Inside Scoop On Ohio

I mentioned at the top of the program that there are many, many people out there that are looking at Ohio and they're not readily agreeing with this notion that it is a swing state, that it in fact is already in the Bush camp, despite what the polls are saying. Now, one of the reasons -- you may wonder, why is it Ohio every year, every presidential campaign, why is Ohio considered a tossup? It's because people can vote there without party affiliation. You can go in there and register, you don't have to register Republican or Democrat, you can just go in and register, you can vote however you wish.

Now, there was a blogger who has studied all this, put some stuff out last night, name is Jay Costs (scroll to Ohio), and others have looked at it, found it credible, and have even added their own things. So let me give you a summary, basically. It is Cost's opinion that Bush is doing much, much better in Ohio than the mainstream media is giving him credit for. The mainstream media are spinning that it's close in Ohio, when it really isn't. And this explains why Bush was able to stay away from Ohio for ten days. He has a chance to take Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, and still hold Ohio. Rove is not an idiot. They haven't given up on Ohio, but they were able to not go there for ten days.

Now, something that I have heard about Ohio -- I had dinner last night with some very, very, very powerful people, ladies and gentlemen, and one of the people had a message for me from a Republican operative whose name doesn't matter. You wouldn't know it anyway. Wanted me to be sure and be told that the Republican grassroots effort in Ohio is almost down to the individual voter. That the precinct captains in Republican sections of Ohio know exactly who their voters are and who they're going to vote for on a daily basis, they're in touch with them, they're going to know whether they vote or not, that the grassroots effort in Ohio -- and of course the press is not talking about how well organized the Republicans are; the press is talking about how well organized the Democrats are and all these voter registrations. But the story I'm getting out of Ohio is that it is organized to the hilt, down to the grassroots.

And in addition to that, Karl Rove is not an idiot, they haven't given up on Ohio, but some things need to be emphasized here. First, as Jay Costs mentions, Ohio is very much a Republican state. It's not a swing state. The Democratic Party in Ohio is hardly to be found. There's no interesting statewide Democrat candidate running for any position that in any way will help Kerry. Nobody else, like the John Glenn machine doesn't exist, John Glenn's not up for re-election. There's no Democrat senator from Ohio that's up for reelection that will help get out the Democrat vote. The governor is a Republican. The Ohio House delegation is majority Republican. There's no Democrat in a major office that's on the ballot that's going to generate a lot of turnout for him, that will provide coattails anywhere else around the state. Voinovich is going to be reelected with about 63% of the vote.

Second, the social-moral issues like gay marriage and abortion and security concerns have a huge impact in Ohio, especially among women and African-Americans, and this is even reflected in nationwide polls. Kerry cannot break even with Bush with female voters. He needs to get at least 10% more of them than Bush and Bush is going to pick up about 13% of the black vote in Ohio it looks like.

Third, only idiots will think that the roughly 800,000 newly registered voters are all going to go for Kerry. They're going to end up breaking about 50-50. Pay attention to the large number of voters the Republicans have registered. These guys have not been napping for the last five months. There are new voters in rural counties, too, they're not all up in Cuyahoga County, which is Cleveland.

Fourth, Bush will get a much larger percentage of independents than some people think. And fifth, there is no enthusiasm for Kerry even among his supporters. And if you don't believe me, go to SlateMSN.com and they've got a little story there about everybody on their staff was asked to pick their candidate, and 99% choose Kerry, but go read it, none of them like him. It's exactly what I've always said, they're holding their nose, they hate Bush and they gotta get rid of Bush, but Kerry does not excite these people. Kerry doesn't excite anybody, folks. He doesn't really excite anybody.

