For our second interview ever in the Tower Press Building suite 105, a whole gaggle of bloggers met Sherrod Brown, and it was just ducky. Pardon the metaphors, mixed as they are, but we had a good time. In addition to the usual George, Gloria, TimF, and Yellow Dog Sammy (Jeff Coryell), a few others there were Jason Haas, Jerid Kurtz, Tamara Franke, Jim Eastman, Scott Bakalar with the donuts, Roger Bundy, Jill Miller Zimon (the birthday girl), Connie Schultz, Daniella Lindquist, Alex Parker, John Ryan and his daughter. This all happened Saturday, August 12th, starting shortly past noon. Initial warmup patter involved making critical distinctions between Barbara Ferris, Gloria Ferris, and the Ferris Steakhouse, touching on Mansfield commonalities, and bringing in John Lanigan and Yale.

Thereafter, we began recording the podcast, starting with Dave’s Supermarket in Ohio City, Wake Up WalMart, Heinen’s, a fair wage, unionization, health-care benefits, Ohio taxpayers estimated $70 million annual subsidy of WalMart, affordable drug costs, buses to Windsor, Medicare Part D, Tenn-Care, doctors going off the insurance grid, cost-shifting, the State of Maryland experiment, the youth population relocating away from Ohio, tuition costs, Milwaukee juxtaposed with Cleveland, David Orr of Oberlin College and solar power, farms and Mansfield, the Bush legacy at NASA-Glenn, Ted Strickland, and the historic first blogpost of Scott Bakalar, prompted by Sherrod Brown and HB 375.

Sherrod revisits his reasons for taking on the harder task of a senate race, and speaks of being on the same page with George Will with Ohio’s being “the epicenter of American politics.� Also mentioned at this point are Kerry’s grassroots campaign, prospects of 2008, Jill Zimon on the National Jewish Democratic Council, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, exit strategies, a request from Sammy to “unpack that argument,� the magnitude of spending $2 billion a week on war efforts, building bridges to people who are not ideological soulmates, rampant dysfunctionality, going across the great divide, Bill Frist, working with McCain to close loopholes, and seeing/seeking collaborative opportunities in Washington.

One point of distinction Sherrod makes about himself is that he does radio appearances all the time, more than any other candidate; he also tries to be a candidate of sharp contrasts. Jim Eastman brings Ohio’s two dozen wineries and shipping policies into the dialogue, and Bill Callahan touches on the telecom bill, the developing internet, and net neutrality, the “wide-open marketplace.� Sherrod restates clearly a goal to “build a more equitable country� and points that he is not the one who is waging class warfare. The Gang of 14 comes up briefly, and then Mark Twain’s paraphrased here as “When two people think alike, one ain’t doing much thinking.�

Roger brings up having the PBGC issues on the radar screen, and underfunding and DB and DC plans are mentioned by the candidate. Sammy asks about character, personality, and a moral compass, and Sherrod harks back to his dad, a small-town doctor, and his mom, always an advocate of social and economic justice. There’s a great piece here about the beatitudes and the Sermon on The Mount as being the greatest political speech of all time. Sherrod also recognizes and accepts his role as an advocate and as a warrior, in that he “gets to fight every day� for his constituents. Jill then introduces education issues, and we hear about Head Start and a middle-of-the-night vote, Sherrod’s 14 years in Congress and the positioning of his NoChildLeftBehind vote in his memory, “overtesting� and the concept of teaching to the test, why it may not be as much fun to be a teacher any more, vouchers and false choice, charters, and the need for a level playing field. Jerid asks about committee assignments, and we wrap with Gloria and voters feeling they have no part in the public process. Sherrod finishes strong, giving us some hope and vision on the way out, touching on the Kennedy family techniques and their success because they appeal to peoples’ hope, how to be “engaging the individual in a macro way, if that’s possible,� and how “We can change this country in Ohio…over the next 88-89 days,� and we have the ticket right here, right now, to do that.

This was an interview that picked up momentum as it went along as everybody loosened up and got down to talking to each other in a small public forum, a forum of ideas with a man who is comfortable with big ideas and can state them simply and understandably. We’re all looking forward to talking to him again soon, perhaps as early as this coming November. Our community dialogue with Sherrod Brown has now just begun, and we feel it will be for the greater benefit of all in this state and in this country.

Part 1. Time: 11.23
Part 2. Time: 14.43
Part 3. Time: 17.03
Part 4. Time: 14.45
Part 5. Time: 17.41

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