OH-12: Ohio Republican Party is going after Paula Brooks

Seriously, I didn't think Pat Tiberi was in serious trouble with a challenge by Franklin County Commissioner Paula Brooks, but the Republicans clearly do.  First, there was the news that Tiberi was suddenly included and moved to the front of the line of the NRCC's program to protect vulnerable incumbents.

And now, according to the Columbus Dispatch, the Ohio Republican Party is going after Brooks with the dreaded robo-call (dreaded to the receiver, as a campaign tactic, I question its effectiveness).

And what are they raising as a means of attacking Brooks?  That she hasn't define her positions on health care and ACORN.

ACORN?!?  Seriously, ACORN?  No pun intended, but is the ORP nuts?  Is this really the best line of attack they've got against Brooks?  That she hasn't spoken out about ACORN?

“The fact that state Republicans are running false, negative robocalls on Pat Tiberi’s behalf and national Republicans are flooding Tiberi’s coffers with cash can mean nothing else than that Republicans are running scared in the 12th district,” said Seth Bringman, Ohio Democratic Party spokesman.

Seriously, does anyone doubt when Brooks, a Democratic candidate, talks about wanted to stop the incumbent's obstructionism and is interested in improving access to health care for her constitutents, what she means?

It's bad enough that the ORP is hedging its bet on ACORN, but do they think attacking Brooks for supporting Obama on health care is a winner in a district that Obama won by ten points (that's only two points worse than what Tiberi did against political newcomer, and severally underfunded candidate David Robinson did)?  Robinson was outspent ten to one.   Tiberi won't have that kind of advantage in '10 as Brooks has almost already raised as much as Robinson did in his entire campaign since announcing her candidacy in August.

The majority of the votes in the district are overwhelming in Franklin County, which Tiberi actually lost in 2008 to Robinson by around 10,000 votes.  Robinson got nearly 75% of his entire district wide vote total from Franklin County alone.  Brooks only needs to outperform by swinging roughly 25,000 votes her way to beat Tiberi.

When you think about it in those terms, maybe people should be more bullish on Brooks.  I'm just saying that I cannot believe that the national and state Republicans are putting this much of an early effort in helping Tiberi unless there's a poll out there that shows he's in trouble back home.