obama

Debe Terhar breaks Godwin's law

The State Board of Education President Debe Terhar, in all her professional glory

State Board of Education President Debe Terhar said she was not comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler when she posted a photograph of the Nazi leader on her Facebook page with a message critical of the administration’s new gun-control efforts.

But she does say we “need to step back and think about it and look at history” to see that tyrants have disarmed their citizens.

Terhar, a Cincinnati Republican elected last week by the 19-member school board to a second term as its president, recently posted the picture with this commentary: “Never forget what this tyrant said: ‘To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.’ — Adolf Hitler.”

The photograph apparently originated with the Facebook page of Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children, which features a variety of anti-Obama, pro-gun posts and photos, such as scantily clad women hoisting large guns, a polar bear with the words “Holy f*** I’m glad I’m white,” and another saying “Where’s Lee Harvey Oswalt when you need him?”

When the Sipatch asked her about her Facebook post she said, “I’m not comparing the president to Adolf Hitler, it’s the thought of disarming citizens, and this has happened throughout history. What’s the true intention of the Second Amendment? It was to protect us from a tyrannical government, God forbid.”

Why is the State Board of Education President trolling racist Facebook pages in the first place, let alone making offensive comparisons to a genocidal maniac?

In one simple Post, Debe Terhar shows herself to:

  • Have a serious lack of professionalism
  • Questionable judgment
  • The inability to apologize
  • Lacking in historical understanding
  • A belief that we are stupid enough to believe she wasn't comparing the President to Hitler

Apparently in Terhar's world, only educators are to be held accountable.

Campaign 2012 Election Live Blog

12:09 p.m.
We're closing down the live blog. We'll be bringing all the relevant election results tomorrow, ahem, later today, - school levies, state board of ed, state legislature.

11:27 p.m.
Obama projected to win NV

11:27 p.m.
Incumbent house GOPers appear to have lost: Craig Newbold in HD5 to challenger Nick Barborak 50.44% to 49.56% and Rep. Casey Kozlowski has lost to John Patterson 52.78% to 47.22%.

11:13 p.m.
NBC calls Ohio for Obama. President Obama will be reelected to a second term.

11:10 p.m.
IA called for Obama. Romney now has to run the table to win.

11:02 p.m.
CO, CA, WA, HI called for Obama.
NC, ID, Called for Romney
Too early to call in OR

10:54 p.m.
Sadly, it looks like teachers Donna O'Connor (HD21) and Maureen Reedy (HD24) are going to narrowly lose

10:49 p.m.
MO called for Romney

10:44 p.m.
MN called for Obama

10:36 p.m.
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Yvette McGee Brown trails Sharon Kennedy 43%-57% of the vote, with 54% reporting

10:34 p.m.
As expected, Mitt Romney wins AZ.

10:32 p.m.
Teachers Tanyce Addison (SD26) and Teresa Scarmack (SD-20) are both trailing 40-60, with few precincts left to report.

10:17 p.m.
Ohio state Issues 1 & 2 both going down b y 69% and 64% respectively with 51% of precincts reporting.

10:13 p.m.
As of this time, in the race for the Ohio State Board of Education...
QB Stanley Jackson looks destined for defeat trailing 35-65
Districts 5 & 6 are close
Sarah Fowler, a 23 year old home schooler is going to win in District 7
Pro public education candidates Stephanie Dodd and Mary Rose Oakar are headed to victory
Tood Book, sadly looks destined for defeat.

9:35 p.m.
Another swing state, NH, is called for Obama.

9:26 p.m.
AP Calls Sherrod Brown reelected as Senator from Ohio

First swing state, WI called for Obama

9:15 p.m.
PA called for Obama

Education related, voters in South Dakota so far want to keep teacher tenure. 70 against repealing it, 29% for.

9:03 p.m.
All as expected...
NM, NY, MI are called for Obama.
TX, LA, KS, NE, ND, SD, WY, are called for Romney
AZ, MN, PA too early to call

8:32 p.m.
Teacher Donna O'Connor: 11,558, Duffey (Incumbent) 10,776 in early/absentee voting
Teacher Maureen L. Reedy: 12,082, Stephanie Kunze: 10,535 in early/absentee voting

8:29 p.m.
According to early vote totals Issue 2 is doing very badly. 57 of 88 counties have voted against measure.

8:03 p.m.
DC, DE, RI, ME, CT, MD, MA and IL are called for Obama.
MS, TN, AL, OK are called for Romney
Still too early to call in PA, NJ, MO, OH, NC, VA, FL

7:42 p.m.
Folks are still in line to vote in a number of locations around Ohio, including OSU

7:37 p.m.
SC called for Romney as expected.

7:32 p.m.
As expected so far. CNN calls WV, IN, KY, for Romney. VT for Obama.

A CNN exit poll has Obama 51, Romney 48 in Ohio. Exit poll in NC was 49-49 which was supposed to be Romney +4%

7:30 p.m.
The polls in Ohio are closed, and is being categorized as "too close to call" by NBC.

