Ohio is one stinky place for republicans today..
_________________________________
Republicans face uphill fight in bellwether Ohio By Andrea Hopkins
Mon Oct 23, 7:36 AM ET
MARYSVILLE, Ohio (Reuters) - It's tough being a Republican in Ohio these days.
ADVERTISEMENT
The state that sealed the re-election of President Bush in 2004 used to be a shining example of how the Republican Party could dominate even though voters in the state, like voters nationwide, tended to support both Republicans and Democrats more or less equally.
Two weeks before the mid-term election, the climate for Republicans in Ohio is so bad incumbents can't escape criticism even from the party faithful. National leaders are desperately hoping Ohio will not set a trend for the country in November 7's national election for control of Congress.
"The party is definitely in a shameful place," James Hagedorn, the Republican chief executive of lawn and garden product supplier Scott's Miracle-Gro, told fellow executives at a breakfast honoring the pro-business policies of imperiled Republican Rep. Deb Pryce.
Voter opposition to the Iraq war, a wave of political scandals in Washington and plummeting approval ratings for the Republican-led Congress have taken a toll on Republicans nationwide. A struggling economy adds to woes in Ohio.
Pryce won 60 percent of the vote in her Columbus-area district two years ago but is now in the fight of her 14-year career against Democratic challenger Mary Jo Kilroy.
"It may be unpalatable to push the button or pull the lever for a Republican this year, but the choice is not to flush the party of business down the toilet," Hagedorn told about 50 fellow businessmen and Pryce at the breakfast. "As bad as the Republican Party has gotten itself, what's the choice?"
Bush's Republicans fear losing both houses of Congress.
"Political tides are something that are outside anyone's control. My job is to make sure that that tide doesn't swallow me up," Pryce said in an interview.
VULNERABILITIES STACK UP
Pryce's race is one of five seats in the state that Democrats, election analysts and polls suggest are vulnerable, setting the stage for what could be an Ohio-led Democratic takeover in Congress.
At least four Republican-held House of Representatives seats are in play, and Republican Sen. Mike DeWine (news, bio, voting record) is so far behind Democrat Sherrod Brown in opinion polls he has been forced to deny his party has given up on him.
Democrats need to gain 15 seats in the House and six Senate seats to win a majority on November 7.
A poll released last week showed 71 percent of likely Ohio voters believed their state was on the wrong track, while 65 percent said the nation as a whole was heading in the wrong direction, numbers that suggest doom for the party in power.
A separate nationwide NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed approval of Congress at its lowest point in 14 years, with 52 percent of those polled saying they intend to vote Democrat and 37 percent Republican.
Nathan Gonzales, political editor at the Rothenberg Political Report in Washington, said that while Ohio had long been considered America's political bellwether, corruption scandals at the state level made for an especially toxic environment.
"We've always thought Ohio was bad for the Republicans this year, but you can make an argument that things have gotten even worse over the last couple of weeks," Gonzales said.
Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record) has been convicted of corruption charges but so far has resisted calls from party leaders to step down.
Democrats have felt the momentum shift. Until recently, epidemiologist and political novice Victoria Wulsin was fighting a low-profile battle against Republican incumbent Rep. Jean Schmidt in Cincinnati's eastern suburbs.
But news that Wulsin raised more money than Schmidt in recent months, along with an independent poll giving her a 3-point lead in the race, has bumped the contest into the national spotlight along with an already endangered Republican seat on Cincinnati's west side.
"Sometimes I wish that I could get more credit for doing so well, but I think the reality is that a lot of the reason I'm doing so well is that the Republicans are digging their own grave," Wulsin said in an interview.
Voter Susan Bean, 66, a retired antique dealer and teacher from Georgetown, Ohio, said it was simply time for a change.
"I'm an anti-Bush Democrat and I would like to see George Bush out of office. I think there's been too much conniving over the last six years," Bean said. "I think people are tired. I'm certainly tired of it." |
