Connie Schultz: Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

Connie's latest entry on Huffington Post:

One of the bigger untold stories in Ohio this year is what is happening with so many progressive women, right here in the Midwest.

They're done waiting for the invitation. They are no longer standing in the shadows, being good sports about their anonymity while secretly stewing that no one has recognized them for the leaders they are meant to be.

Instead, armed with checkbooks funded by the force of their own labor and address books full of the evidence of friendships, they are throwing their own party, for the party, and they are helping to change the political landscape of this bellwether state.

I meet these women, day after day, week after week, as the heat rises in this year's race in Ohio for the U.S. Senate. My husband, Democratic Congressman Sherrod Brown, is taking on the Republican incumbent, Mike DeWine. Sherrod is ahead in all recent polls, despite early and ugly television ads by his opponent. Sherrod's race, and that of his friend and fellow Democratic Congressman Ted Strickland who is running for governor, are two of the most high-profile in the country. Once again, all eyes turn to Ohio. And more often than any other time in Ohio's history, they are meeting the gaze of women.

Click here to read Connie's full post. 

09/06/2006 / Permalink / Blogging, Connie, Hometown Tour, (all tags)

Connie Schultz: Karl Rove’s Playbook Goes Up in Smoke

From Connie's latest blog entry at Huffington Post:

It's impossible to gauge how many Americans were hurt or offended by Mike DeWine's attack ad that used a doctored image of the 9/11 tragedy to smear my husband, Sherrod Brown.

There are all the families, of course, the ones who lost loved ones when the Twin Towers burst into flames and disintegrated into mounds of smoldering rubble.

I thought of their anguish when I saw the ad, which starts with Mike DeWine insisting that he approved it and then turns to a fake image of the blazing towers.

I also wondered how many children saw the ad, which was the handiwork of the same firm that produced the 2004 Swift Boat ads against John Kerry. There are so many children whose hearts must still race at the sight of the horrifying images forever seared into their memories. It was, after all, a day that changed all of us.

Far more selfishly, I thought of our own family - our four grown children, and especially Sherrod's elderly mother. As soon as Sherrod learned about the ad, he picked up the phone and called her. "I don't want you finding out about this on TV," he said.

Click here to read the full post. 

07/26/2006 / Permalink / 2006, Connie, Hometown Tour, (all tags)

Candidate’s wife encourages other women to get involved

From Dayton Daily News: 

Connie Schultz, Pulitzer winner, is married to Sherrod Brown, who's challenging incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine.

It was like having lunch with a girlfriend.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning columnist. She also is the wife of the candidate, U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, who hopes to unseat U. S. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, in November. On Tuesday, Schultz joined a group of Miami Valley women interested in politics to applaud their activism and encourage them to get others involved in the process.

"I ask you all to find five women ... adopt them through the next 100 days before the election. If they have young children, offer to baby-sit so they can vote. If they are older, offer to drive them to the polls," Schultz said.

The group of up to 25 women from the Dayton region meet monthly at the Engineer's Club to talk about progressive causes, said Clayton Democrat Beverly Smith, who is challenging state Rep. Arlene J. Setzer, R-Vandalia, for the 36th District seat in the Ohio House.

Schultz spoke informally to them about women — as leaders, as politicians, as engaged voters — and discussed her two-year marriage to Brown, D-Avon.

"I have spent my entire career encouraging women to get involved in the political process and stepping up," Schultz said. "This is strategic. I would speak at any women's group. Women are the backbone of Ohio."

Schultz, a columnist for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, took a hiatus from her column during her husband's campaign.

"It was hard. I'm not going to kid you. I love my job, but I love my husband more," she said.

Schultz said she hasn't abandoned her writing career, just veered in another direction for now. She is currently writing a book about her experiences on the campaign trail for Random House, tentatively to be called, And His Lovely Wife.

"I want to speak for all the women who never felt they could," Schultz said. "I feel that responsibility."

07/26/2006 / Permalink / Connie, Hometown Tour, (all tags)

Hometown Journal Updates Coming Soon

Keep a look out for more installments in Connie's Hometown Journal later this week. Updates will include stops to Ironton, Porsmouth, Gallia, Marietta, Urbana, Sidney, and Troy.

In the meantime, make sure to check out Connie's entry on Huffington Post, "We are not afraid."

07/11/2006 / Permalink / Hometown Tour, (all tags)

Wife of Sherrod Brown visits commissioners

From the Ironton Tribune:

Ask a Lawrence Countian for an opinion and you’ll likely get one; extend a Lawrence County officeholder the opportunity to give opinions on a range of subjects and you just might be sitting for a while.

Connie Schultz, wife of U.S. Congressman and Democratic senatorial candidate Sherrod Brown, paid a visit to the Lawrence County Commission meeting Thursday as part of her cross-state “hometown tour.”