The best-kept secret of this campaign is that John Kerry is a vessel. Do you know what? I would love to be able to make this bet because I could win this bet and I could earn enough money on this bet, I'd bet every one of you a dollar, and I would win from every one of you who took the opposite stance of mine and I would win the bet and I would get money and I would give it to my favorite charity or yours, because it would be at least 22 million bucks, before taxes. Here's the bet: John Kerry and John Edwards on Monday could resign the ticket. They could say, "You know what, we don't want this." I don't care why they resign, and Kerry would get as many votes off the ticket as he's going to get on the ticket. Even if there's not a liberal on the ballot. Even if there weren't a Democrat on the ballot, that nonentity would get as many votes as Kerry's going to get, whatever the number is. Because they don't care about anything other than they hate Bush. We'll never know because Kerry's not going to have the sense to quit. He's not going to have the good grace to resign. He's not going to suffer what ought to be a disgraceful image because of the way he's conducting himself, particularly this week in this campaign. But you can take him off the ticket. You can take Edwards off the ticket and leave it blank.

You could put a skunk on the ticket and the skunk would get as many votes as Kerry's going to get. Nobody on the Democrat side would get as many votes as Kerry's going to get because he doesn't matter, and that's why you have to look at Republican turnout. Nobody is talking about Republican turnout, the press is all excited about the Democrats and how many new voters they've got and how energized they are. Well, they may be, but they're not energized for their guy. They hate Bush, and hate, there's not enough of it in this country to propel these people to victory, I don't care what you think, I don't care what you've been told, I don't care what you believe in the mainstream media, there's not that much hate. There is some, but comes from a relevantly small group of pointy-headed effete, elite intellectual snobs, and the wannabes around the country who think they're like them.

Pat Caddell just said it. Even Democrats don't hate Bush, the ones that show up in polls. His personal popularity is pretty high, and has to have some Democrat support in there in order for it to be as high as it is, not talking about job approval, we're talking about personal popularity; he's not a hated guy. The media wants you to think he is. Quickly here back to this Ohio business, there's no enthusiasm for Kerry, even among his supporters, nobody likes the guy. His wife seems to justify the worst tendencies of the French revolution. It's impossible for people to envision her in the White House as first lady. Peter Schramm here writing at National Review Online, predicts that Bush will win Ohio by one or two points less than issue 1 will pass with, that's the no gay marriage. No gay marriage is issue 1, prediction is Bush will win Ohio by one or two points less than the number issue 1 will pass with. Issue 1 will pass by about 6%. Bush will take Ohio by 4 or 5% goes this prediction. It is his considered opinion that Democrats in the Kerry campaign are extremely desperate in Ohio, and Peter Schramm says he understands why.

CALLER: Hi, Rush, it's a thrill to be on. I'm a vintage dittohead, and I'm happy to talk to you. I'm in Toledo, Ohio. My daughter is the coordinator of the phone bank for the Republican Party.

CALLER: And we're getting up to 15,000 calls out of there a night, and we're having real positive results, and I really perked up when I heard you say that the press is spinning this. Now, we're Lucas County, which has traditionally gone Democratic and we're getting positive results from our people, and they are very precise in the way they're tracking these voters here. It's a very, very smooth organization.

RUSH: Well, that's what I've heard. I don't want to say too much about it, you know, the old jinx.

RUSH: The old jinx theory, and I don't want to give too much away, but the story I got last night was, and it came up because, as usual, at a dinner featuring a lot of Republicans, always going to be a couple that are whining and moaning about how Bush isn't doing this and Bush isn't do that, and how come the Republicans aren't countering what the Democrats are doing, and somebody said, "Wait a minute, that reminds me, I talked to X so-and-so. Wanted me to tell Rush something tonight," and bam, got the message about what's been going on in Ohio. You have to understand a lot of Republican grassroots work goes on underneath the radar because the media doesn't report it. The media doesn't report it because it generates enthusiasm. If you take a look here at the mainstream press, do you not get the impression -- let me just ask you a question, when you see all these stories about voter registration and all these new registered voters and, "Oh, this is exciting," aren't you getting the impression that they're all Democrats?

