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http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?print=yes&id=8524The political fall-out from what is increasingly dubbed “the mess in Columbus” has already worked to the detriment of the Republicans. With Democrats sensing their best chance at capturing the governorship in two decades, their leading candidate, Rep. Ted Strickland, has raised a whopping $1 million since announcing for governor two months ago. Moreover, in the special election for Congress August 2,,Democrat Paul Hackett narrowly lost (52% to 48%) to Republican Jean Schmidt in the 2nd District (suburban Cincinnati), the most Republican of Ohio’s 18 House districts. In both debates and mailings, Hackett tied former state legislator Schmidt to Taft and corruption in Columbus.SNIP Hackett and the Democrats hit hard at Schmidt as a “rubber stamp for failed policies,” tying her to Taft and noting that she voted for his unpopular sales tax increase. In their final debate July 26, Hackett mentioned Taft’s name in the same sentence with Schmidt 12 times and used the term “rubber stamp” seven times. The Hackett campaign’s two district-wide mailings linked Schmidt to Taft and taxes. The Democrat may also have benefited from last-minute reports that Schmidt, as a state legislator, had lobbied Gov. Taft’s office on behalf of an Internet lottery company owned by one of her contributors, Roger Ach (in whose failing on-line gaming company the controversial Noe was an investor).
Hackett carried four counties that Bush had won handily last year, but Schmidt survived through a big win in her home county of Clermont and by carrying strongly Republican Hamilton County. Taft and “Coingate” nearly cost Republicans a safe House seat. Will they cost them enough to make Ohio “blue” in ’08?
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