When the calendar turned to 2006, it had been 14 years since any Democrat had been elected to any statewide elected office, and that was hero John Glenn's last re-election to his Senate seat. But after election day that year, Democrats had a new governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general, Sherrod Brown's Senate seat, and Zach Space's House seat. Democrats also picked up a state Senate seat to cut the GOP advantage to 21-12, and 10 state House seats, to cut a 63-36 deficit to 53-46.
Phew! That was a busy year for Ohio Democrats. They didn't just prove they had a pulse, they proved they could kick ass. But was it a fluke?
Tuesday night proved it wasn't.
You cannot look at tonight's result and escape one inevitable conclusion: 2006 was not a fluke, not a temporary shift. It was not, as people like Naugle would argue, a rejection of moderate Republicanism (even though the most ideologically "pure" Republicans performed the worst in 2006). We are looking at a complete rejection of the Republican Party at all levels of government. Democrats picked up several mayor offices, even knocking off incumbents who were believed to have wide bipartisan support. These Republicans didn't lose because of Coingate, the Iraq War (directly), or anything other than our party ran strong candidates and campaigns and being a Republican is a politically liability when the head of your party has the lowest approval rating (and highest strong disapproval rating) of any U.S. President in modern polling history [...]
If I were a Republican strategist for 2008, I'd be depressed. The political climate reading tonight has shown that things nationally, and in Ohio, have not improved noticeably since 2006. Republican extremism is box office poison.
Comments are closed on this story.