I think Blackwell has lost primarily because of the ineptness of Bob Taft. I have a Blackwell sign in my yard but have family members that wouldn't back him. At least I managed to keep my mom home today!
Ohio is slow on the economic recovery and they are blaming the President. Even though a lot of it has to do with Taft, who in my opinion, is not a good representative of Republicans. A lot of it has to do with RAT local governments in Northeast Ohio as well. But it is easy here to only see politics on a national level and blame Bush for the whole shootin match.
I think Taft deserves a lot of the blame. He's a poor example of a Republican. He made it too easy for the bastard Dims.