[racism] on the ground in OH.

bringing DOWN the tone of my [usually light-hearted] campaign coverage to a disturbing low, see the following news out of [my battleground state] Ohio shared from friends near and far.

first, from a[nother] Singaporean colleague (Arvind):


now you're probably saying, "that's a pretty biased report, it's from a backwoods town in eastern Ohio. plus, it's from Al Jazeera, isn't that an Islamic based news outlet?"

well, my friend Vikas brings it even closer to home. from his hometown of Fairfield, OH, in fact (which is a northwestern suburb of Cincinnati):


you can find the original posting here.

making it even more personally relevant, while canvassing yesterday in Madisonville, OH, at one house, when my buddy Karl + i identified us as volunteers w/ the Obama campaign, we were asked by one gentleman (in a less than inviting tone) to "get off [his] porch."

as i continue to tell many of my very optimistic friends on coast east and west, i remain "cautiously optimistic" about this election. don't underestimate the racial (racist?) undertones of middle (and southern) America, where i've spent most of my life.

"Country First," indeed.