Buckeye State Blog - District 6

Rethinking the Ohio Sixth Congressional Race....

modernesquire — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 20:09:28 -0700

Over the last month, the Republicans have been talking about how the Sixth Congressional race is supposedly this great pick up opporuntity for them.�� But, I've noticed that they haven't really been talking about how State Represenative Chuck Blasdel, their nominee, is supposedly such a strong candidate for this district.�� Now I know why.

During his last re-election campaign, State Representative Blasdel raised and spent over $100k in his re-election campaign.�� His Democratic opponent, Frank Rayl, raised and spent about $23k.�� That's over a 4:1 ratio.

And how did State��Representative Blasdel do as an incumbant running for re-election with a 4:1 money advantage during a presidential election in which his party won?

Blasdel won by 50.52%-49.48%.�� It was the��second tightest race for an Ohio Republican State Representative candidate for an incumbent.�� He won by a margin of 482 votes.�� Conversely, State Senator Charlie Wilson, running in the same county as Blasdel as well as four others��won with two-thirds of the vote in his district of which three of the four counties in his State Senate district are also in the Sixth Congressional.�� Given that the greater population area of the district is in the Democratic stronghold where Wilson is already a known candidate, his strength there gives him a natural base right where a candidate would want to have a base.�� Blasdel, meanwhile, doesn't really have a base of support where he is a known candidate.�� He is unknown in the more Republican parts of the district which are more sparsely populated.

If the 2004 elections are any guide, Wilson has a strong base in the most populous area of the district, which is also heavily Democratic.�� And Blasdel is a wounded candidate who barely managed to win re-election despite having a 4:1 fundraising advantage and incumbency in a pro-Republican election.

Now, tell me, how's this race a likely take over opportunity for the Republicans?

It's possible: Charlie Wilson's write-in campaign may succeed

modernesquire — Tue, 02 May 2006 19:25:54 -0700

There's not alot of data yet in this race, but what's available is encouraging.

Right now, Charlie Wilson has a twenty point lead, and some of his home counties haven't even come in yet.

The bad news is that all but 1 precinct in Washington County has come in and not one voter wrote in Charlie Wilson's name!

"Money may not be the problem, but it's the answer" for Charlie Wilson

Alan Harvard — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 08:04:42 -0700

"Money may not be the problem, but it's the answer".

A friend of mine said that to me earlier this year, and I am finding that is applies to many instances.

In this case, it applies to Charlie Wilson.

We all know what Charlie's problem is:

Ohio state law requires at least or, as we say in Washington, "just" -- 50 valid signatures to get on the ballot, and precludes candidates from submitting more than 150. Only 48 of the signatures were deemed valid.

Now the DCCC has to supply the answer:

According to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission, Democrats spent $160,066 last week on new ads telling primary voters to write in Wilson and defending him from Republican attacks.

Oh, and a quick reminder that the DCCC does NOT have a policy to stay out of primary fights:

Despite its policy of not taking sides in primaries, the DCCC includes only Wilson from the 6th District on its roster of candidates, ignoring Bob Carr and John Luchansky, the two men who collected enough signatures to make the ballot.

They also have this link on the frontpage of the DCCC website.

Folks, we are Democrats, we will never have more money. We cannot afford to make these kinds of mistakes. We have to play smarter, leaner, and faster. (That is why the internet has been so beneficial to us - and why it needs to remain so.)* AND we need to be looking for other ways to spread our message at minimal financial investments.

*Note: I am not implying that Charlie should have used the internet to get his signatures. I personally think that he should have spent money on a field program to do that instead of making his kid his campaign manager, but that's old news.

Charlie Wilson's Problems Continue

staff — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 16:58:39 -0700

Charlie Wilson must be wishing this last few weeks would hurry and pass. After failing to get on the Ballot and having to rely upon being a write in candidate he now has the GOP dumping oppo research on him too

Wilson's "questionable past" includes his concerns about how the dumping of raw sewage into the Ohio River more than a decade ago would impact his political career, said Ed Patru, an NRCC spokesman.
[...]
Wilson said the dumping occurred during heavy rainfalls. But David Charvat, the authority's superintendent from July 1994 to September 1995, disagrees.

Fired in September 1995, Charvat successfully sued the authority, saying he was wrongfully terminated because he discovered the raw sewage problems and other violations, and his concerns fell on deaf ears when he informed the board.

In court documents, Charvat says he discovered that an authority employee cross-connected the sewer plant system with the public water supply, leading to the raw sewage problem. Also, Charvat said in court documents that after Wilson and the rest of the board was informed, the agency didn't report the violation to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Apparently this line of attack is an oldie and a not so goodie

Wilson said the tape-recorded statement has been used against him every time he's run for office. He ran and won Ohio House races in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002, and was elected to the Ohio Senate in 2004.
[...]
Wilson said he was surprised that the authority issue is being used against him so early in the campaign.

"It's always been a month before the election," he said.

Wilson needs to dig himself out of the, ahem, shit, soon because this game of "all pile on" isn't looking good for Democrats retaining OH-6 right now.