Good News In The Ohio Primaries (No! Really!)

OK, OK, so most of Kossack Nation now is in a pretty sizeable funk, given that this will almost certainly NOT be the night that the Democratic nomination is effectively decided. And, we have even been graced in recent minutes by a diary with a simple message:

"I Hate Ohio"

Fear not, friends! What the Buckeye State taketh, the Buckeye State giveth as well. While 99% of our attention has been vested in the presidential primary (with good reason), there have been a pair of very happy results for Democrats emanating from the federal primary which ALSO was conducted today.

2nd District--Republican Primary (83% Precincts Reporting)
Jean Schmidt (i)--58%
Tom Brinkman--39%

2nd District--Democratic Primary (95% Precincts Reporting)
Victoria Wulsin--58%
Steve Black--30%

Yes, friends, our Republican pals in Southern Ohio were kind enough to give us yet ANOTHER shot at an unattainable seat by re-nominating the infamous Jean Schmidt. And this time, we must suspect that the DCCC will not be late to the party in supporting Vic Wulsin, who easily defeated lawyer Steve Black this evening.

Meanwhile, John Boccieri (who won his primary tonight by a nearly two-to-one margin) almost caught a break in chasing the seat held by retiring Republican Rep. Ralph Regula. State Senator Kirk Schuring, who was easily the best-funded Republican in the race and a prized NRCC recruit, trailed former county commissioner Matt Miller (who gave Regula all he could handle back in 2006) for most of the evening. Sadly, at the last, Schuring pulled out the narrow victory (46%-43%).

And for those who care, Dennis Kucinich has a 53-32 lead over Joe Cimperman in early returns. But there is no small amount of dissent in these parts about whether that is good news or bad news...

Meanwhile, in Texas...

The two supposedly vulnerable House incumbents (Republicans Ralph Hall and Ron Paul) have both won renomination to the House quite easily.

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs appears likely to make the runoff to face Nick Lampson in Texas 22. Former Cornyn staffer Pete Olson is leading for the second slot.

In Texas 10, TV personality Larry Joe Doherty has been declared the victor in his primary against Dan Grant, leading 61-39 with 75% of precincts reporting.

Meanwhile, free-spending GOP candidate Quico Canseco has been defeated in TX-23 by county commissioner Lyle Larson.

•  Tips, Comments, Recs, Love, Hate....

  See, it's not ALL bad news.

  By the way, did anyone get a definitive "my friends" count from McCain's spiel tonight??!!??

  by Steve Singiser on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 08:46:36 PM PDT

  •  Can't vote in your poll yet...

    because whether we gain or lose House seats in November depends on whether we, as a party, are smarter than our Ohio primary voters were today.

    by MJB on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 08:56:06 PM PDT

    •  I can't even fathom Ohio.

      Every time I think about Ohio voting it's 2004 all over again.
      I'm really put off by the implications of the race issue in the exit polls.   I am perhaps more of the mind of the diarist you refer to obliquely.

      by kate mckinnon on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 09:21:05 PM PDT

  •  Gee,,,,

    I don't consider anything that happened tonight bad news.

    This is just gravy.

    by Miss Blue on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 08:58:16 PM PDT

    •  Since I Don't Have Any...

      Real animus towards either candidate, I consider it bad news only because I think it is better for this to be done quickly.

      Now, it almost certainly won't be.

      That means our nominee will be spending the next seven weeks, to say nothing of millions of dollars, beating up another Democrat while the Republican nominee can tuck away resources while saying "My Friends" a couple of thousand more times.

      by Steve Singiser on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 09:15:51 PM PDT

      •  On the other side of that, though...

        ....is the fact that Obama and Clinton will suck the oxygen out from McCain's campaign. I think that the campaign is going to take a more positive tone, at least for the next few weeks, lest Clinton face some serious blowback. She got away with in in Ohio, but it's not sustainable, I don't think.

        by metal prophet on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 10:11:02 PM PDT

•  more good news

  democratic turnout was once again huge. with clinton winning big. which suggests that we're going to do well, no matter who is nominated!

  by Turkana on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 08:52:36 PM PDT

•  TURNOUT! I want TURNOUT information!

  Particularly in OH-2 and OH-16.

  If the turnout favors Democrats, that would be extra-good news for those House races.

  by neroden on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 08:54:27 PM PDT

  •  Ask And You Shall Receive....

    In OH-02, there have been roughly 78,000 Democratic primary votes to date, as opposed to about 60,000 Republican primary votes.

    Meanwhile in OH-16, there have been 81,000 Democratic primary votes to date, as opposed to about 54,000 Republican primary votes.

    I don't know how that works, compared to previous years.

    by Steve Singiser on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 09:19:37 PM PDT

•  thanks for the good news :)

  much appreciated!

  by geejay on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 09:00:27 PM PDT

•  I love how quickly the "unification" thing

  goes away when St. Obama loses something. Then it's all "Fuck them" and "I hate X state."

  Beautiful, beautiful words of hope from a hope-filled, audacious campaign of hopeful hopers.

  by Jim J on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 09:04:54 PM PDT

  •  Honestly, The One Thing I Have Noticed....

    Is that both sides are not particularly good winners. I am willing to cut the Clinton supporters some slack, because it has been a long month and this HAS to feel good for them.

    Honestly, as a guy who was an Edwards guy who donated to all three and coin-flipped my way to an Obama vote on 2/5, I just wanted it to be over. I don't like McCain getting seven weeks to rebuild his resource base. I also don't like the beating both of our potential nominees are going to take for the next 40 days.

    by Steve Singiser on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 09:23:04 PM PDT

•  On Kucinich...

  ... his win is good news.  I will have a diary on this and about the "dissent" on his continued presence in the US House, by sometime tomorrow, at the latest.

  by homoaffectional on Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 09:35:03 PM PDT

•  Whichever Democrat becomes president

  in November will need the help of Congress.

  Kudos for writing about congress

  by plf515 on Wed Mar 05, 2008 at 03:07:55 AM PDT