|
First, Bell is a quality guy. As Woody Hayes once said, “you
win with quality.” Bell is a hero and it is tough to run
against a hero.
Second, Bell has great parents. Norman and
Ora Bell are well loved in Toledo and some of that love
spills over onto Mike.
Third, Bell stayed on his message of keeping
government out of business. It was a subtle point but it
distinguished him from his opponent, Democrat Keith
Wilkowski.
Next, Bell was handled pretty well by FLS
Marketing. They let Bell be Bell and did not attempt to
stifle his individuality. Finally, Bell had the day to day
help of a good street team inspired, not led, but inspired
by Weldon Douthitt.
Douthitt ought to be on the payroll for FLS
Marketing. He actually did his work as an evening volunteer
and he worked like a mad man on behalf of Bell. He put up
hundreds of billboards and distributed – get this one –
10,000 “Jack Ford Endorses Bell” pieces of literature in the
parking lots of 96 churches in one week and 102 during the
last week prior to the election.
Can you visualize putting campaign literature
on 10,000 cars in the course of two weeks? Douthitt also
organized the church rallies at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist
Church.
Kudos to Rev. John Walthall of Mt. Ararat,
Bishop Marjorie Holt of Bethesda Christian Center and Rev.
J.L. Jordan, Jr., of Ebenezer. Kudos also to Jordan’s
powerful son, Keith. I say “powerful” because he walks and
talks with authority and is not afraid to stand up for a
black man.
It seems to me that the Democratic Party has
a real problem in Lucas County. A cosmetic makeover will not
clean this mess up. If I am Gov. Ted Strickland, I would
call Chris Redfern, state party chairman, and tell him to go
to Toledo and fix the mess. And I would start with Douthitt
not Bell. Bell is not going to compromise his principles but
Douthitt might be willing to work within the party structure
… if things can be worked out.
Contact Jack Ford at
jack@thetruthtoledo.com. |
