McCain, Palin Visiting My Home Town October 30 – I Think I’ll Pass

My hometown of Mentor, Ohio and Lake County are no strangers to Presidents, or presidential politics. It is the home (now a National Historic site) of the 20th President of the United States, James A. Garfield. His home was named “Lawnfield” by reporters who used to wait outside Garfield’s front porch for him to deliver campaign speeches.

George H.W. Bush flew right over my house in a helicopter (accompanied by a group of huge military helicopters) on September 5, 1992 when he spoke at the County Fairgrounds a few miles away on US Route 20. I heard the helicopters coming and ran out to my front yard to wave, like if anyone could really see me. (Well, maybe they could, they were flying pretty low.) I stood in line for a few hours at Rep. Steven LaTourette’s office in Mentor to get a ticket to President George W. Bush’s September 2004 campaign appearance in neighboring Kirtland. (Sadly, when the big day arrived I was sick and couldn’t attend.) I got much closer to seeing President George W. Bush when he visited Mentor on April 15, 2005, and he stopped at a restaurant only a little over a mile from my home. I was standing at the curb on the corner of Mentor Avenue (US Route 20) and Center Street as his motorcade zipped by, going so fast that most of my pictures were worthless except for maybe one where the presidential limo was in part of the shot (below). It was the closest I’d even been to a sitting president.

G.W. Bush's limo. Not a great pic, I know.

It was the best I could get
The Republicans know that to win Ohio, they must win Lake County. According to a 2007 article by Associated Press. the voting record of Lake County, “mirrors Ohio's more accurately than any other county in the state, according to an analysis by The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer of voting in Ohio's 88 counties since 1960.” While it’s the smallest county in the state by area, the same report ranked it 11th with a population of 227,511. So it comes as no surprise that over the last few elections where Republicans felt they had to win Ohio that they made sure to visit the area.

But, with today’s news that John McCain and Sarah Palin are coming to town for a rally at Mentor High School, my first thought was indifference. My second thought was they won’t have Lake County. Not this time. At least, that is what I hope. So, despite that I’ve always been interested in politics and it would be interesting to go to the rally just to see the event, and document it, I just can’t do it. Why? Because I can’t bring myself to sit idly by in a crowd of McCain supporters. It would be hypocritical. And I hope that anyone else who wants to go out of curiosity would also just stay away. I don’t want anyone, even if it is one person like me, contributing to the impression that there is big support for McCain in Mentor, Ohio or Lake County.

So despite the fact that I’m curious as to how the event will go, my curiosity ends when I realize that by attending it makes it appear that I am supporting the ticket, which I am not. This time, I won’t be standing in line for a ticket, or waiting on the street corner for hours on a cold day to see someone drive by. Nope. Not this time.

But, if anyone else is interested , here is a link to information on Road to Victory Rally in Mentor, OH. I sure hope that road leads them to nowhere this time.


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