By Ken Hanson

Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Ted Strickland stomped his opposition in the primary, and is “out of the gates” running towards November with a double-digit poll lead, not to mention a substantial financial edge, over Republican nominee Ken Blackwell. Happy times are here again, right? Well, not according to Ohio’s big city democrats.

A front page story from The Other Paper's Dan Williamson outlines the woe and gnashing of teeth the big city liberals are suffering. While Mr. Williamson does his usual excellent job in his story, I think there is a current running just under the story that deserves further examination.

The gist of the story is that the Mayors of Dayton, Cleveland, Columbus, Akron and Youngstown, as well as a congressperson from Cleveland, have all withheld their support from Strickland. Surely a candidate polling as strongly as Strickland must have committed some major transgression to be blackballed in such a manner. Strickland’s crime? His policy positions.

By Chad D. Baus

“Out of the dorms and into the streets, we won't be raped, we wont be beat!” proclaimed the women of Athens and Ohio University as they swarmed campus and surrounding streets. The threat of night storms or the jeers of onlookers didn’t stop the women from “Taking Back the Night,” for the annual march and rally protesting violence against women.

In the United States, a woman is raped every six minutes and battered every 15 seconds, said Clarissa Kornell of OU Amnesty International in her opening speech on the West Portico of Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium....

Thus begins an article in The (Ohio University) Post, describing an event that has been occurring on the campus since 1979.

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The march, with the theme “Side by Side: Not Ahead or Behind,” began with a silent walk down Jeff Hill in honor of victims and survivors of sexual violence. Once the group reached the bottom of the hill, they blew out the flames on their candles and exploded in chant and drumming through East Green. Passersby on East Green clapped in support of the women.

So the 150 women who "took back the night" may have felt empowered for an hour or two. But how will they feel the next time they are alone and defenseless on that same dark street? What have marchers accomplished in terms of tangible improvements to anyone's safety?

Click 'Read More' for the entire story.