Bob Bennett Would Never Lie To Ohio
Interesting response from Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio GOP, regarding his parties devastating 2007 losses. Speaking on the topic of the Canton Mayoral race, in today's Canton-Repository (h/t to a reader):
“Democrats won in Democratic cities,” said Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. “We were fortunate to hold Canton for four years, but Democrats outnumber Republicans there by a 2-to-1 margin.
“Republicans continue to run strong in suburban, exurban and rural areas where our voters have moved out of the inner cities to avoid festering school and safety problems being largely ignored by Democratic mayors.”
Democrats won in Democratic cities? That's strange. I suppose Bob is saying it's natural the GOP lost the Canton Mayoral, and the rest of their Mayoral races as well, because Democrats win in Democratic Cities.
Food for thought. Republicans have always been competitive in big cities. In fact, in the last 100 years there was only one point, from 1906 to 1907, in which Democrats controlled Ohio's three biggest cities, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. During 1906 to 1907 I can't find information on the GOP's performance in Ohio's other largest cities, but I'd wage to bet they controlled at least one of the top 10, unlike now. So over the last 100 year span, Republicans have won in Democratic cities. That is, until, now.
And keeping that statistic in mind, I cannot find any evidence of any period in the last 100 years when the Republican Party lost in so many of Ohio's largest cities. Republicans may be running strong in "suburban, exurban and rural areas" (they're not), but history stands in stark opposition to Bob Bennett's view of Ohio. By all accounts, last night's losses were historical for the GOP.
Also, I'm glad to see Bennett is continuing to beat on the drum of school and safety issues. Afterall, school and safety issues were the linchpin of Bill Todd's campaign for Mayor in Columbus. And, well, Bill Todd performed worse than Ken Blackwell, barely scoring 30% of the electorate. So Bob, yes, please keep hammering Bill Todd's talking points.
