Official Paul Hackett Campaign Seal (Crybaby Dem Congressional Candidate in OH02)

BizzyBlog ^ | July 30, 2005 | Tom Blumer

[bizzyblog]

The Congressional election is next Tuesday, August 2.

Democrat Hackett is an OIF Marine veteran who has called Bush an SOB, a chicken hawk, and the greatest threat to America. But at the same time, he has run TV ads that make him appear to be very supportive of the President and the war. In fact they make him look like a Republican, and he never identifies himself as a Democrat in either of the two ads.

Jean Schmidt, the Republican, is a prolife conservative who supports the troops AND our president and who has pledged to support making the tax cuts permanent.

Those who follow this area closely know that many conservatives are less than pleased with her because of her support for tax increases when she was a rep in Columbus. I can't prove anything except to give you my gut feel that in Washington when she's away from Ohio's RINO losers, she will stand out as a true conservative, as Rob Portman generally was.

An antitax group has come out and told antitax conservatives that they should sit out this election. I think that's a big mistake. There's always the chance that an absurd upset could take place if everyone stays home, and a Hackett win would be worse (he has said he wants to raise the Social Security tax threshold to $150,000, for starters). Additionally, I think a victory of landslide proportions would be very useful here, because Hackett is the kind of guy who needs to be convinced to stay out of public life for good. Hackett has made some biggie mistakes, but I see the potential for him to be a scary-good Clintonesque Democrat politician, which the country obviously does NOT need.

As a former president of Ohio Right to Life, I also feel Schmidt will jump (she has said she will) at any chance to criticize pro-abort women like Nancy Pelosi et al who don't think you're a real woman if you're not pro-abort. I can't think of any other woman in the House currently who has spoken out against the radical proabort women consistently, so that would be a very welcome thing.

For more on this race, go to BizzyBlog's pre-election collection: HERE

[bizzyblog]

The Dems have poured significant resources in during the past two weeks, with visits by John Glenn, Max Cleland, James Carville, Ted Strickland, and others. Notable by her absence even though she was in Columbus: Hillary (must not have wanted to be associated with a loss).

They have also raised a few hundred thou from their blogosphere and have made Hackett visible enough to where it's not out of the question for him to pull a shocker IF THE GOP BASE STAYS HOME. This is a turnout-driven election that Schmidt almost literally can't lose as long a Republicans TURN OUT (registration is about 2-1 GOP in the district). The Hackett people appear to be somewhat energized by the national attention, and that may translate to a higher-than-expected Dem turnout.

The GOP is apparently mounting a major ad blitz this weekend and kicking its GOTV machinery into gear. I always say better safe than sorry. If you're in this district, you vote, and get your conservative friends out to vote too.

[delapaz]

Bump. Ohio 2nd district Freepers remember to vote this Tuesday.

[Steve_Stifler]

As I was just reading this thread, I (a registered Republican) just got a call from the Hackett campaign telling me that Hackett was a Marine and that Schmidt was just another career politician. I told him I would be voting on Tuesday, but not for an ambulance chaser and laughed loudly into the phone.

The Dims are clearly fired up over this election in part because I think they intend to declare victory no matter what happens on Tuesday. Because Portman has run up such huge victory margins in the past few election cycles (70% of the vote against a no-name, no-money candidate), they think that they can fool people into believing that the tide has turned against the Republicans if Hackett manages to get over 40% of the vote.

For those in need of motivation to vote, this is clearly an opportunity for conservatives to stick it to the DU/DailyKos/Deaniac wing of the Democratic Party by electing the Republican candidate. Just remember how good it felt seeing the dejected Kerry voters the day after the election!