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Spot on analysis. Schmidt isn't so much a moderate - it's just that she's just not that bright and she has a big mouth. That's a deadly combination. Especially when she's working with moderate leadership.

As a resident of the second district, I know Schmidt all too well.

She's an embarrassment down here. Chabot and Tancredo know it.

In 2004, she lost her own battle for State Senate, and when she tried to return to her township trustee seat later that year, they told her to get lost.

She has a knack for rubbing people the wrong way and that's why she's going to lose against McEwen.

Further, to all those who try and say McEwen has ethical baggage, I say prove it.

Don't just show me breathless newspaper reporting from 1992. Show me government documents that prove McEwen bounced a single check. The reporting in 1992 was flat wrong - over 350 people were accused of bouncing checks back then. Only a handful of people (less than 30?) were actually found guilty of anything.

McEwen was accused, like former Congressman and now Vice President Dick Cheney, of "bouncing checks." Both were exonerated. Unfortunately for McEwen, he lost his race in 1992 and Cheney won. So people erroneously believe McEwen "bounced checks" and Cheney didn't.

The fact is his Congressional District was re-aligned in 1992 and he had to fight it out with another long-time Congressman for the right to face Strickland. It was an ugly battle, and McEwen, weakened in the primary and facing a Democrat in a new district, lost (barely) to Strickland.

Those are FACTS.

A few other FACTS:

McEwen has a 12 year Congressional record that proves he's a strong conservative, especially considering his record was forged in a time when the House was controlled by Democrats.

Schmidt's record (which is dismal on the fiscal side), was forged at a time when Ohio controlled EVERY major Republican office and both sides of the legislature.

The best thing that can be said about her is that she's a fighter. But she's a dumb fighter with a big mouth and a lousy conservative record.

Prediction: McEwen 53%, Schmidt 47%, Kraus 0%, Constable 0%

Nice try, but the facts on record don't support your view. The fact is McEwen himself admitted making mistakes:

link

McEwen faced questions about the bounced checks he had written on the House bank. Buchert ran campaign commercials citing McEwen's checks, the expenses of his Congressional office, and his campaign finance disclosures, while noting Portman was "the handpicked choice of the downtown money crowd" and was "a registered foreign agent for the biggest Democrat lobbying firm in Washington," labeling Portman and McEwen "Prince Rob and Bouncing Bob."[48] McEwen, who had taken a hard-line on his checks in 1992, relented in the campaign. Martin Gottlieb wrote, "McEwen says now that his problem was a form of excessive pride. He says he used to 'demand perfection' of himself." McEwen also said, "I felt I could never admit a mistake. . . . I am very, very sorry. I should have watched it more carefully. . . . I have learned a great deal." [49] Les Spaeth, chairman of the Warren County Republican Party and former Warren County Auditor, said, "People very much disliked the check overdraft thing, but I think they don't see it as happening again. I think it's past. He made a mistake and he got caught. But that's overridden by the service he's given, particularly to our county." [50]