However, there are some warning signs for the GOP in this race. First of all, the Ohio GOP is still dominated by "moderates," including Governor Shaft, er Taft. Without a dynamic, conservative candidate for governor in 2006, thousands of Ohio Republicans will stay home on election day, and the party will pay the price. During my recent stay in the Buckeye State, the only candidate who seemed to energized the conservative base was the incumbent Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell. It was Blackwell who fought the libs over election issues last year, and he led the charge for the ballot measure that banned gay marriage in the state. Meanwhile, Shaft and his minions were running for the tall grass...
Don't worry too much about Hackett--he's done. Despite all that publicity, he still ran almost 5 points behind a very lackluster GOP candidate. With the advantages of incumbency, a heavily GOP district and sufficient ads on the Hackett "record," he'll lose by 7-10 points the next time around--if he bothers to run again.
The thing that worried me the most regarding this race were the problematic local issues that could have effected the outcome. That and the fact Hackett played the veteran card and hid his liberal credo fairly well. I agree that OH Rs could be in trouble this year but we need to hope for the best and OH needs to work its but off to overcome this disadvantage