And the winner is...
Jean Schmidt, of course.
The Democrat, Paul Hackett, had to run a campaign pretending to be a Republican (running ads featuring President Bush, implying that he "agreed" with what was said by the President and noting his military service) and did not mention one specific thing that he actually stood for. There was little doubt that this staunchly Republican district would elect anyone except an actual Republican, so the Democrats tried to trick people into voting for Hackett.
Hackett made a faux pas when he called President Bush names in a USA Today interview and by making contradictory claims about Iraq: that we were there to help the people, but we never should have gone there in the first place. The more people found out about Hackett, the less they liked him.
Democrats had insisted that this election was going to go their way and that it would be a bellwether for the 2006 elections. While it may indeed be a good indicator of what will happen in 2006, it didn't go well for the Democrats. Even when they pretend to be Republicans they still lose to the real thing!
While claiming they were confident of victory, the Democrats paved the way for another indignant defeat by claiming (before a single vote had been cast at the polling places) that "fraud" would by the only thing that could possibly deny Hackett the win.
Well, unless liberal activists were spreading crack cocaine around to get people to vote Republican, there would be little reason to suspect fraud. Indeed, the only incidents of irregularities in Ohio elections in recent history have been at the hands of Democrats and their operatives.
What will happen in 2006 remains to be seen, but for now Ohio-and the nation-are Republican country.
And that is a very good thing.
The Democrat, Paul Hackett, had to run a campaign pretending to be a Republican (running ads featuring President Bush, implying that he "agreed" with what was said by the President and noting his military service) and did not mention one specific thing that he actually stood for. There was little doubt that this staunchly Republican district would elect anyone except an actual Republican, so the Democrats tried to trick people into voting for Hackett.
Hackett made a faux pas when he called President Bush names in a USA Today interview and by making contradictory claims about Iraq: that we were there to help the people, but we never should have gone there in the first place. The more people found out about Hackett, the less they liked him.
Democrats had insisted that this election was going to go their way and that it would be a bellwether for the 2006 elections. While it may indeed be a good indicator of what will happen in 2006, it didn't go well for the Democrats. Even when they pretend to be Republicans they still lose to the real thing!
While claiming they were confident of victory, the Democrats paved the way for another indignant defeat by claiming (before a single vote had been cast at the polling places) that "fraud" would by the only thing that could possibly deny Hackett the win.
Well, unless liberal activists were spreading crack cocaine around to get people to vote Republican, there would be little reason to suspect fraud. Indeed, the only incidents of irregularities in Ohio elections in recent history have been at the hands of Democrats and their operatives.
What will happen in 2006 remains to be seen, but for now Ohio-and the nation-are Republican country.
And that is a very good thing.