I was fortunate enough to attend the OH-02 congressional district special election debates tonight. I won't give a play by play but there were some interesting things said tonight.
First, OH-02 currently has no representation in the House because Rob Portman(R) was appointed to the Bush Administration. The vacancy has left two candidates, Jean Schmidt(R) and Paul Hackett(D).
I was curious to see what line Jean would take in this debate with Bush's popularity very low. I expected her to declare her allegiance to Bush, which she did several hundred thousand times, but I also thought she might try to go for a more moderate approach.
She did say some stuff that was just weird. She promoted the idea that Saddam was in league with terrorists. She tried to say (with chuckles from the audience) that Iraqi's were cheering in the streets for the invasion. She also informed us that terrorists are training in Mexico and Canada(Watch out Calgary, your next!). She informed us that every problem in the United States right now is the result of 'activist judges'.
Jean also said she wants to overturn Roe V Wade and make it a states' issue. She informed the audience that she wants to create incentives to bring in Mega-Farms(there were gasps at this) because those bring in jobs. This was her biggest mistake, IMHO. This is a farming district and if you want to piss off a farmer, tell them you want to bring in a mega-farm. Jean also backed off of SS privitization. Her angle on Social Security was that the trust fund should not be touched by other programs (echoing Paul Hackett's statements) but was against raising the payroll cap. Jean used London over and over again as a reason we need to stay with Bush. Finally for her summation she pulled a Cheney and told the folks to remember London and why this special election is so important. My blood started to boil.
Paul played the independent. He played it because it is obvious he is. He said many times tonight that he disagreed with a number of things the Democratic leadership has said. For this district, this is EXACTLY the kind of Democrat that could win. He stressed multiple times his service in Iraq. During closing he said he would go back to Iraq to help his marines if he didn't win the election. He stressed that he is very pro gun. He tied his logic for gun ownership to his stance on abortion (pro-choice) as being "just as I don't want the government in your gun safe, I don't want it in your bedroom." He attacked a one party system where it is just a rubber stamp congress. He attacked the 'reality disconnect' from what the Administration says about Iraq, War on Terror, etc, and what is happening on the ground. From the reaction in the room he made his best points here. Hackett brought in Warren Buffet for the Social Security issues. He echoed Buffet's call for raising the payroll cap to $150k and said the real problem is Congress pulling money out of the trust fund. He closed by using the Ronald Reagan "Are you better now than you were five years ago?" routine and the John Kerry " more of the same" angle. The folks in this area are definitely NOT better off from five years ago.
All in all this debate was Jean's to lose. She didn't have to do the debate and it was gracious of her to do so. From my perspective Paul won and won good. From the reaction of others in the room I'd say I certainly wasn't alone. Jean is just more of the same and it is killing this district.
As an aside some jackass made sure to scream REAL LOUD the 'UNDER GOD' part of the pledge of allegiance. There seemed to be a few young republicans there in the audience. I asked one of them after if they were going to volunteer and got a 'Fuck you!'. I deserved it I suppose. I also saw what looks like a brand new 10 commandments display in front of Goshen High School on my way home. Looks like they paid more for that than they did the high school.