Strickland and Neuhardt encourage 'Hillary Sent Me!' grassroots effort

Gov. Ted Strickland and attorney Sharen Neuhardt (D-Yellow Springs) encouraged early-voting and the "Hillary Sent Me!" grassroots effort in Ohio Friday afternoon in a conference call.

Neuhardt is running against state Sen. Steve Austria (R-Beavercreek) to replace retiring U.S. Rep. David Hobson (R-Springfield) in Ohio's 7th Congressional District.

"Hillary Sent Me!" is a grassroots mobilization effort "designed to galvanize Hillary Clinton's supporters and others across the country to help send Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden to the White House, to work on behalf of this year's critical Democratic races, and to get America back on track."

The effort began last weekend in New Hampshire, and will continue this weekend in Ohio and next weekend in Pennsylvania. The effort includes volunteers canvassing and phone banking for Democratic candidates.

An announcement says that Clinton is also "hitting the airwaves" with an actuality, in which she states, ""Between now and Monday, Ohioans can both register and vote at the same time at their local polling place. It's a great opportunity to cast your ballot and not have to worry about the hassles that sometimes happen on Election Day. If you need information on when and where to register and vote, you can log on to www.voteforchange.com."

Strickland said that Ohioans should take advantage of the early-voting period.

"We are continuing, obviously, from now until November 4 to encourage as many Ohioans as possible to take advantage of early voting," Strickland said. "I think that it will accomplish several good things. First of all, it will hopefully reduce some of the waiting lines on Election Day. It will give people the chance to vote at their convenience."

Strickland said that the turnout thus far has been encouraging. Strickland said that he hoped 50 percent of voters cast their ballots before November 4.

Neuhardt explained "Hillary Sent Me!," saying it's a new program to help elect a Democrat to the White House and new Democratic members to Congress.

"Hillary supporters are encouraged, through the program, to join her in doing all they can to help elect a Democrat to the White House," Neuhardt said. "And elect more Democrats to Congress, and get America back on track."

"Hillary is out there campaigning hard," Neuhardt continued. "This is an opportunity for supporters to follow her lead and work on behalf of Obama-Biden and all the other strong Democrats in critical races around the country."

Neuhardt said that the progam will bring in volunteers and attempt to energize all of the Hillary voters who "want to continue to work for the kinds of things that Hillary really believes in in terms of the direction of our country."

Neuhardt said her race was one of the targeted campaign that Clinton has suggested for her supporters to help out.