Hackett loses: Ex-Lawmaker (Schmidt)Wins Ohio Congressional Race

[meganmonkey]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5185983,00.html

CINCINNATI (AP) - A former Ohio lawmaker kept a GOP lock on a conservative House district Tuesday, defeating an Iraq war veteran who mounted the strongest showing by a Democrat in decades.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting unofficial returns in the special election, Republican Jean Schmidt had 57,974 votes, or 52 percent, to 54,401 votes, or 48 percent, for Marine reservist Paul Hackett in the seven-county southern Ohio district.

Schmidt is the first female elected from the 2nd District, succeeding Republican Rob Portman, who served 12 years before becoming President Bush's U.S. trade representative.

x(

[MeDeMax]

1. if he has money leftover

he needs to start his 2006 bid on August 3rd.

While she is rubber stamping the prez's agenda, he should get the word out.

[meganmonkey]

2. Yeah - It really is a victory, in a way

For such a repub area he kicked serious ass.

[Mr. Peanut]

49. Cincinnati is a pretty town but rigid and backward...

Nice people but sanctimonious politicians.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

13. Yes...

... Stephanie Herseth did that in South Dakota, getting a great turn out in the general election vs Bill Janklow. The next year, Janklow resigned for reasons most of you are familiar with. Stephanie won the seat in the special election a year and a half later to replace Janklow in the House.

[bluestateguy]

3. A pyhrric victory

She and her party have little to celebrate. She should have won that race by 25 points, and instead she won by 4, and needed help from the national party.

If Hackett was running in a true swing district he would have won that race by 10 points or more.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. This should put the GOP on notice

The Democrats are taking back the House in 2006.

[schultzee]

8. That witch is not beholding to Tom DeLay and she is just one of

his obedient grubs.

[bluedog]

43. GOP be warned

your rotten bunch of reps and sens. are going to fight for every seat you try to keep......we will fight for all Democratics candidates......our monies is the grass roots.....ready ...get... set ...go.....

[Wabbajack]

6. That's why the pukes handpick nominees for swing seats

[Art_from_Ark]

11. I wouldn't read so much into this

After all, bu$h appointed Asa Hutchinson, then a Congressman from Arkansas' looooooong-time Republican 3rd District, to be drug czar in 2001, and in the subsequent special election the Democratic candidate put up the best fight against a republican since Bill Clinton narrowly missed defeating John Paul Hammerschmidt in 1974. Yet during the next election, there was no Democratic challenger, and in the most recent election, the Republicans maintained their lock on the seat.

I wish I could be more optimistic-- I really do.

[bilgewaterbill]

12. I'm afraid I have to agree with you.

Hackett made a good showing, but how much was due to his service?

[rocktivity]

15. DING DING DING! Bluestateguy, you're our grand prize winner!

She should have won...by 25 points, and instead she won by 4...(I)n a true swing district he would have won...by 10 points or more.

And if we can take a candidte from nowhere to within four points in a district that's 70% Repub, think of what we can do with fewer Repubs and more grassroots unity! Keep your eyes on the prize, folks--we've just proved that we CAN make it happen!

:headbang:
rocknation

[tsuki]

4. Six young Ohioans died while Jean "Humidity" Schmidt promises to

stay the course.

[Gman]

7. Suddenly, "safe" Republican districts aren't so safe anymore

The light at the end of the tunnel for the GOP is a freight train coming in 2006 doing 90 mph.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[karynnj]

19. In a Republican heavy district

Do you really think that Dean, Kerry or Pelosi would have helped. I would imagine that their presence could even hurt.

Hackett's story has elements from the story of the young Kerry - in fact, Kerry's initial goal in 1970 was to run for congress until he lost a contest to Father Drinan to run as the anti-war candidate for Congress. That vague similarity would probably hit a chord with anyone who was impressed by the articulate, moral 1971 vintage Kerry - Kerry's presence would likely not expand this group. What it would do is possibly hurt Hackett among those who still reject Kerry's anti-war statements.

Pelosi is probably way to the left of this district.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SteppingRazor]

36. If Howard Dean...

showed up in the middle of Hackett's race, held up his hand and yelled, "I'm for Paul Hackett!" Heckett would have lost by 20 points.
Yes, the DNC should have helped financially, and the Ohio state party was directly involved. But if you really want personal appearances in Ohio's 2nd district by people like Pelosi and Dean, you don't understand politics.