7:16 p.m.
Here's the times for poll closings:
7:00 pm: GA, IN, KY, SC, VT, VA
7:30 pm: NC, OH, WV
8:00 pm: AL, CT, DE, DC, FL, IL, ME, MD, MA, MS, MO, NH, NJ, OK, PA, RI, TN
8:30 pm: AR
9:00 pm: AZ, CO, KS, LA, MI, MN, NE, NM, NY, ND, SD, TX, WI, WY
10:00 pm: IA, MT, NV, UT
11:00 pm: CA, HI, ID, OR, WA
1:00 am: AK

An AFL poll of Ohio union members has found that SB5 has had a significant effect on union members

Ohio union members are energized and overwhelmingly supporting President Obama and Senator Brown for reelection.

By a 41-point margin, Ohio union members are voting for President Obama (70%) over Mitt Romney (29%) in the presidential race. The early vote among Ohio union members tilts even more heavily in President Obama’s favor (79% to 21%).

Obama’s support among Ohio union members has increased by five percentage points since 2008. Our Election Night and post-election polling in 2008 showed Obama winning 65% of the Ohio union vote, so even accounting for each poll’s margin of error, Obama currently is performing at least as well among Ohio members, if not better, than he did in 2008.

Senator Sherrod Brown also is in a strong position to win Ohio thanks to strong support among the state’s union members, among whom he leads Josh Mandel by 70% to 29%.

According to an NEA poll, 8 out of 10 people had education as a top priority.

The NYT has an interactive tool that will show you who needs what states to win.

Official live results can be seen at the Secretary of States website, here.

Where the polls stand - the last look

Here's our last look at the state of the polls before we know the result tomorrow.

After months of campaigning, millions spent on advertising and mail, the campaign has settled in to where it always looked destined to, a narrow lead for the president, creating an even narrower path for Mr Romney to achieve 270 electoral college votes.

The most conservative of the polling analyst, Real Clear Politics, has the race for electoral college votes almost neck-and-neck

One of the states they have in the toss-up column naturally being Ohio. However, their state-by-state look at the polling shows President Obama with a lead averaging 2.9%, one of his largest in some time, right at the moment he would want to be leading.

Meanwhile, 538, the NYT poll analyst has the President winning the electoral college vote 307.2 - 230.8, a margin that has been increasing since the first debate

583 has the probably of President Obama winning Ohio at 86.8%.

If you just want to settle in an watch the results, BuzzFeed has created a "Viewer's Guide To Who Won The Presidential Election"

This (probably)* doesn't have to be all that complicated. Obama has several paths to victory. Romney has fewer. And these are the main ones, organized by the time (EST) that polls close.
*The New York Times counts 512 possible outcomes — but the paths above are the likely ones.

As you can see, Romney has to run the table of swing states in order to prevail.

Of course, all of this only matters if you vote. Don't forget to check our our voters checklist of what you might need, and what your voting rights are in Ohio.

Where the polls stand - 1 week to go

With the debates behind us, and just a week of swing state campaigning ahead, the race for the Presidency is once again a close, polarized affair, between two very different choices.

Real Clear Politics has Mitt Romney falling back slightly from their previous weeks projection, with Obama favored to win 201 electoral college votes, Mitt Romney 191 (down from 206), and 146 up for grabs.

President Obama maintains a small but persistent lead in Ohio, of around 2%

The NYT calculates that this persistent lead is now projecting a 74.9% chance of President winning Ohio next Tuesday.

538 projects Obama to win 296.6 electoral college votes to Mitt Romeny's 241.4

Where the polls stand - 2 weeks to go

With just one Presidential debate to go, and a little more than two weeks remaining, campaign 2012 continues to be a close affair. Real Clear Politics has the race essentially tied, with Obama favored to win 201 electoral college votes and Mitt Romney 206, with 131 up for grabs.

Despite the narrowing of the national polling, President Obama continues to enjoy a small but persistent lead in swing states, including the all important Ohio

The NYT calculates that this persistent lead is generating a 70.3% chance of President winning Ohio on November 6th

These persistent swing state leads have 538 projecting the President to win 288 electoral votes to Mitt Romney's 255.

Where the polls stand - 22 days to go

With just over 3 weeks remaining until the November 6th election, Presidential polling has gotten a lot tighter, with the Presidents large lead having been eroded since the first debate.

Real Clear Politics now has the President ahead by just 10 Electoral College votes, with 146 up for grabs.

The NYT pollster has the President projected to win in the narrowest of fashions to date, too

Meanwhile, in Ohio, the race has tightened too, but remains a crucial firewall for the President

As you can see from the graph below, Mitt Romney has never led in Ohio

These polling leads in Ohio are confirmed by actual votes currently being cast early

A new poll shows President Obama with a commanding 59-31 percent lead among those who have already voted, with seven percent of those surveyed saying they have already cast their ballot.

A second poll, from PPP, showed similar results

The key finding on this poll may be how the early voters are breaking out. 19% of people say they've already cast their ballots and they report having voted for Obama by a 76-24 margin. Romney has a 51-45 advantage with those who haven't voted yet, but the numbers make it clear that he already has a lot of ground to make up in the final three weeks before the election.

The President is being projected to win Ohio by the NYT polling analyst, but by the smallest probability we have seen to date