The loss of what Grow Ohio could have been...

I can't help thinking back to when Tim Tagaris first emailed me about Grow Ohio, back in July of last year:

Congressman Sherrod Brown publicly launched a new website today after requests from his constituents in Ohio’s 13th Congressional District. Since the 2004 election, the people of Congressman Brown’s district have asked him to take an active role in electing like-minded Democrats across Ohio, specifically tapping into the promise and potential of the Internet. Using the Internet also provides an effective mechanism for two-way communication between Congressman Brown and the people of Ohio.

Both sites will be information rich and Ohio specific. Grow Ohio allows users to contribute content and information directly to the site, allowing for a direct conversation with Congressman Brown, and each other, with no filter. In the near future, the site will also allow users to plan and promote local and statewide events.

Then yesterday this news came out:

General Election Changes
posted by Chris Stelmarski on 04/24/2006, 6:49 PM EST

Dear Grow Ohio readers and diarists,

With little more than a week left before the primary, we are shifting gears to focus all our energy on the general election.

Starting tomorrow, Grow Ohio will be redirected to our campaign website SherrodBrown.com. Existing content will be archived and original links preserved.

We are proud of the role played by Grow Ohio since last summer. Thank you very much to those who have posted, commented or contributed otherwise. You have changed the face of Ohio politics forever.

We hope you will join us on the campaign trail as we fight for progressive change at all levels of government.

I supported the idea of Grow Ohio when it was first created and I'll be honest, I only stopped when the Hackett V Brown stuff started. I decided as a Hackett supporter it was becoming more of a pro-Sherrod site than what the original basis for creation of it was. Recently I started visiting again but by then the site was already declining as far as posting.

I still support the initial concept behind Grow Ohio and hope that someday either it returns or something similar. I think we do need a place where grassroots supporters can meet to discuss Ohio with specific areas set up for our parts of Ohio. Northwest Ohio especially could use Grow Ohio with it's initial idea of helping candidates to be elected.

I truly hope that we did help change the face of Ohio politics forever, and for the better.

:-)

(This article was written for the Carnival of Ohio Politics brought to you by the wonderful Paul Miller of Northwest Ohio Net, make sure to stop by and visit him tomorrow to see what some of Ohio's best bloggers have on their minds)