Columbus, Ohio

So goes the back story of the Kerry campaign's newest signature, the "front porch visit" — though the porch is optional. Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, have held a total of 10 such homespun events, in middle-class neighborhoods across Iowa, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and here in Oregon since stumbling across the form in mid-June.

The low-key, invitation-only events, where perhaps 100 people sit around red-checked picnic tables, raising hands with questions rather than waving signs with slogans, mimic the town-hall style campaigning for the Iowa caucuses at which both Kerry and Edwards excelled. [..]

In Columbus, last month, the campaign chose a cul-de-sac seemingly assembled to appeal to its constituency — a Hispanic family living next to a single mother next to a black couple next to a military veteran next to a laid-off worker, with a foreclosed home in between.

Many people in Columbus refer to it as a "cow town." This is absurd, of course, for a city this size. What they mean is that this is not New York. For those of us who prefer a more leisurely pace and less ado, that's fine; we advise the discontented to move to New York. Columbus is a major metropolitan area, however, and has many of the attributes. The radio market here is large and aggressive. Sadly, that means that many of the stations run "programmed" music: QFM96 is the "classic rock" station, Sunny95 is the "light rock" station, WCOL is the country station, etc. There are some good independent stations, though, and public radio is in fine form. WOSU has an FM station, which has a free-form classical format; an AM station which is talk radio and news; and, of course, a television station. Additionally WCBE (Columbus Board of Education) operates a public radio FM station which has an "alternative music" format. It is a very competetive radio market. In television, there are at least three cable outlets, as well as many broadband internet access services. The "big three" networks are represented, in addition to PBS at the WOSU station; both Fox and Warner Brothers have television stations here.

One aspect of a large city is present in Columbus, with a vengeance. Columbus is a restaurant town, with a very competitive market. Columbus State Community College offers a program for potential chefs which is certified by the Culinary Institute of America. Oddly, in a town with such a large Greek population, Greek is about the only major cuisine not represented. There are a few good Greek delis, though, and Zeta's, on High Street in the Short North, is the best (in my never humble opinion). There are Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Carribean and Mexican restaurants, both white table cloth and casual, as well as many "world cuisine" style of restaurants. In Grandview, one finds Spagio, which was formerly the Gourmet Market. Chef Hubert Seifert (the old nazi) has trained a good many first-class chefs, by virtue of exploiting them shamelessly as students. It was previously a white table cloth haute cuisine restaurant, classic European style, but he's switched, and renamed the place, originally offering exotic pizzas and single-serving casserole dishes baked in wood-fired ovens. It still owes much to the European tradition, but it is now updated and very trendy. The Grandview café has a seedy look, but offers some first class traditional American diner food-and is especially noted for its pickerel, which is what Ohioans call walleye. This is one of the wonderful secrets of Columbus-the town is full of really good diners, and small family restaurants.

Education is big in this town as well, apart from the Ohio State University. Devry University, which was originally called Devry Institute, has one of the best computer programming programs in the nation. Many locals still scoff at a school that has long advertised on television, but it is really a community college writ large, with full degree programs, and first class instruction. Absent the emphasis on sports or research of many a major university, it is free to concentrate on excellence in education, and it does. Franklin University originally focused on pre-law and law school, but has recently concentrated on "adult" education, expanding night courses, and offering "life experience" credit to older students. Central State University is one of the old, traditional black colleges. Ohio Wesleyan University and the Pontifical College Josephinum are the large religiously sponsored schools, and the Pontifical College is the only such institution outside of the Vatican. The University of Dayton has a campus (very small) in Columbus, largely to service correspondence and on-line students. I've mentioned Columbus State Community college, and very nearby to it is the Columbus School of Art and Design-which also enjoys a national reputation for excellence. More when i think of it.