OH-5: Not The Victory The ORP Would Have You Believe
When your parties national congressional campaign committee spends 1/5 of it’s campaign fund trying to hold a “safe” district, I don’t think you really have much to brag about. But then again it seems like the whole “out of touch with reality” thing has been the ORP’s M.O. for some time now.
Ted, Ted, Ted. This looks like a whole Latta votes against the governor and his so-called popularity.
This is a humiliating defeat for Ted Strickland. He dumped his political capital on the Democrat candidate, and she lost by a greater margin than her 2006 race. It turns out the governor’s popularity is a mile wide and an inch deep. Strickland carried this district himself a year ago, but he clearly couldn’t deliver it for Robin Weirauch.
Democrats talked a big game on this one and even called it a bellwether for 2008. Looks like they might be eating those words right now. They gave this race everything they had, from the deep pockets of Big Labor to the star power of Barack Obama and John Edwards, and they failed miserably.
They’ll try to spin this as a victory because they supposedly forced us to spend resources we didn’t have. Actually, we planned on spending those extra resources because special elections are notoriously unpredictable and no seat is safe in a mid-December turnout effort.
This is an encouraging win that shows our party is strong and energized heading into an important presidential election year.
Sorry Kevin, but I can’t resist asking this. How’s your cousin Mike doing? Is he keeping busy?
Now let’s look at what really happened. Robin Weirauch managed to launch a serious campaign in a district that has been in Republican hands for about 70 years. The Republican’s, on the other hand, fought out a very bitter and divisive primary battle. While we may not have won the race, we’ve shown that even the most conservative districts can become battlegrounds. For all their tough talk, I’m sure there were more than a few sighs of relief among Ohio Republicans tonight.
Several more statements after the jump…
