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Thursday, January 27, 2005

Update: Ohio 2006 and Sen. Reid War Room

Two days ago I wrote about the timing of Ted Strickland bowing out of Ohio's race for governor in light of Ari Rabin-Havt joining Senator Reid's "war room." Today I got to speak with Ari for a bit and learned a great deal about his purchase of the Strickland for governor domain names. It appears that in 2002, someone purchased a Ted Strickland for Congress website and used if for nefarious purposes.

As one SSP blogger pointed out, Ari worked for Congressman Strickland in the past. It turns out that Ari snapped up potential 2006 Strickland for governor websites so the same would not happen again to a man Ari regards with the utmost respect and is, "one of the best bosses he has ever had."

That decision by a web-savvy former employee and current member of the "war room" doesn't surprise me. In fact, it is quite consistent with the discussions of post-modern politics we have had on SSP over the past few weeks.

Posted at 07:05 PM in Ohio | Technorati

Comments

Ari is a great guy who I knew before he was running shop all over the DNC. I'm hoping he'll continue to be a good guy to work with.

Posted by: dstein at January 27, 2005 11:11 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

dstein,

Thanks for stopping by. I got a good impression from my first conversation with Ari. I am glad to see Senator Reid hire a person with netroots "street cred" to participate in a two-way dialogue with the blogosphere.

I also think the move was geniune, not because they see the need to "pacify" us and keep the money flowing. Admitedly, I was a bit skeptical of Senator Reid's ascension at first; this step makes me feel better. To me, a willingness to communicate directly with the base of the party is just as important as inidividual policy positions I hold dear.

Tim

Posted by: Tim Tagaris at January 28, 2005 11:28 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment