What's better than a deluded wingnut teabagger challenging a Republican in a big primary? A self-funded filthy rich deluded wingnut teabagger WHO'S ALREADY ON THE AIR.
Former Bush administration trade representative Rob Portman has been widely assumed to have already been corronated the GOP nominee to replace outgoing Republican Senator George Voinovich in November 2010. There's a primary on the Dem side, Jennifer Brunner (who I support) vs. Lee Fisher (who sucks and will lose, but that's a whole 'nother diary).
The problem for Portman? Tom Ganley, the used car salesman teabagger facing Portman in the primary.
Ganley is a Cleveland area car dealer, who's built an empire of dealerships in northeast Ohio, whose ratings from the Better Business Bureau vary widely - a flagship dealer gets an F, another in Akron gets a C-, a particularly shady dealership gets an F for...
Consumers should be aware that they may be offered a "Conditional Delivery Agreement" - also know as a "Spot Delivery Agreement" - when purchasing a vehicle from this dealership.
Signing such an agreement permits the consumer to take the new vehicle home BEFORE FINANCING HAS BEEN APPROVED.
Although offered as a "convenience" to consumers, these agreements can often create problems if the consumer interprets them to mean the final terms of the car purchase will be as originally promised.
Capitalism! Anyway, Ganley is straight outta Tea Party central casting. Ganley has spoken at tea parties in Cleveland (here's video of his speech, which he won't allow anyone to embed), gets support from a Cleveland area wingnut talk radio blowhard (who airs on the same station as Limbaugh, Beck, and THE CAVS, which is a sore spot with me, and apparently with Cavs management, but I digress), has been endorsed by Bay Buchanan, and is basically insane.
Ganley has loaned his campaign more than $100,000, Federal Election Commission records show, and has been visiting tea parties, anti-czarists and the kinds of conservatives who think that even Jean Schmidt is too darn liberal.
Ganley plans to spend his fortune on teabagging the Ohio GOP into the dust. Which makes the Ohio Democratic Party very happy!
Said Seth Bringman. communications director for the Ohio Democratic Party: "It’s clear that Tom Ganley is gaining support, which, combined with his willingness to put in $7 million of his own money makes the Republican primary more competitive each day. Rob Portman will need to answer for his record of championing job-killing trade policies, both during the primary and in the general election, should he get there."
In fact, Ganley is already on the air in Dayton, with a very EXPENSIVE lookingad which, again, he won't allow anyone to embed. Ganley's hired known vote suppressing douchebag Jeff Longstreth to run his campaign. Watch Ganley in what appears to be an empty room where he speaks to teleprompters (that's right teabaggers - TELEPROMPTERS!)
In other words, Ganley is all in.
How is Ganley playing among the wingnuts? Jon Keeling (aka DJ Tablesauce) is one of Ohio's latest Republican establishment apologist bloggers - a former John Kasich staffer who crawled out into the sphere right about the time Kasich decided to run for governor against Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland. Keeling's blog almost exclusively pimps whatever oppo the Kasich campaign wants to float. In keeping with Republican hypocrisy to the Nth degree, Keeling writes from a laptop paid for by his latest taxpayer funded gig with the Department of Homeland Security.
Keeling is basically the Ohio GOP establishment in the Ohio blogosphere, and Keeling's begun taking shots at Ganley.
But, speaking of wasting it, there is one thing about his ad that does bring some concern. At the 44 second mark, the seal of the FBI is shown. I wonder if Ganley knew about this provision of the US Code:
Unauthorized use of the FBI seal is subject to prosecution under federal criminal law, including Sections 701 and 709 of Title 18, United States Code.
RedState, that's your cue! Contributing editor Kevin Holtsberry, a typical Republican consultant establishment type who himself admits to living off the government teat his entire career, took a front page shot right at Ganley on Wednesday for even daring to run.
Ganley seems to think that just because Portman has experience in elected office and government management that voters should toss aside common sense and vote for a complete unknown who has never been involved in politics until a chance to buy a Senate seat came along.
Ganley wants to take a legitimate concern - that some GOP officials and candidates are too connected to the failures of the past or too liberal for their districts - and use it as a reason to reject a longtime conservative and one of the strongest candidates in the country. And risk losing a critical senate seat in the process.
Ganley’s whole campaign is smoke and mirrors.
Unfortunately for Keeling and Holtsberry, none other than Eric Erickson of RedState just LOVES HIM SOME GANLEY! Hold your horses, Holtsbetrry!! Rob Portman ain't RedState approved!
he has a strong potential to be a flunky for leadership in the Senate instead of a leader.
Then there was his support of the bailout, amnesty, etc.
I don’t think we should dismiss Ganley out of hand.
What's it all mean? Aside from the fun of watching wingnut bloggers cat fight for the next five months? It means that the Republican Primary for US Senate in Ohio will be the next NY-23. A lot has been made about Marco Rubio in FL being the next Doug Hoffman, but Ganley in Ohio is the total package. And he's got unlimited funding. And he's already on the air.
But even better, Ganley will run a campaign which will tie Portman to the Bush economic record as trade representative, putting the entire jobs issue in Ohio on Bush's plate, via Portman. In essence, Ganley will be making the case for the Democratic candidate, for months, with unlimited funds. This can only be good for Democrats, not just Jennifer Brunner (who I believe will be our nominee), but all Democrats on the statewide ballot.
Can Ganley win? The most recent Quinny polling last week showed Ganley well behind 26-7, but with 64% undecided. No one in the state knows either of them, but Ganley has enormous name recognition in the NEO area after running decades of TV ads for the car dealerships. AT A MINIMUM, Ganley will tie responsibility for this economy to George W. Bush, through Rob Portman, which of course is where it belongs.
Bottom line? Better get more popcorn.