Comments on: Republican Jean Schmidt Wins Ohio Congressional Race

By: Randal Robinson

Randal Robinson — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 14:11:39 +0000

Watching the Democrats celebrate a four-point loss in a single Congressional district in an off-year election is a good illustration of how far the fortunes of the party that held the majority in Congress for decades have fallen. Could their reaction make them seem any more pathetic?

Meanwhile, the Republicans have recently passed CAFTA, John Bolton is moving into his office in the UN, and John Roberts is on track to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

By: Ken Taylor

Ken Taylor — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 20:34:44 +0000

The Hackett hack job, campaigning Hillary style was the reason for the closeness of the win for Schmidt. Like the Hildabeast, Hackett told what he thought the people wanted to hear and not what he believed. Actually if you look at the way both campaigns were run and the discourse that took place during the campaign it was more like two Republicans running as Hackett tried to portray himself other than he was. This is not a sign of things to come, just another example of Democrats not being able to win elections in spite of deceiving the public as they run!

By: Anderson

Anderson — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 19:57:30 +0000

Buckeye, with all the media coverage, how could Hackett be a "stealth" candidate? Are you suggesting that the ballots didn't even indicate he's a Democrat? Lurks: I think the positive spin is fairly obvious. Whatever the cause or import, Bush's stock is down from the election, which is looking more & more like a vote against Kerry (not incomprehensible) than a vote for Bush. Does this mean that the Dems are resurgent? No. Did the Dems "win" yesterday? No. But obviously, if Hackett had taken only 1/3 of the vote, that result would've been interpreted favorably for Republicans.

By: Buckeye

Buckeye — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 18:24:22 +0000

I live and vote in the Ohio 2nd district. Hackett ran ads which started w/ Pres Bush speaking and ending w/ Hackett essentially agreeing- no mention of the Democratic party. You couldn't tell he's a democrat. Except for his anti-Bush remarks his public posture was consistant w/ conservative Republican points -pro family values, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-military. Hackett was put up as a 'stealth' candidate. The Ohio 2nd is not in play for modern 'mainstream' Democratic candidates.

By: Lurking Observer

Lurking Observer — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 17:27:26 +0000

Anderson: So long as you recognize that it is grasping at straws, that's fine. (Or "looking for positive indications," if you will.) It's the folks who aren't trying to put a positive spin on things but actually believe it who are much more problematic. It's like arguing that Kerry did great b/c he got more voters than Clinton or Carter. Mebbeso, but he still got fewer than Bush-II. As James notes, in the American political system, there is no prize for second place.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 16:49:24 +0000

Some rather vicious commentary!

As a Dem, I'm just struck by how well our guy did in an area that went 64% for Bush. Don't blame us for looking for positive indications where we can find them. Nov. 2006 is still a long ways off.

By: Will Franklin

Will Franklin — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 15:15:58 +0000

I think either side was going to seize on the results to extrapolate some kind of grand point. Which is a mistake.

By: Lurking Observer

Lurking Observer — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 14:48:00 +0000

Brett:

To be fully comparable, you'd need a Republican who'd just spent some time w/ Moveon.org opposing the war, who ran ads constantly touting that s/he was in favor of Hilary Clinton, even while deriding her as a b*tch and utterly unqualified to serve. [The analogy, of course is imperfect.]

This, in an off-year election.

And, at the end of the day, if there were a 4% loss, it would still be a loss. Do Democrats consider the gubernatorial outcome in WA to be a loss, since they won by only a handful of votes? Is WI somehow viewed as a Democratic state, despite a 1% margin of victory?

By: Danny Carlton: codenamed "Jack Lewis"

Danny Carlton: codenamed "Jack Lewis" — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 14:09:14 +0000

Headlines Student turns down ACLU's scholarship Hat tip: Stop the ACLU Bush Endorses Teaching Intelligent Design to Students Open-minded...

By: ICallMasICM

ICallMasICM — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 14:00:31 +0000

'"There's no safe Republican district. You can run, but you cannot hide," said U.S. Rep. Rahm Emmanuel of Illinois' WTF? Much of the problems with Congress stem from the fact that there are way too many safe seats on both sides. Being a MA resident I can tell you it creates nonresponsive representation.

By: Steven Taylor

Steven Taylor — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 13:49:54 +0000

As I note over at my place, it really is difficult to extrapolate much from a special election. Further, the fact that Hackett was a Marine who was freshly back from Iraq also affected the dynamics of the race in a way that isn't generalizable for 2006.

By: Herb

Herb — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 13:41:24 +0000

Looks like the people have shown their disgust for the Democrats constant anti American rantings from the likes of Dean, Durbin, Kennedy, Kerry, Gore and the rest of the Democrat naysayers.

By: Ed

Ed — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 13:10:20 +0000

If Mr Hackett campaign literature had told the truth that he is a closet Democratic liberal, Schmidt margin of victory would have been ten points. We will be prepared for him and other pretenders in 2006

By: Brett

Brett — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 12:59:36 +0000

James:

The district went from being safe Republican to very uncertain. That's definitely interesting, just as it would be if a right winger managed to give someone from the MD 8th a run for their money. That seat will now be seen as a competitive one, at least until the next election cycle and we can see if this was a one-off.

By: Brian J.

Brian J. — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 12:23:44 +0000

Perhaps they're happy it's withing hanging, gated, and pregnant chad range.

Or whatever it will be in 2006 and especially 2008.