Back in plastics, but supporting Romney

I'm just about sick and tired of political campaigning, commercials and direct mail. I'll stay up to watch the results, but I'll be happy when all the yard signs are gone and I can answer my telephone without expecting to hear a robo-caller or a pollster on the other end of the line. Maybe that's because Plastics News is based in Ohio, and there's been so much attention on us as a swing state in the Nov. 6 Presidential election. Still, I know many political junkies can't get enough of election-related coverage, so I've got a fresh plastics angle today. Chuck Painter has made a few appearances in the Plastics Blog, starting last year when he asked President Obama a question through a LinkedIn town hall meeting. He was featured again in September when he was interviewed for a CBS Evening News report on how the presidential campaigns were relying heavily on volunteers. By that point Painter was working on behalf of GOP candidate Mitt Romney. Interesting, given his previous connection to Obama, although not a big surprise -- I clearly remember that the first time I talked to Painter, he said he was not an Obama supporter. He was just looking for a way to unite Americans and help the economy. Still, it was an interesting story -- a guy who had the proverbial 15 minutes of fame for asking a question of Obama, then volunteering to help replace him in the White House. I wrote at the time that it surprised me that there was no mention of Painter's connection to Obama in the CBS report. But Fox News picked up on the angle and did a bigger interview with Painter in Charlotte, N.C., just before the Democratic National Convention. (Which made me look silly for writing "I guess this means we won't be seeing Painter at the Democratic National Convention...") Anyway, I've stayed in touch with Painter, and I thought it made sense to share the Fox News report with the political junkies in the Plastics Blog audience.

Painter also is happy to report that I won't be calling him a "former plastics salesman" any more. In early September he started working as a southeast territory manager for a U.S. distributor of plastic sheet, rod and tube. He's excited about that -- he told me: "That has been my whole thing all along. I wanted a chance to work for a small family-owned, American company." Regardless of where we all stand on the issues and the candidates, I hope all the Plastics Blog readers are pleased to have Painter "back" in the plastics industry. Look him up in LinkedIn -- when he's not being interviewed by national news programs, he's still a big social media advocate.