[Jack Rabbit]

48. I think they would have helped

It is true that this is a brick red district; about seven in ten voters are inclined to vote Republican under normal circumstances. Hackett's good showing was a surprise even to Democrats.

This race should be a wake up call to the Democrats as well as to Republicans. The Democrats would do well to stop underestimating their chances against the GOP noise machine.

Some of what contributed to Hackett's moral victory is unique to this race:

• Hackett was an exceptionally good candidate for the Democrats;
• Jean Schmidt was a particularly bad one for the Republicans;
• A campaign finance scandal in Ohio has tarnished the image of the state's GOP.

However, there can be no getting around the fact that Hackett took aim at Bush for his botched war predicated on falsehoods and his waging class warfare on behalf of the wealthy. He was rewarded by doing far better than any Democrat in the district in twenty years. The fading star of Bush was also a factor in Hackett's fine showing.

Under normal circumstances, even Schmidt should have won in that district by twenty-five points. If this had been a Republican-held swing district instead of a brick red one, Hackett would have won.

Next year, the Democrats will have an opportunity to exploit public weariness with Bush to retake the House. They need to start planning now to pick the best candidates for marginal districts now held by Republicans which they can win. Not every Republican candidate will be as flat as Jean Schmidt and not every Democrat will be as attractive as Paul Hackett; but no Democrat will have anything to lose by taking on Bush and his corrupt, incompetent regime.

[Gman]

22. Thank you for the 2x4 upside my head

sometimes I get carried away. What you say is the reality.

[OzarkDem]

29. Deans staff was on the ground with Hackett

They worked closely with him on the campaign and helped him raise funds. They brought in John Glenn and Max Cleland to make appearances in support of Hackett. It was a team effort and it paid off in spades. The 50 state strategy is vindicated - Dean just proved the R's can lose votes even in the most conservative districts.

But you probably already knew that.

[Tempest]

44. No blown opportunity

What the Democrats did, rightfully so, was to save its limited resources for races where the Democrat actually had a chance.

In 2004, Ohio's second district was won by the Repug in a 44 point landslide.

There was no indication Hackett was going to improve on that enough to come close.

The fact that he did NOW shows money can be spent in districts where voter disgust is high. And it won't be wasted as it might in this case.

[Orangepeel]

9. sad he lost, of course. but WOW he did well

52 to 48 in that district? he certainly has a future in politics.

[devilgrrl]

10. I have only one word to say.

F*CK!
:argh::argh::argh::argh::argh::argh::argh::argh::argh:

[Betty]

14. It's Ohio...wonder what kind of voting machines were used?

just saying....

[meganmonkey]

27. Surprisingly (not), there were machine problems

in Claremont County. The optical scan counters were 'malfunctioning' and there were rumors that there would be a hand count. Then (gasp) the final numbers suddenly popped up on the website, taking Schmidt waaaay out in the lead....

:shrug:

With 88 percent of precincts reporting, Republican Jean Schmidt had 49,681 votes, compared with 48,811 for Democrat Paul Hackett -- a margin of under 1,000 votes.

We now know why it's taking so long for all the votes to be counted in a special election for an Ohio congressional seat.

The Board of Elections in Clermont County, east of Cincinnati, says it's optical scanners haven't counted all the ballots yet because it was so hot -- and humid -- Tuesday.

Board member Tim Rudd says the ballots pick up moisture when it gets hot, making it tougher for the optical scan machines to sort and count.

The race in the Second District is neck-and-neck tonight. Republican Jean Schmidt leads Democrat Paul Hackett by fewer than one-thousand votes with 88 percent of precincts reporting.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2005/local/08/02/necktoneck.ht...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x387076#387096

[shugah]

16. so sad

i am so sad.

not ignoring the importance of how close the race was - but i really wanted him to win.

[Rex]

18. Amazing how almost divided America is when it comes to

elections. :eyes:

edit - I looked at the national numbers for the 2004 presidental elections and they are 1% of a percentage point off of these current Ohio numbers.

[sakabatou]

20. Dammit

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. Let's see....Ohio...Diebold...GOP candidate wins. Business as usual.

[newswolf56]

23. If I were a gambling man, which I'm not, I'd bet the biggest sum...

of money I could lay hands on that the Bush Regime retaliates against Hackett by ordering him back to active duty and sending him into the deadliest combat zone in Iraq. (Given this likelihood, which I think is overwhelmingly probable, Paul Hackett's courage is beyond admirable: in fact I can find no words adequate to describe it.)

