A Good Defensive Stop
By Repair Man Jack Posted in 2007 — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Imagine your team is playing on Sunday. The opposition has the ball and is cramming it remorselessly down your defense’s collective gullet. You know, I know and thee know they intend to call 30-Gut and will probably gain eight or so yards on it next play. That’s with one of your team’s safeties in the box. The situation gets ever grimmer, as the enemy horde approaches your red zone.
That pretty much sums up where the Ohio GOP was, heading into yesterday’s special election in Ohio’s 5th Congressional District. After spending too much money and nearly pulling defeat from the iron jaws of victory, GOP candidate Bob Latta defeated Democrat Robin Weirauch 57-43. The tide may have crested and finally begun to recede, as people in Ohio seem more willing to forget what a disingenuous individual former GOP Governor Bob Taft truly was.
Ohio 5 has been a solidly Republican district. It gave President Bush a good parcel of his majority in the Buckeye State, going 61-39 GOP that year. But in 2006, things got more interesting, as the Dems lost a bid to unseat Congressman Gillmor, the GOP incumbent. The vote went 56-43, which at least allowed the Democrats to argue that the 5th could be taken.
Then the Democrats started getting the good breaks. Congressman Gillmor suffered grim misfortune. He died an untimely death, and left the seat open. This led to a scorched earth GOP primary between Bob Latta and challenger Steve Buehrer. The primary depleted much of Latta’s funds and could have tarnished his good name.
Ohio GOP Chairman, Bob Bennett issued a warning against future repetitions, after breathing a deep sigh of relief.
"This is still a race we could have lost," Bennett said. "Our candidate came out of a nasty primary wounded and broke. He was dramatically weakened by a vicious primary battle that angered voters, embarrassed the party and disgraced the honorable legacy of Paul Gillmor. Republicans cannot allow those nuclear primary tactics to continue if we expect to win future elections."
There was also some over-the-top triumphalism, as Ohio Republicans got their first unvarnished piece of good news in several years.
"The results of the special elections...are further confirmation of a shifting political environment, an electorate desperate for change in Washington, and a wide-open congressional playing field," asserts the NRCC in its release.
Let’s not pencil the GOP in for retaking the House just yet, there’s still a lot of work, recruitment and image refurbishment required before that will ever happen. However, Tom Cole and the National Republican Congressional Committee did accomplish what a good, hard-nosed defense is supposed to do. They stopped the opposition’s drive and got the evil SOBs off the field.