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View Full Version : Ohio's turning blue; how about you?




Thomas Veil
May 17, 2006, 08:21 AM
Here's a subject we could make into a sticky from now until November: how races are shaping up for the upcoming election in various states.

For instance, I was pleased to find this in one of the local (Cleveland, Ohio) papers this morning:

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland leads his Republican rival Ken Blackwell in the latest Rasmussen Reports poll, 52 percent to 36 percent. The poll results have not been posted on the Rasmussen Web site yet, but the Strickland campaign, which subscribes to the polling service, has been emailing results to supporters.

Rasmussen, an independent pollster that conducts automated phone surveys, has released results of its latest poll in Ohio U.S. Senate race.

It shows Ohio Congressman Sherrod Brown leading incumbent Republican Mike DeWine by three points, 44 percent to 41 percent. Though the poll’s 4.5 percentage point margin of error means the race is a virtual tie, the results are good news for Brown, who has trailed DeWine in all of the previous Rasmussen Reports polls.Now, the Strickland thing is important, sure. Ken Blackwell is not just intellectually dishonest in the extreme, he's actually a menace, pushing a budget-limiting amendment that's similar to the one that's been so disastrous for Colorado. And Blackwell was the secretary of state who certified the Ohio Bush 2004 results despite what looked like some shady activities. So yes, it's important that Strickland win.

But for me, the big news is that Sherrod Brown is actually pulling ahead of (or at least even with) incumbent Mike DeWine. DeWine is a rather quiet, relatively inoffensive congressman, and Sherrod Brown is a definite liberal. The fact that Brown can be surging upward in this state is rather remarkable. (Ohio is becoming thought of more and more as a red state, not a swing state.)

Yes, things are looking up in Ohio. As recently as a month ago, DeWine looked pretty safe. But now...?

If such a red state as Ohio can be suddenly turning blue, what does that say about the Republicans' fortunes in the rest of the country? What's going on in your neck of the woods? Do you have any good news about House, Senate or gubernatorial races?

Plain Dealer link (http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/openers/index.ssf?/mtlogs/cleve_openers/archives/2006_05.html#141439)



PlaceofDis
May 17, 2006, 08:28 AM
well i live in IL, so we're pretty much sticking blue. aren't we always? ;)

although i'm glad to hear that some nice changes may be coming our way in November.

solvs
May 18, 2006, 02:11 AM
I was in WA and I'm now in CA, so we all know how we're swinging. Arnold is going to be out of a job soon, I can tell you that. I look at 2005 at think '06 is going to be similar or better. People don't really like the Dems, but they really don't like the neocons.

Never put it past the Dems to blow an election though.

ahunter3
May 18, 2006, 11:36 AM
What I'd like to see is Indiana going blue; now that would be a bellwether!


(Well, OK, I'd like to see Utah and Idaho going liberal-Democrat, and I'd like to see a flock of ivory-billed woodpeckers, too, but among the things that are actually possible, Indiana would be very nice)

Thomas Veil
May 18, 2006, 12:16 PM
Heh heh, Indiana. For right or wrong, when I think of Indiana I think of its favorite (fictional) son -- Major Frank Burns, a man who embodies the pettiness, bigotry and piety of the far right.

leekohler
May 18, 2006, 01:42 PM
Hmm- Ohio a blue state? Sorry, I spent my first 25 years there and I'll believe it when I see it.

Stampyhead
May 18, 2006, 03:13 PM
Wow, Sherrod Brown beating out Mike DeWine? Times are changing. Mike has been around forever it seems like. Back when I was a student at Oberlin College my friend and I (probably the only two conservatives at Oberlin!) helped out on many Lorrain County Republican campaigns. I guess the people out there are ready for some new blood.

jefhatfield
May 18, 2006, 03:28 PM
ohio has basically been blue-leaning since the early 1990s...the big issue was getting blue voters to the polls...and it haunted john kerry in 2004 by failing to do so

same could be said for virginia, which could swing either way

but i believe most of the other states in the south outside of virginia are slightly red or solidly red

pennsylvania is slightly blue and could go red and be a spoiler state in 06 and 08...and it could be the gop's ace in the pocket