Schultz extended an invitation to commissioners to speak their minds about what is important to their constituents.

“Tell me what you want me to tell Sherrod,” she said.

They took her up on her offer. Commissioner George Patterson told Schultz he thought southern Ohio had been forgotten in the past by the government officials in Columbus and that the region has suffered for it.

“I don’t think Columbus understands us,” he told her.

Not only do those elected officials fail to understand what is important to this part of the state, they usually fall short in passing along funding for economic development and basics such as infrastructure. Patterson pointed to the Chesapeake Bypass as one instance where Columbus made promises, cooled its governmental heels and eventually came through with only a portion of its promise some 40 years late.

Patterson recalled he was in a meeting with state officials once to discuss the bypass and one state official fell asleep during the county’s presentation.

“That’s significant, that’s shameful,” Schultz said. She pledged Brown, if elected to represent all of the state, would not forget parts of it.

Click here to read the full article. 

07/01/2006 / Permalink / Connie, Hometown Tour, Southeast Ohio, (all tags)

Two Counties Down, 86 To Go

The Red Hatted LadyBugs of Putnam County assured Connie she's not old enough to wear a red hat -- yet.

Betty Hauenstein, a member of the Red Hatted Ladybugs, shows off her red hatted socks at the Putnam County Fair.

Ann Dillinger, from Ottawa, showed up to say hi to Connie at the Putnam County Fair.

Nothing like a room full of community acitivists to get the conversation going -- this time at Woodlands Restaurant in Findlay.

Ottawa (Putnam), Findlay (Hancock)
June 22, 2006

by Connie Schultz 

I was thrilled when Sherrod decided to run for the U.S. Senate, but I have to admit I had some adjusting to do. The hardest part, after taking a leave of absence from my job at The Plain Dealer, was figuring out how I could best help with the campaign. I've been a journalist all my adult life, and for the last three or so years I've been paid to give my opinion, week in and week out. I wasn't sure what else I could do besides give Sherrod the same free and abundant advice he's been getting from me since the day we met.   

What a deal, eh?  

Fortunately, we came up with a better idea. We decided I could draw on what I've learned over the years as a journalist, but also what I know as the daughter of proud, working class parents from small-town Ashtabula.   

I moved away from Ashtabula when I was 18, but over the years I realized I never really left. You are who you come from, and in many ways I will always be that small-town girl where everybody knew my name and who to call if I was even thinking of getting into trouble.  

There are towns like Ashtabula all across Ohio, full of hard-working people who still believe in the power of community and friendship. So that's where I'm headed - to all those communities that are the lifeblood of this great state of ours. We're calling it our Hometown Tour.  Two Counties Down, 86 To Go

This is my first journal entry from the road. The idea is for me to be Sherrod's eyes and ears in all the nooks and crannies of this 88-county race. We want to hear what's on your minds.

06/27/2006 / Permalink / Connie, Hometown Tour, Northwest Ohio, (all tags)

Connie’s Hometown Tour Hits Southeast Ohio

Sherrod's wife, Connie Schultz, is taking her Hometown Tour to southeast Ohio this Thursday.

Connie will appear at events in Gallia, Jackson, and Washington Counties to meet local supporters and talk about both Sherrod's campaign for the U.S. Senate and a new direction for Ohio in 2006.

Click here to get the latest event information.

In conjuction with the tour, the campaign released this radio ad.

Connie is well known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning column in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A collection of her best columns, which celebrate the daily lives of Ohioans, was recently published under the title "Life Happens: and other unavoidable truths."

She took an unpaid leave of absence this February to volunteer full time on her husband's campaign.

Connie is excited to hit the road on the Hometown Tour. She loves to share her experiences as a wife, mother and Ohioan, and hear people's stories and dreams for a better Ohio.

We hope to see you there.

06/26/2006 / Permalink / Audio, Connie, Hometown Tour, Southeast Ohio, (all tags)

Candidate Brown represents middle class, spouse asserts

From Findlay Courier: 

If Connie Schultz gets her way, newspapers across the country will run two headlines on Nov. 8, the day after the general election.

The first headline will say, "Democrats take back the House and Senate," and the other, "Ohio turns from red to blue."

To help make those headlines a reality, Schultz is visiting towns throughout Ohio to explain why her husband, Sherrod Brown, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, is the right choice.

After visiting the Putnam County Fair on Thursday, she stopped in Findlay at the Woodland Restaurant on South Main Street to talk about her husband's platform and vision.

"If you ask anybody, they'd say education, health care and jobs are the most important issues in this race," Schultz said.

06/24/2006 / Permalink / Connie, Hometown Tour, Northwest Ohio, (all tags)