That's depressing. The nice thing about being in Akron: Akron and Cleveland are probably the bluest parts of the state, and I think Obama will do well here. :)

I came here to say "Hey, Findlay's in the news," but you'd beaten me to it.

Okay, here's the deal--for many on the east coast, the midwest, especially in the visual arts,poetry/fiction, film, and lifestyle, is confusing because in the past many midwesterners came from the politics of Free Soilers, unions, Wobblies, and at one point really believed in the Alger mythology of 'pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.' So we're an oddity. Any chance for the mainstream Fox-news types to play up that oddity, that sense of caution and yes indeed, stick in the mudness of the minority, off they go, and they hammer away at that image, even though for most of us, we're not that way. But because Norman Rockwell and It's a Wonderful Life and stubborn farmers are part of our heritage, that's what outsiders fasten on to and won't see reality. How they stumbled on Findlay, who knows. And while the town doesn't seem overly deep thinking--but the mayor did run on a whim, and he's knee deep in them now--take heart in Gerri Kish, who even as a transplanted Islander, is more indicative of your neighbors here. Regionalism, while wonderful in the arts as far as showing all the parts of a place, can, in the wrong hand, lead to someone portraying a place as shallow and here stuck in the '50's.