX TOLEDO" does not load up on my computer.
I'm starting to sense the confederacy is conspiring against me.
HEY YA SUM BI*CHES, I GOT THE LINK TO ROB'S BLOG SITE!! NICE TRY!!
posted by BrianInFlorida at 08:22 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 28, 2005 #
Okay...the first time I go to the site I see what I described to Brian, if I hit refresh then the links to the forum are gone.
so yep, mine was cached.
The links to the forum have been removed.
unless you use the direct link I posted above.
:-)
posted by psyche777 at 08:50 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 28, 2005 #
http://www.lucascountyvotes.org/boe/Candidates0905.pdf
List has finally been released of all candidates, granted it's pdf but it's finally out.
:-)
posted by psyche777 at 11:29 P.M. EST on Fri Jul 29, 2005 #
Hello all -
FYI - The Toledo Free Press is doing a series of interview articles on "all seven" mayoral candidates. These will be published - one per week - through the september 13th issue. The first is in the current (August 3) issue. They started with Carty.
For my part, I'll quote a collegue of mine who says "Carty has a 45 caliber mouth, and keeps shooting himself in the foot." Keep an eye on the Blade in the next few days - He's at it again!
posted by twriter59 at 02:44 P.M. EST on Wed Aug 03, 2005 #
Personally, I've given up on the bias slant of TFP. It pains me that a publication with an opprotunity to become a medium above what Toledo already has, lowered itself to the same level as the Blade by giving Bill Carroll, David Ball and Jimmy Jackson free reign to publish their excuses to have the steamplant.
In my eyes, the Toledo Journal has more credibility, and I have removed the TFP link from my "favorites".
Good going, Mike.
posted by BrianInFlorida at 03:21 P.M. EST on Wed Aug 03, 2005 #
I just noticed this morning Frank Szollosi's interesting use of banner advertising on the Toledo Blade's website. Have any other local candidates done this? On price and reach, I wonder how banner ads compare to radio spots, signs, and billboards?
posted by jr at 11:12 A.M. EST on Mon Aug 15, 2005 #
I have to admt that Frank Szollosi is very techno-savvy, although most of his blog is just regurgitated Democratic Party happy-face blather.
Szollosi's blog does get interesting, though, when he gets testy with some of the more acerbic posters. Witness this reply by Frank yesterday:
"Hey man, I'm for Costco at Westgate & the redevelopment of Westgate in line with the goals of Walk Westgate as much as possible. Save your "pathetic" talk for somebody else."
posted by historymike at 07:59 P.M. EST on Mon Aug 15, 2005 #
I think it's a good idea to advertise with banner ads. Stats show that an increasing number of people are reading the news online.
August 2005 story:
"Online newspaper readership continued to climb in the second quarter of 2005, reaching a peak audience of 43.7 million unique visitors during the month of May, representing nearly 30 percent of all adults online in that period – the highest monthly total in 18 months of tracking."
Maybe the banner ad has brought more traffic to Frank's site, which has led to more commenting by users.
Frank is definitely doing more on the web than any other local politician that I'm aware of. The rest may have a wait-and-see attitude. If Frank doesn't get re-elected, then some will blame Frank for having a blog and engaging the public. If Frank wins, they'll claim he would have won even if he didn't have a blog. The blog will only be recognized if Frank loses.
posted by jr at 09:35 P.M. EST on Mon Aug 15, 2005 #
Actually, jr, I don't think anyone - other than the techno-savvy will pay any attention to Frank's blog's impact on his election. It's really hard to allocate the impact specific pieces of advertisement have on a campaign, unless they're extremely memorable or unique (think Swift Boat ads). Blogs are becoming just another tool in the campaigning - just like flyers, stickers, lit pieces, radio and tv.
And several candidates have used the banners on The Blade - Thurber did in 2001 and 2002, Allen Roy (state rep candidate) did in 2002...didn't pay much attention to it in 2004, though.
(oops - better watch out, I just identified those 'evil republicans' as being on the cutting edge...beware of individuals claiming it's because they're the rich)
posted by intrepid at 06:48 A.M. EST on Tue Aug 16, 2005 #
Agreed, intrepid. Some local, and many national, Republicans have been very creative in their aproaches.
I think that this has been one of the keys to the GOP ascendancy (note: I said one of the keys, people. I'm leaving ideology out and just focusing here on strategy).
They have done a much better job packaging their message on radio talk shows and using the Internet to mobilize voters, although the Dems finally showed some signs of recognizing and coordinating new technologies in the last few years (MoveOn.org, Howard Dean's virtual grassroots campaign).
The Republicans have also done a much better job of maintaining party discipline. The moderates have kept themselves a quiet arm's-length away from the social conservatives, while the religious right has learned to accept a small measure of restraint on their fervent advocacy on issues like abortion and stem cell research.
posted by historymike at 08:12 A.M. EST on Tue Aug 16, 2005 #
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