Mark Knows It All

The Ohio 6th Congressional District is a mish mosh of a political entity put together by frustrated politicians trying to eliminate Jim Traficant. Its northern border is Boardman, Canfield, and Poland in Mahoning County, and then sprawls 300 some odd miles down along the Ohio River up to and including Sciota County. Once out of Mahoning County, cities along the way include East Liverpool, Steubenville, Marietta, and Athens, Ohio…home of Ohio University. It is stunning in its diversity, from the white collar suburbs of Youngstown, down along the heavily industrial Ohio River corridor bordering West Virginia and Kentucky making it an extension of Appalachia and its attendant poverty. This is coal country. Coal is mined on both sides of the river and shipped down the Ohio. There is mile after mile of closed steel mills and pottery factories. It is a district that seems to include every modern day horror story of de-industrialization. It is literally a rust belt around the southeastern bor...