Chicago Tribune: A Red State Goes Code Blue For GOP (Ohio)

[Hissyspit]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0610140252oct14,1,2904226.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

A red state goes code blue for GOP

By Tim Jones
Tribune national correspondent
Published October 14, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In the color-coded, Crayola world of politics, Ohio is a red state. But if one pays close attention--listening to the grumbles of unhappy voters, reading the poll numbers and catching the hang-dog expressions of Republicans--it's almost as if one can hear the drip-drip-dripping of the dye into the electoral paint can, changing the hue of the great state of Ohio ever closer to blue.

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"The chickens are coming home to roost," said Rep. Ted Strickland, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate who actually lived in a chicken coop for some weeks as a child and is leading in his bid to become the state's first Democratic chief executive in 16 years.

Once again Ohio, credited with giving President Bush a second term two years ago, is the national battleground in miniature. The war in Iraq has left the veteran Senate incumbent, Mike DeWine, surprisingly vulnerable. Rep. Bob Ney pleaded guilty to felony corruption charges Friday, but has yet to leave office. And the Rep. Mark Foley congressional page sex scandal has damaged the campaign of the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, Deborah Pryce, who described Foley as a friend in a recent magazine article.

Republicans, who were expecting again to control the campaign debate, are on the defensive.

"They say they're the values party and they're the party that swept this under the rug," said Marianne Lannan, who runs a lampshade shop just north of downtown Columbus. "They knew about this for a while before they were forced to take action.

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Things have changed a lot in the two years since Bush won Ohio by about 119,000 votes, or 51 percent, over Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). Values issues for conservative voters, such as a ban on sanctioning gay marriage, were big concerns in that election. Now, according to various polls, it is the uncertain economy and corruption.

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[WCGreen]

1. Ohio has always been a bell weather state...

A great combination of rural and urban populations that almost make Ohio a Microcosm of the US...

[Eurobabe]

2. It was my pleasure this week to vote absentee for TED!

The CONS in OH are so screwed, they don't even know it yet.