CALLER: I think that they're people that are very private and they're unwilling to disclose who they're voting for to the pollsters, that's what my gut is.

RUSH: Well, I mean, I'm not talking about the actual people themselves, I'm talking about when the press reports all this new registration out there, the accompanying implication -- I'm not inferring it -- there is an implication that the Democrats are going crazy, that there's so much hatred for Bush and so much support for Kerry, that Democrats are coming out in droves, and young people and old people and people who never voted for can't wait to get rid of Bush, all Democrats being registered. It just isn't true. It just isn't true. And all this new Republican registration and all the grassroots work that Republicans are doing in state after state after state doesn't get reported. And it's good in a way because it creates a sense of false I think security on the part of the Democrats. But my point is this. There are people that think that Republicans just sitting around and let the chips fall where they may, people show up, fine, if they don't show up, fine. That's not what's happening, is my only point, reiterate it once again.

Minnesota doesn't register by party.

The last two polls showed Bush up by three.

In my state senate district, we have 200+ volunteers. We're making 15,000 phone calls and dropping literature at 28,000 addresses by Monday.

And that's just in one senate district. There are 66 other senate districts in Minnesota.

I will add that I think Ohio is as close as the polls say it is. I find the Ohio women are solidly behind Bush, but the Ohio men are switching to Kerry. The women mostly have service jobs and are happy, and the men have lost their manufacturing jobs and are not happy.

Good observation....most of the men probably hold union jobs (Ohio is a big union state), so that explains their allegiances....

Debating whether to send this to a childhood friend in OH that's a rabid demoncRAT. She might explode. Don't think I will though. However, I'll send it to some of pubby friends. Thanks for the post.

Wanted me to be sure and be told that the Republican grassroots effort in Ohio is almost down to the individual voter. That the precinct captains in Republican sections of Ohio know exactly who their voters are and who they're going to vote for on a daily basis, they're in touch with them, they're going to know whether they vote or not, that the grassroots effort in Ohio.

Well, I am in Ohio and my precinct captain (whoever he or she is) certainly does not know how I am going to vote because I have never been called, contacted, or otherwise and I am a Republican, although the Republicans have no way of knowing that.

I'll go out on a limb and make a prediction: If Thune beats Daschle then Bush carries Minnesota....it will be a good indicator of the dissatisfaction of the voters of Minnesota with the Dems in general...

I read the blog, and I have seen the Bush Cheney ground game in OH and it is no where close to what was described.

Here in the Cincinnati area the African Americans have a get out the vote drive but they have that every year.
Four years ago they were busing people to the polls for Gore. I don't know how they're going to improve on that.

Ignorant question: Is Taft running for re-election this year? If not, what else besides ~~Kerry~~, err, Bush hating, will bring out the Dems to vote?

i live in cuyahoga county, deep in rat country, and i must say that radio advertisement spending by kerry supporters outnumber bush ads probably 3:1. my vote will be used to take down one of many kook kerry votes. i hope rush is right.

Daschle and Thune are in South Dakota.

DANG! A sure sign I need to start getting more sleep -- now that I won't be staying up late watching the Cardinals play baseball any more this year....thanks for the correction....(boy, do I ever feel stupid!) :-)

One more correction, if i understand current Ohio politics the governor is a RINO who will probably be toast next election.

I think Rush is on to something.
This obviously isn't scientific, but I live and work in Columbus, and I only know about 3 or 4 people who are voting for Kerry.
Most of my friends and family are Bush voters. And I have convinced several of my co-workers to register and then committ to voting for Bush.
We're doing our part!

Taft can't run next time (thankfully) since his term limits are up.
I hope we can get a real conservative in here!

I read the blog, and I have seen the Bush Cheney ground game in OH and it is no where close to what was described.

Could you elaborate, please?

I saw President Bush in Findlay yesterday. They expected 10,000 people to attend; 15,000 got in, and they turned away another 3,000-5,000 at the gates.

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