Well, we knew this was coming. Jerry Springer officially filed papers yesterday to run for the U.S. Senate in Ohio. This is not, as far as I’m concerned, good news.
The former Cincinnati mayor will face State Sen. Eric Fingerhut in the Democratic primary. The winner of that race will lose, I mean, take on incumbent Sen. George Voinovich (R) next November.
Why am I so opposed to a Springer campaign? Besides the obvious fact that he stands no chance at winning, I’m concerned about the impact Springer may have on tarnishing Democrats’ reputation.
If Springer wants to host some trashy freak show, that’s up to him. I can change the channel. But when he runs for statewide office as a Democrat, he opens the door to Republican charges that he somehow represents our party’s “values,” and that’s what I want to avoid.
Indeed, Tucker Carlson, the conservative co-host of CNN’s Crossfire, got the ball rolling last night, saying, “I may send money to Jerry Springer because I think he’s the archetypal Democrat.” Carlson added that Springer should actually run for president.
This is what I mean. Springer is not the “archetypal” Dem, he’s not even the archetypal talk show host. One can only hope he withdraws from the race before he does too much damage.