Living In A Presidential Election Battleground State

The motto for most people who live in a presidential election battleground state is “Stop the insanity!” The political ads are non-stop here in Ohio, and after a while, they all sound like noise. The worst ads are coming from the PACs, who seem to think that voters are stupid and won’t check out some of the outrageous claims they make. And while PACs each give themselves a moniker, it’s not like a candidate speaking out under his or her real name and holding themselves accountable. PACs, in my opinion, are the equivalent of an anonymous poster trolling on an internet forum or message board. I do understand the need for people who are not actually campaigning for election to have an outlet to voice their opinions, but many PACs seem very loose with the truth in many cases. Thankfully, there is Politifact.com which helps voters to sort out the lies from the truth.

Also, the internet and web sites such as YouTube provide an excellent vehicle to document past comments made by those currently seeking election. The current Republican and PAC ads attempt to place the blame on the current dismal economy and job market on President Obama. But in 2004, Mitt Romney had this to say about blaming a president for economic woes (excerpt from the video below):


"The people of America recognize that the slowdown in jobs that occurred during the early years of the Bush administration were the result of a perfect storm. And an effort by one candidate to somehow say, 'Oh, this recession and the slowdown in jobs was the result of somehow this president magically being elected' - people in America just dismiss that as being poppycock."




Using Romney’s logic from 2004, this voter sees Romney’s current placing of blame for the current economic woes on Obama as poppycock. Of course, since the term poppycock isn’t one used by most normal people, I’d rather call Romney’s claims ludicrous.

Living in a battleground state means a voter has to do more than just listen to the ads and respond emotionally. Here, one must take the initiative to check the facts and use tools like Politifact.com to get the real story. In fact, every resident of every state should consider their vote important enough – and their state critical enough – that they take the time to get the facts before casting a vote.

While those of us in battleground states get bombarded with attack ads multiple times a day, I for one consider myself lucky that many of these ads often expose the real candidate and what kind of elected official they would be.

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