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Mar

18

Salon state by state review: Ohio GOP heads are deep into blue sand


The Ohio assessment:

OHIO 

NewsPRESIDENTIAL VOTE 2000: Bush 50-47 2008: Obama 51-47
U.S. SENATE 2005: 2R 2009: 1D-1R
U.S. HOUSE 2005: 12R-6 2009: 10D-8
STATE HOUSE 2005: 61R-38 2009: 53D-46
STATE SENATE 2005: 22R-11 2009: 21R-12

Ohio remains the key to victory for presidential candidates of both parties, and its Republican cast has historically proven a structural advantage for GOP contenders. But everything has been downhill for the GOP since 2004, when evangelical voters turned out in force to help George Bush win the state and a second term. Ken Blackwell is no longer secretary of state, and didn’t get close to becoming governor, losing by more than 20 points to Democrat Ted Strickland in 2006. (Republicans may also regret that Blackwell lost his latest election, for RNC chairman). Democrats have also picked up four U.S. House seats, one U.S. Senate seat and control of the state House. The remaining Republican senator, George Voinovich, will not seek a third term in 2010. The most prominent Ohio Republican, at least for now, is U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner, whose “Party of No” strategy seems to be pushing GOP poll numbers even lower.

Memorable quote: ”Rather than discarding our platform, we need to embrace it. Rather than purging our ranks, we need to multiply them. Rather than simply rejecting the ideas of our opposition, we need to offer bold, visionary solutions of our own.” — Kevin DeWine, recently elected chairman of the Ohio Republican Party.

Like many of us have been asking, how’s that Party of No thing working out for you, Mr. Boehner?  Salon doesn’t even mention the kind of turmoil we’re seeing in the speculation around Ohio GOP candidates for 2010 races, Kyle Sisk’s blog being one place where that speculation gets a whole lotta bandwidth.

Sadly for the Ohio GOP, “oblivion,” just like Ohio, starts with an “O.”  So does “oblivious.”  The GOP team chant might be, “Give me an N! Give me an O! Not! Oblivious!”, but at this point, I don’t think anyone is listening to the toddlers stomping their feet until they get their way.

My advice? Start acting like you’re part of the democracy and do something other than not doing anything.  Otherwise, like the parent who continues to cook dinner while the toddler is in the middle of the kitchen floor banging the spatula on the pot to get candy, you – the GOP – will continue to be walked over and stepped around until you’ve exhausted yourself and your self-fulfilling prophecy of being irrelevant actually comes true.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:24 am March 18th, 2009 in conservatives, democracy, Ohio, Politics, Republicans 

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