Cincy Enquirer: Closeness of race a surprise

[madfloridian]

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050802/NEWS01/508030330/-1/CINCI

Few expected Hackett's performance in GOP-heavy district

"The apparent win by Republican Jean Schmidt in Tuesday's 2nd Congressional District election was in no way shocking, but the fact that Democrat Paul Hackett made it a very close election is nothing short of astounding.

Seven weeks ago, when Schmidt won an 11-candidate primary, few on either side believed that, in a district where President Bush won 64 percent of the vote last fall and no Democrat had come close to winning the House seat in decades, this would be much of a contest at all.

But Hackett, the Indian Hill lawyer trying to become the first Iraq war veteran elected to Congress, had won the vote in Brown, Adams, Pike and Scioto counties and came close to pulling off a monumental political upset.

This is, and has been for decades, one of the most reliably Republican districts in the country; and a district where GOP voters turned out in droves last fall to vote overwhelmingly for President Bush. The southern Ohio district played a major role in giving Bush the 118,601 margin he needed to win Ohio, and thus, a second term in the White House.

And it is a district that has been held by Republicans for over 30 years. Rob Portman won the seat in a special congressional election 12 years ago and never got less than 70 percent in his six re-election campaigns. After Schmidt won an 11-candidate GOP primary on June 14, there was a feeling on both sides that the special election campaign would not be much of a contest.

That feeling turned out to be wrong."


Democrat Paul Hackett strolls to his polling place with his wife, Suzanne, and children Seamus, 4; Liam, 1, and Grace, 8, on Tuesday.

[AuntPatsy]

1. That was a great article, thank you for sharing.

[K8-EEE]

2. Kick And Nominated

Wonderful!!

[WCGreen]

3. This is what everyone who believes there was voter fraud

in this election should read....

[madfloridian]

5. Right, and as the DNC blog put it tonight:

The First Wind of the Hurricane.
www.democrats.org

The sign that the 50 state strategy might work after all.

[WCGreen]

6. This is it. This is how we win....

One seat at a time, building on the structure, getting the grass roots going strong...

The GOP has been doing this for years....

Look how far we got in 2004 with what i thought was a very weak candidate....

If someone stronger, someone who would fight back and stand by what they say.....

We will win. We have the issues

They have the hate....

Issues trump hate anyday

[madfloridian]

13. I think people are catching on to their hate now.

Little by little.

[WCGreen]

14. Yes indeed they are.....

[electropop]

10. I believe there was ELECTION fraud

despite the efforts of voters to do their civic duty.

[madfloridian]

4. Another good one: Putting it to the President, Nichols.

Rate this at Yahoo.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20050803/cm_thenation/19755

"Two months ago, the special election race in the 2nd Congressional District, which stretches across seven southern Ohio counties, was expected to be a low-key affair, a near-automatic win for whichever republican candidate emerged from the June 14 GOP primary," the local newspaper, the Cincinnati Enquirer, noted on Tuesday. "After all, the previous congressman, Republican Rob Portman, routinely won the district with more than 70 percent of the vote."In fact, Portman, who was plucked from the southern-Ohio district by President Bush to serve as the U.S. Trade Representative, won all of his seven campaigns for the seat with more than 72 percent of the vote. The district had been so radically gerrymandered by Republican governors and legislators that it was all-but-unimaginable that a Democrat could ever be competitive there.But, in Tuesday night, Democrat Paul Hackett almost did just that. Hackett's near-win came after a remarkable campaign in which he blunted Republican efforts to exploit national security issues and provided food for thought for Democrats as they prepare for 2006 Congressional races nationwide.

Republican Jean Schmidt, a feverish foe of reproductive rights who used her links to religious right activists to beat more mainstream Republicans and secure the party's nomination for the open seat, was leading Hackett, a smart, telegenic Iraq War veteran who criticized the Bush administration for leading the country into the war and then mishandling it, by an unexpectedly thin margin of just 3,573 votes. Unofficial returns gave Schmidt 59,095 votes (52%) to 55,091 votes (48%) for Hackett.Remarkably, in a district that favored George W. Bush over John Kerry by almost a 2-1 margin in 2004"

And from The Hill:
August 2, 2005

GOP narrowly retains Portman's seat
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/080305/portman.html

"Republican Jean Schmidt narrowly defeated Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett (D) in today's special election
to fill the seat recently vacated by former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

The close election in the staunchly conservative district suggests the war may be a growing problem for
Republicans heading toward the midterm elections, Democrats said."

[Tigress DEM]

7. OK Here I go again... is there a simple explanation for this one?

I had copied the first posts put out for District 02 and initially I didn't realize that I had primary information being used as a format for the finished product, but something you said stood out and I want to know if I'm bonkers or not.

If these are the Official Cumalative Report numbers.... and if Jean Schmidt WON the 11 Contender Primary, WHY DOES Bob McEwen have more votes? 948 (42.13%) vs 392 (17.42%)?





**********************************************


OFFICIAL CUMULATIVE REPORT PAGE 1

25 Jun 2005 SPECIAL PRIMARY ELECTION
09:56 AM JUNE 14, 2005
BROWN COUNTY, OHIO
35 PRECINCTS

COUNT PERCENT
PRECINCTS COUNTED - COUNTY WIDE 35 100.00

REGISTERED VOTERS - DEMOCRAT 4,612

REGISTERED VOTERS - REPUBLICAN 3,763

REGISTERED VOTERS - NON-PARTISAN 20,866

REGISTERED VOTERS - TOTAL 29,241

BALLOTS CAST - DEMOCRAT 1,217 26.39

BALLOTS CAST - REPUBLICAN 2,287 60.78

BALLOTS CAST - NON-PARTISAN 0

BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL 3,504 11.98

REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS (2ND DISTRICT) *
ONE TO BE ELECTED
STEVE AUSTIN 15 .67
TOM BEMMES 13 .58
TOM BRINKMAN, JR. 357 15.87
PAT DEWINE 402 17.87
PETER A. FOSSETT 6 .27
BOB MCEWEN 948 42.13
ERIC MINAMYER 53 2.36
DOUGLAS E. MINK 5 .22
JEFF MORGAN 51 2.27
JEAN SCHMIDT 392 17.42
DAVID R. SMITH 8 .36

REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS (2ND DISTRICT) *
ONE TO BE ELECTED
PAUL HACKETT 762 63.82
JAMES JOHN PARKER 60 5.03
CHARLES W. SANDERS 135 11.31
JEFF SINNARD 31 2.60
VICTORIA WELLS WULSIN 206 17.25

[BQueen]

8. Brown county results only

Schmidt must have out-performed in the other counties.

[Tigress DEM]

15. Thanks.

[Modem Butterfly]

9. Kick

:kick:

[seabeyond]

11. i know htis man is a democrat, children are wearing tye dye. n/t

[Kolesar]

12. The GOP bought this one

"Hackett also got the attention of the Ohio Republican Party, which sent its entire field staff to the 2nd District to set up phone bank operations in all seven counties of the district."

The gop had money and manpower and only one race to fight in yesterday.

I think Hackett came close because Schmidt was a lame and unappealing candidate. Him being an Iraq war veteran helped greatly, from what I have read. Ohio needs a candidate for Senator, but Dewine will be harder to fight. I suppose if Schmidt does terribly in office, the Dems could recruit Paul for another fight in 15 months.

In any case, I salute Paul for a good fight. He helped define the Democrats.