Posted on 05/03/2005 9:29:07 AM PDT by GoBucks2002
Fritz Wenzel's
The Daily Notebook
(updated daily; sometimes more often)
Tuesday, May 3
CINCINNATI - With the swift confirmation last week of Congressman Rob Portman as President Bush's new U.S. Trade Representative, the race is officially on to grab hold of his seat in the U.S. House.
And it has attracted quite a cast of characters.
Perhaps the best known is Pat DeWine, the son of the U.S. Senator. He's widely disliked, for a number of different reasons, among them the fact that he just won a seat as a Hamilton County commissioner in November, and is now wanting to leave that seat. People are ticked off at him as well because, much like Democrats Pete Gerken and Tina Wozniak in Lucas County, DeWine and a cohort have begun to make sweeping changes at the top of county government, and now they are both getting ready to bail.
The other commissioner, Phil Heimlich, has signed on to the James Petro For Governor campaign.
DeWine also has personal problems. He left his wife when she was eight months pregnant with their third child to take up with another woman. You could say he thinks so much of family values that he has decided to start another.
Then there is former congressman Bob McEwen - former being the operative word. He was bounced from office in the early 1990s after bouncing 166 checks in the House Banking Scandal, and was replaced by Portman.
The other front-runner is Jean Schmidt, president of Cincinnati Right To Life. While this might be an unpopular post in heavily Democratic Lucas County, the opposite is true down here. A former state representative, she has a good chance to pull things out.
The only thing holding all the campaigns up is Governor Bob Taft, who has yet to set a date for an election. Everyone is just waiting for that, biding their time and raising money.
But, as special congressional elections go, this is one worth watching.
FW
Looks like Pat DeWine is even worse than his RINOish dad...
That is correct. Pat is all of the RINO votes of his dad, without his dad's commitment to traditional values. Pat also seems to honor his commitment to the voters as well as he honored his commitment to his wife. If he were named Pat Smith, he'd be laughed out of politics, or any other position of leadership and public trust, long before now.
Of the current candidates in the race, I would probably lean toward State Rep. Tom Brinkman.
That being said, if a certain radio host from Cincinnati, A GREAT AMERICAN BY THE NAME OF BILL CUNNINGHAM, were to get in the race, he would have my vote.
FWIW, I think Brinkman's the best choice.
I live in the district. I am shocked at some of the people who are helping McEwen out, especially prolifers, when the other people are all strongly prolife and don't have the baggage.
I can be converted I guess, but the House Bank mess and McEwen's ridiculous attempt to get the second district seat when it was open back in 1993 or so (Portman won) after losing the 6th District to the awful Ted Strickland really turned me off.
McEwen seems to be a guy who HAS to be in Washington to feel fulfilled. We don't need that.
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