With the midterm election looming closer and closer, the local political parties are making their pushes to voters and potential voters. That was the scene the weekend of September 10-12th the Cleveland County Fair, held at the fairgrounds behind the OSU extension on Robinson Street.

Inside one of the buildings, both parties were set up for fairgoers to drop by and see what the parties had to offer. The Cleveland County Republican Party, under the chairmanship of Bobby Cleveland, had more to offer the voters for this election and the people responded by crowding the booth.

“Basically, our booth was busier than ever registering people and giving away campaign materials,” Cleveland said.

Around 100 new voters signed up as Republicans during the event.

According to Cleveland, the most popular statewide races were the governor’s seat, the state insurance commissioner position, and the state school superintendent race. The topic of the future of their children was among the most popular sentiments expressed by those that stopped by the GOP booth.

“The people want to elect someone that will stand firm on Health Care, stand up to the federal government and get our education system working,” Cleveland said. He also noted that people were very concerned about the direction that our country was taking.

Gubernatorial candidate Mary Fallin and state house candidate Aaron Stiles were the most popular selections during the weekend as people came by to grab one of over 100 Fallin signs picked up or one of the quickly handed over Stiles signs.

Cleveland also said, “Normally, at the county fair we have very few request for yard signs. People just did not want to fool with them.  This year it seemed like the people’s attitude changed dramatically, they had no problem carrying signs around.”

Among the other popular statements heard over and over by those manning the booth included lifelong Democrats, those who voted for the current president among them, stating a desire to switch parties and their trepidation over the federal government costing Americans jobs.

Candidates also helped man the booth during the three-day event.  Both District 3 County Commissioner Rusty Sullivan, running for reelection, and Cleveland County Sheriff Joe Lester spent time at the booth greeting potential voters.

The booth was set up to give out plenty of campaign materials. These included bumper stickers, flyers, brochures, and the aforementioned signs. Parents walking around with children were also quick to grab one of the balloons the Republicans were giving away. Over 500 balloons were given away during the fair, and Cleveland said they could have given out 300 more if the helium had not run out.

The Republicans also had t-shirts for sale and brought in more funds than was expected. Among the bestsellers were shirts featuring former President Bush with a caption reading, ‘Miss me yet?’ and another shirt featuring Uncle Sam with the caption stating, ‘He is your uncle, not your sugar daddy.’

Among the more amusing episodes of the weekend was the reluctance at the Democrat’s booth to hang an Obama sign up. It was constantly noted by visitors and only ended when some Obama signs were finally retrieved and hung up behind their booth.