Plastics and the mid-term elections

Interest in Europe seems fairly high in the U.S. mid-term elections -- people seem interested in whether the Republicans will take over both the Senate and House of Representatives, rolling back the gains that President Obama rode to victory in 2008. But European readers may not know that a few of the key election storylines have very plastics-specific angles this year. For one, U.S. Rep. John Boehner, currently the Republican majority leader in the House, has a good chance of being the new Speaker of the House, if the GOP manages to win control. He would be replacing Democrat Nancy Pelosi. The plastics connection? Prior to his political career, Boehner was a salesman, and later president, of Nucite Sales, a small distributor of plastics and packaging products. There's a plastics angle in the Senate, too, as Ron Johnson, a newcomer to politics with Tea Party support, is trying to unseat Democrat Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. Johnson is president of Oshkosh, Wis.-based PET sheet extruder Pacur LLC. He may be an unknown outside of Wisconsin, but Johnson picked up a bit of (possibly) unwanted attention this week when satirical web site "The Onion" posted a phony perspective column attributed to Johnson, titled: "My Opponent Knows Where Washington Is On A Map; I Don't, And I Never Will." Pop culture and political satire, all with a plastics industry twist. You've got to love it.