Things we all probably forgot…like the fact that USW Local 745 workers at Titan International’s Freeport, Ill., tire plant are still technically without a "new" labor deal with the tire and wheel maker.

The union workers, who have lately been holding a series of so-called "solidarity rallies" at the plant, have hopes of getting back to the bargaining table soon. At least before the "last, best offer" they have been working under expires on Nov. 15.

You’ll recall (or perhaps not) that USW Local 745 workers rejected a contract offer from the tiremaker in December 2010, so Morrry Taylor, chairman and CEO, claimed an impasse, forcing the union to deal with Titan’s last offer of a deal.

“Our contract ended at approximately the end of 2010,” said USW Local 745 president Dale Sandell in a recent Freeport Journal Standard story. “They claimed an impasse. We came back but were working under what they said was their best, final offer.”

Sandell, who took a lot of heat for how the last “negotiations” went, hopes to get back to the table soon. The union told Titan that it was ready to talk, but there has been no movement. And with the current “contract” expiring in a couple of months, there is little reason for Titan to revisit two-year-old talks.

But Local 745 is trying its darnest to attract attention. “The goal of our members is to get attention from our management,” Sandell told the newspaper. “We’re looking to get back to the negotiating table.”

So how are they trying to attract attention? Rallies with signs and a bullhorn and a guy dressed as a kangaroo. Yes, a kangaroo.

Why? It was a left-handed reference to a remark Taylor made when the National Labor Relations Board ruled in the union’s favor during the last contract talks, re-instating the previous contract and awarding back pay to the workers. Titan appealed that ruling, leading to the stalemate, but that appeal remains undecided.

And there is no word as to when “negotiations” on a new contract will begin.

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One thing that apparently hasn’t expired, though, is Morry Taylor’s dream to be president. Of the United States.

According to The Daily Caller (produced by Tucker Carlson, who is to journalism what Astroturf is to lawn care – and just as plastic), the Grizz is eyeing a second run at the White House in 2016.

“If Obama wins then you guys get ready, because somebody is going to have to fix this mess and it is going to be a real bad mess in four more years if he’s running it,” the Titan chief told the website in an interview last week. “And then I’m going to run. Because if you had now with the TV and the debates, I would have a blast.”

Taylor, who would be 72 at the time of the 2016 race, continued: “If Mitt don’t win it, in four years, I’m going to run.…You watch me change the debate.”

Taylor admits that he “might not win,” but “at least the American people will have a real choice.”

“Let’s face it: You know as well as I do that I’m not a politician. I’m a fixer,” he said. “I fix things that are broke. You can only do that if you get good people, if you know how to pick good people. I think Romney is much more better and he won’t tell you to your face straight up you’re full of BS, okay. I get very short and I would. But to fix it is not that hard when you look at it totally. Almost every agency in the federal government you could cut it in half and there is not an American citizen who would have a problem.”

Standing in the path of his walk to the Rose Garden, of course, is Mitt Romney, for whom Taylor is 100% behind. “He’s smarter than anybody running,” Taylor told the Daily Caller. “And a super good man. I think all the polls are wrong and I think this is Romney and Ryan’s to lose.”

But in order to win, Romney needs to be more aggressive. “So you’re going to deal with a Chicago thug, you know, you might as well understand it and don’t wait to take a pounding from him. I would, you know, when the bell rings, step up and just smack him. I mean, that’s what I would do.”

God bless America.

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Elsewhere in more familiar territory, Titan Tire Chairman Bill Campbell noted his pleasure with the progress made at the Union City, Tenn., Goodyear tire plant Titan bought late last year.

“We’re progressing with the LLC set up and it’s running well,” he told Northwest Tennessee Today on Aug. 27. “Everything is going exactly as planned.”

The Union City facility is one of five independent limited liability corporations established at the one facility to produce tire components and supply them to Titan Tire plants elsewhere in the U.S.

One LLC mixes rubber, while another produced belts and another makes carcass plies and so on. “As time progresses, I think everybody will be very pleased,” Campbell told the newspaper.

The Union City plant, which once produced passenger tires for Goodyear, might see full scale tire production return in the future, Titan has hinted, but no firm plans have been stated.