Ohio 2nd Blog

Reports coming in of a massive $285,000 media buy by the National Republican Congressional Committee… polls showing Hackett within five points… old media buys being cancelled… heads rolling… disarray at Schmidt HQ.

History is happening right here, right now. There is no other place on earth where any person could have more of an impact then in Ohio’s 2nd district.

Paul Hackett is making history, and you can help.

Right now the Hackett campaign is working to buy television commercials to counter the attack ads that will begin spewing out by the Republican Beltway filth machine. They’ve got till noon tommorrow to do so. That takes cash. After that the focus will be on boots on the ground.

Weapons of Mass Discussion grabs the ball from Minamyer and runs with it.

They are bankrupt. They will say anything. They will do anything. What they can’t do is tell you a good reason to vote for Jean Schmidt.

Swing State Project notes that the bile is starting to seep out into the mainstream media.

Democracy for America is rallying the troops in Cincinnati.

Hackett offers 2nd District fresher voice:

“What kind of men do we have in Washington representing us right now? One refuses to back the president and the other is crying on national television.“
— Jean Schmidt, Republican candidate for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District

That quote — about Ohio’s two Republican senators — came during the recent congressional primary campaign in the contest to replace U.S. Rep. Rob Portman. Most of the GOP candidates were trying to out-conservative each other.

Ms. Schmidt found a remarkably classless way to do it, commenting on the fact that when Sen. Voinovich talks about what he wants to leave behind for young people, he is capable of choking up.

More important, she seemed to be saying that voters who like legislators who exercise occasional independence from their party should not vote for her. (read more…)

The race has made a big impact on the blogosphere according to Blogpulse.

Dem Bloggers has audio up of the 2nd Schmidt v Hackett Debate.

• Grow Ohio > Paul Hackett Thanks the Netroots (Video)
• Swing State Project > Schmidt Denies Being Rubber Stamp
  Bob Brigham calls the debate a Hackett blowout.
• The race made it into The Note.
  Scroll way down. Better yet just search for Hackett.

Slice off one head and two grow in its place.

Posted in the comments over @ Cincinnati Blog:

On Monday, July 25th, 2005, WLW’s Scott Sloan went into a large diatribe about Paul Hackett’s service to our nation. He then began to speak about what we need to do in Iraq. He also spoke about everything that needed to be done. I would also like to mention that Sloan mentioned the flag burning in Fairfield, Ohio. He mentioned who it was because of the people that don’t agree with the war in Iraq. I wish I could exactly quote him but this is what he was talking about.

Then a caller came and began talking about Iraq. The caller said that he wasn’t a Major in the Marines in Iraq and so he really didn’t have the experience to say what needed to be done over there. Sloan then agreed with the caller but cut the caller off after the caller reminded Sloan that Sloan was not a Major in the Marines that served in Iraq either but that Hackett is.

Sloan immediately cut the caller off and began blaming the democrats for a set up. He went again into another diatribe about Hackett and using his service for political purposes.

A women then called and she called Hackett a name I wish not to repeat. Sloan never once disagreed with her and pretty much agreed with everything she was saying.

I couldn’t understand why Sloan would think this way. Hackett rejoined the military way before Portman was ever mentioned as being President’s Choice for Trade Representative, which opened the seat for the 2nd District of the House of Representatives. Only after Hackett was back home did decide to run for the vacancy, which wasn’t there before he left. He then tied the flag burning in with his attack against Hackitt… _(more…)

They will say anything. They will do anything.

The poster then follows with a series of action items. I’ll let you decide on the proper course.

It’s reading this kind of stuff that makes my vow of not cursing on this blog really hard.

Here’s the latest on the race from the papers:

• Cincinnati Enquirer > Hackett paints Schmidt as a Taft ‘rubber stamp’
• The Hill > Dem nominee endorsed by Cincinnati Post
  The insider Beltway publication gets how significant this is.
• New York Times > Veteran of Iraq, Running in Ohio, Is Harsh on Bush

From yesterday’s Inside Politics on CNN: (more…)