[darkism]

25. After reading about the district, I never expected him to win...

...but I never expected him to totally kick so much ass either.

GO PAUL!

[Barkley]

26. OH. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I couldn't vote for Paul because I live in Pasadena, CA.
I sent him some money.
My parents are in the second district and they voted for Hackett.
I still like Hackett and I think he should try it again; He'd easily win in (Pasadena) California.

[knitter4democracy]

28. He'll get her next time.

She only has a year for this seat. If he doesn't stop campaigning and getting his name out there, he'll kick her ass next time. That's what it takes. Hopefully, he'll get full support of the DNC and all and be able to help bring along some other Dems.

[bunkerbuster1]

30. Isn't he heading back to Iraq?

What're the odds that an IED with Hackett's name on it is being made as we speak?

Remember--to our overlords, the only acceptable war injury for a Democrat is a fatal one.

[knitter4democracy]

31. I thought that hadn't been confirmed.

I never read anything by him that said he was going back, just people saying they'd heard it from somewhere.

I hope it's not true--we need him here.

[roseBudd]

32. Clermont & Warren were the counties with the biggest Connally anomaly

Can we really trust the tabulation? Why did Hackett clean Schmidt's clock in rural counties that are trending just as red?

[meganmonkey]

33. Mmmm hmmm....

Granted, Clermont was her 'home county' but gimme a break. They announced they were having trouble with the machines, there was speculation that they would have to hand-count and then suddenly, minutes later, the numbers popped up and she hammered him in Clermont.

Shady shady shit.

:grr:

[roseBudd]

34. According to 04 recount volunteers Clermont had round white stickers...

on Kerry bubbles. Clermont is optiscan. This was never explained. Clermont needs to be audited. So does Warren.

In a special election, with lower turnout this should be relatively easy.

Send any suspicions and tip s to [e-mail]

he is a real reporter.

[0007]

35. Bummer

[Moderator]

37. kick

[SteppingRazor]

38. Schmidt wins in a squeaker

Bah! Foiled again!



Schmidt wins in a squeaker

By Barry M. Horstman
Post staff reporter


In a nationally watched race that she began as a prohibitive favorite, Republican Jean Schmidt narrowly held off a hard-charging Marine to win Tuesday's special 2nd Congressional District election.

Winning the U.S. House of Representatives seat that Republican Rob Portman resigned this spring to join President Bush's cabinet as U.S. trade representative, Schmidt defeated Democrat Paul Hackett, 59,132 votes to 55,151, according to unofficial totals.

Schmidt's 51.7 percent to 48.3 percent victory was much tighter than had been expected in a district that the GOP has dominated for three decades and in which registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by a more than 3-to-1 margin.

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050803/NEWS01/508030348

[Tesla]

39. I demand a recount!!!

I can try?

[rocktivity]

40. SNAP OUT OF IT!

Schmidt's...victory was much tighter than had been expected in a district that the GOP has dominated for three decades and in which registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by a more than 3-to-1 margin.

And that's the bottom line: think of what a Hackett could do in a district with FEWER Repubs and MORE of us working from the grass roots up. We know what it takes to win in swing states now, so let's stop crying in our beer and start planning for 2006!

:headbang:
rocknation

[SteppingRazor]

41. Who's crying in their beers?

I'm just posting the news from the Cincy Post. Truth to tell, it was a great race. If we can find candidates like this in other districts and force the GOP to fight for territory that they thought was safe, we'll be OK in 2006. Unfortunately, that would require a great deal of money -- something the GOP has a lot more of than we do. On the plus side, I wouldn't count on the GOP adopting a similar strategy (i.e. You won't see a whole lot of moderate, Dem.-friendly GOP candidates in every heavily Dem. district).

[rocktivity]

45. You and I are obviously on the same page

That remark was meant for the whiners around here who can't see any kind of significance in what Hackett--I mean, in what WE and Hackett--almost did. Friends?

:toast:
rocknation

[SteppingRazor]

46. But of course!

:toast:

[rocktivity]

47. LOL! Well, we've done enough clinking--let's do some drinking!

:beer: :beer:
rocknation

[Felix Mala]

42. We don't want to think about war, torture and terrorists, just leave

us alone in our homes with our SUV's and our tax cuts and we'll do whatever you say.