The OH-5 Rumor: The Buehrer Factor

Yesterday I mentioned that I'd gotten an email from a pissed off GOPer in the 5th district. Like most GOPers, he was pretty incomprehensible. Rabble rabble rabble and all that. So I posted a little something at the time, and emailed the guy back. Last night I heard more.

Now most folks at the national level probably didn't pay too much attention to the Republican primary in OH-5. It pitted State Senator Steve Buehrer against State Representative Bob Latta. And it got nasty. Oh, so nasty. It was scrumptious to watch. In fact, everybody's favorite Club For Growth even got involved and increased the mud slinging between the two by a factor of at least 10. They put out one firebreathing ad after another, all aimed at destroying Bob Latta's reputation. In turn, Bob Latta went nuclear, with attack ads slamming Buehrer personally and politically. In fact, the situation continued to escalate with each television ad, or direct mail piece, or speech the candidates gave. At one point Bob Latta even falsely claimed that Steve Buehrer didn't support prayer in school. Also, Steve Buehrer paid one of Latta's former consulting firms for video of Latta to use in an attack ad. By the end of the campaign the Ohio Elections Commission had declared that both men were liars. 

At the end of the race claims that Bob Latta kicked puppies or Steve Buehrer ate children weren't too far off. The saddest point of it all wasn't how much they degraded the process, but rather the fact that these two men once had a firm friendship. After the primary was over it was widely reported they despised each other personally. That grudge may play itself out on December 11th.

Do you recall seeing Steve Buerher stumping for Bob Latta throughout the general campaign? Do you recall Buehrer's robo calls endorsing Latta? Hell, has Buehrer even been to a Latta event? To the best of my knowledge the answer there is no. And before you discount Buehrer's impact on this race, remember he got 40% of the vote in the GOPer primary.

Yesterday's email was a claim that pissed of Buehrer supporters have been urging Republicans in the 5th district to stay at home on the 11th out of protest. The email also claimed that Buehrer has passively encouraged his supporters to take this action.

The claim that Buehrer voters are trying to drive down Republican turnout is believable. Afterall, there were serious concerns about Bob Latta's conservative credentials throughout the primary. And we've seen how crazy Ohio conservatives react when they don't feel their candidates represent them. Afterall, back in 2005 Citizens Opposed to Additional Taxes and Spending made a concerted effort to inform OH-2 Republicans not to vote in the special election that catapulted Jean Schmidt to Congress because they felt she was unacceptable. It seems as if a similar effort may be underway in OH-5.

However, the claim that Buehrer is involved in organizing all this is a little more tenuous. No matter how much Buehrer hates Latta personally, I have a hard time believing he'd risk his relationship with the Ohio Republican Party and his Senate Seat to enact revenge on his rival. Still, the hatred between those two men is pretty fierce. And a calculated Buehrer push to block Latta becomes more believable when you consider the fact that this seat will be up for re-election in November 2008. If Steve Buehrer were able to even keep 1,000 GOPer voters at home he might be able to keep Latta from Congress, and in effect open up another run for himself for the seat in '08. But that strategy would require Buehrer keep his involvement in any effort to keep Latta from Congress on the down low - so I'm sure the good Senator would deny involvement no matter what.

I'll have more on all of this if I can dig up anything else today. In the meantime, maybe someone should give Buehrer a call and see if he'll talk.