Ted Strickland, Young Democrats and some Young Republicans

Pictures up at the title link, I was able to tape Ted Strickland's speech and will transcribe some of that later probably tomorrow after all of the media coverage so that I can compliment what is being presented. What I wanted to focus on was the more human interest aspect of what happened between the Young Democrats and the Young Republicans at today's event. No there was no violence nor was there any strong words exchanged.

Our Mayor Carty Finkbeiner made a statement telling those who came bearing Blackwell signs basically they were welcome but to behave. There were more Strickland supporters present than Blackwell supporters, at first the Blackwell supporters were more to the back with their signs then a few moved up to the front, then more Democrat supporters moved up. The crowd even chuckled when one Blackwell supporter went to the very front towards the middle of the crowd and then a Strickland supporter went right in front of him holding her Strickland sign in front of his.

Ted did not appear to be bothered by the whole situation, he said "I want to thank all of the young people for being here, and I really don't mind the Blackwell signs, so you don't have to worry about that. This is a free country and what we are doing today is an exercise in that right as a freedom and so everyone is welcome and everyone has a right to express their opinion and I think that is good and is healthy for our democracy."

I haven't had the opportunity to get to personally know many of the Young Republicans, I have come to know and really like some of the Young Democrats since the birth of this blog. I'm not sure of this whole cross protesting thing as far as what it does as far as promoting a message but I agree this is a free country. I'd much rather have people be able to do what they did today than be blocked or barred from events where they are merely trying to express their opinion. The only thing I disagreed with was one particular message written on the sidewalk in chalk. When I arrived there were several messages written in chalk down the length of the sidewalk in front of University Hall. I did not witness it being written, and the majority of the messages were things like "Vote 4 Blackwell". What I think draws the line between civil and uncivil was done by whoever wrote the message "Ted Strickland is a Baby Killer". Yes, there is a photo of that particular sidewalk taken so those of you who were not there have the ability to see it. It didn't upset anyone from what I could tell but I thought it was a bit tacky and I think we are all old enough to be beyond chalk messages on sidewalks. I debated how I was going to cover it, but in the end decided it was better to write about all of it, both the good and the not so good.

I realize campaigns and opinions of who you support can be polarizing. So, I applaud all of those who disagree but do so in the same manner of how they would want their own preferred candidate to be treated no matter which political party they are a part of.