What really matters.

As I've been reiterating, the 2010 election is about jobs.

Two stories that hit the major newswires late last week pushed that very narrative.



The first story appeared nationally on MSNBC and the Washington Post.

The second was local and featured in the Cincy Enquirer.

These two pieces highlight what's really important in next year's election. They are about what really matters - families....and the jobs that help keep them together.

They are important not just politically, but realistically, too. Each reflects something said in Hershey's DDN article that I highlighted this morning:

“Even if I’m not unemployed, my neighbor is,” said Green.

Bingo. Us political hacks can talk til we're blue in the face about budget compromises and tax cuts or tax hikes, but what matters to 95% of Ohioans is their own situation, and that of their family and neighbors.

From the Enquirer article:

Jennifer Furber braces for the question every afternoon when her kids get home from school.

"Did you find a job today?"

She hears the worry in their voices and she wants to say something, anything, to make them feel better, to assure them they won't have to move away from their friends or abandon their house or quit playing soccer because she can't afford the sign-up fees.

Now, Jennifer Furber may or may not vote for Ted Strickland. But I'm betting a lot of her neighbors definitely won't be. And as we continue to see these failures of Turnaround Ohio....neither will the rest of the state.