From my perspective Ohio is dangerously close to flipping to the Democrats with the corruption through the party, as well as Taft, DeWine and Voinovich as the face of the national representation from Ohio. Ohio needs a swift cleaning before the '08 election or voters, somewhat with good reason, will turn on the Republicans in state.
I'm generally in favor of Blackwell since he challenged this establishment, he certainly showed ability to deal with the pressures of the '04 campaign to keep margin of error minimal so that no rational person could dispute the results. Disputed Taft's obsession with raising taxes.
I'll take your word a primary may backlash on Blackwell, but I'd hope not.
Wish you guys luck in sorting through it. I have already pledged to anyone that takes deWine on, and will be sending donations to Blackwell.
"Taft, DeWine and Voinovich"
mind as well consider it a democrat state already
I think you've hit it. There will probably be a sweeping change and general housecleaning in the next election cycle. If the 'Rats run Strickland, he'd probably be the favorite at this point.
The papers seem to print a new scandal story every day. There is just scandal on top of scandal with the current Republican administration. That has many, many people disgusted. People I talk to every day who are generally inclined to vote Republican are pretty fed up. I'm not sure they'd do any better with the 'Rats, and probably get higher taxes to boot, but any more the sentiment seems to be Anybody But The Republican.
This bodes ill for the '08 presidential race. The 'Rats can count to 270. They've seen the pattern of the last two presidential elections. They know all they need to do is flip either OH, FL, or IN to win the White House. Of those, I'd say OH is most in play. FL may be problematic with Jeb stepping down. IN is a long shot for the 'Rats but it could happen if Bayh is on the ticket.