DISCUSSION: "LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD - OR - CAN'T?"

Is PUAMA (People United Against Massillon Annexation) the "Little Engine that Could" or is it the "Little Engine that Cannot?"

PUAMA has hitched up the Republican Travis Secrest county commissioner campaign as its load and is game to try to pull the load over the massive Mount Harmon (Democrat Tom Harmon's campaign).

Supposedly, Local 9187 of the United Steelworkers (the union at Stark County Jobs and Family Services) will be assisting the PUAMA Express. In the end, the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) believes the union will be cajoled into at least taking a "neutral" position in the race.

Unions are too ensconced in Democratic politics for anyone to realistically believe that a local union will bolt to a Republican candidate.

If Harmon loses this race, he has only himself to blame. Harmon has committed a number of political blunders that may have put this race in play.

The Report loves these "made in Hollywood scripts" and it would be a "stunner" of epic proportions in the annals of Stark County political history if PUAMA pulls this off.

The Massillon Independent has reported on a "successful" fundraiser that PUAMA sponsored for Secrest this past weekend. For Secrest to have a real chance to win this race, he will have to do a lot better than this event. But it is start.

Question: Can the PUAMA Express make it over Mount Harmon?