Democrats Cheer Obama's Debate, Early Voting Win
Democrats were celebrating a double-dose of good news late Tuesday, as President Obama’s wiely praised debate performance last night followed word earlier in the day that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to block in-person early voting the three days prior to election day.
“Barack Obama showed up tonight -- and he showed up big,” the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, Chris Redfern, said in a fundraising appeal emailed following the president’s second debate with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
“Point after point after point, President Obama dominated the debate and laid out the case for how he's looking out for Ohio by protecting our auto industry, cracking down on China's unfair trade policies, and supporting affordable education for students,” Redfern said. Romney, meanwhile, was “immature,” interrupted moderator Candy Crowley, struggled on substance, lied and shouted down Obama, the party chairman said.
Unlike the first debate, in which Romney was widely seen as the victor, throughout Tuesday night’s matchup Obama directly engaged Romney on issues and what he said were misrepresentations of his own positions, and aggressively made the case for his policies.
“Our president's performance has me so fired up!” said Stephanie Schirock of Emily’s List in an email appeal. “Fair pay. Birth control. Planned Parenthood. President Obama was the only one on that stage tonight fighting for us.”
Redfern’s state GOP counterpart, Bob Bennett, said in a two-sentence statement that “Ohioans saw a failed president trying to explain away a dismal record debating a leader with a plan to put America back on track. Obama has made his case, and there's no more disguising he doesn't have answers."
Earlier in the day Democrats were celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear Ohio’s appeal of rulings that opened the way for in-person early voting Nov. 3,4, and 5.
“[Gov.] John Kasich, Jon Husted and the Republican legislature started this fight to limit poll access nearly a year and a half ago,” Redfern said. “They ignored us when we collected over 300,000 signatures to overturn this blatant voter suppression, but now they can't ignore the U.S. Supreme Court.” Obama’s reelection campaign sued on behalf of restoring the weekend and Monday hours.
“This action from the highest court in the land marks the end of the road in our fight to ensure open voting this year for all Ohioans, including military, veterans and overseas voters,” said Obama for America's general counsel, Bob Bauer. “We now turn our full attention to educating Ohio voters on when and how they can vote along with presenting the clear choice they face when selecting their next president.”
In response to the decision, Husted issued a directive setting in-person early voting for 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 3, 1-5 p.m. Nov. 4, and 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 5.
“Despite the court’s decision today to deny our request for a stay, I firmly believe Ohio and its elected legislature should set the rules with respect to elections in Ohio, and not the federal court system,” Husted said. “However, the time has come to set aside the issue for this election.”
MORE: Fact-Checking the Second Presidential Debate
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.