Wednesday’s political round-up

May 3, 2006

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Ohio’s primary day included several key races, but few big surprises. In the gubernatorial race, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth [tag]Blackwell[/tag] won the GOP nod, while Rep. [tag]Ted Strickland[/tag] (D) easily secured the Dem nod. In the U.S. Senate race, Sen. Mike DeWine (R) and Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) had little trouble winning their primaries. Down ballot, Rep. [tag]Jean Schmidt[/tag] (R) managed to stave off a challenge from former Rep. Bob McEwen (R), despite recently having been caught lying on her resume. And in Ohio’s 6th, state Sen. [tag]Charlie Wilson[/tag] (D), who had a little trouble with ballot signatures several weeks ago, won his primary through a successful write-in campaign.

* In North Carolina, there weren’t any surprises either, but I wanted to point out that [tag]Vernon Robinson[/tag] — who is stark raving mad — defeated his two primary opponents yesterday and will take on Rep. [tag]Brad Miller[/tag] (D) in November.

* In Iowa’s gubernatorial race, Iowa Secretary of State [tag]Chet Culver[/tag] (D) is holding onto his lead over Rep. [tag]Jim Nussle[/tag] (R) in the latest Rasmussen poll, 46% to 40%. It’s the third consecutive Rasmussen poll showing Culver building slowly on his lead. Nussle, however, leads the other Dem candidates, State Rep. Ed Fallon and former state economic development director Mike Blouin.

* Kansas Gov. [tag]Kathleen Sebelius[/tag] (D) is barely at the 50% threshold, but she nevertheless enjoys sizable leads over his main GOP rivals. A new Rasmussen poll shows Sebelius leading former state House Speaker Robin Jennison, 50% to 33%, and ahead of state Senator Jim Barnett, 49% to 37%. In all, 64% of Kansans said they approve of the way Sebelius is doing her job.

* And in Virginia, right about now, former Reagan Navy Secretary [tag]Jim Webb[/tag] (D) will host a campaign event in which Rep. Jack Murtha, Gen. Anthony Zinni, Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, and Lt. Gen. Frank Petersen will endorse Webb’s Senate campaign. Webb will face businessman in Harris Miller a June 13 primary, the winner of which will face Sen. George Allen (R) in the fall.

Down ballot, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) managed to stave off a challenge from former Rep. Bob McEwen (R), despite recently having been caught lying on her resume.

This is good news for Dems, right? Is she considered vulnerable? Or is she not considered vulnerable as the Dems aren’t putting up a competitive candidate?

And in Ohio’s 6th, state Sen. Charlie Wilson (D), who had a little trouble with ballot signatures several weeks ago, won his primary through a successful write-in campaign.

How rare is this? It sure seems rare to me? Is Ohio’s 6th reliably blue or red (or tossup)?

I wanted to point out that Vernon Robinson — who is stark raving mad — defeated his two primary opponents yesterday and will take on Rep. Brad Miller (D) in November.

Tell me we have a realistic shot of defeating Robinson. Please. He is such a nutcase that it pains me to think my tax dollars would go to his retirement…

  • Has anyone else noticed that – the more mendacious and looney the wingnut – the more likely they are to pull the bridge trolls out into daylight and on to the voting booth?

    I am constantly amazed at how much loonier and mendacious the right is becoming on nearly a daily basis than even I give them credit for (and I give them a LOT of credit) – like last month when I saw the fat ugly trailer park bimbette at a local hobby event I attended who was proudly walking around with a T-shirt that read “I’d rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than Ted Kennedy.” Fortunately, even in loonie-toonie Orangutang County, we don’t have a Vernon Robinson for her to vote for (which I am sure she would do in a heartbeat).

  • I looked a the results this morrnig on the OH SOS (And Gov Candidate) site. I recall this Blackwell dude was the SOS and Bush Campaign manager in OH last time around. He also is up to his elbows in this Diebold electronic voting maching thing. This may not be unusual ( I don’t know much about it) but on the county by county results breakdown, Blackwell won EVERY county in Ohio.

    http://www.sos.state.oh.us/Results/RaceDetail.aspx?race=GV&party=R

    Does anyone else think it is strange? Is it common for a candidate to win every county in a relatively tight primary?

  • I wanted to copy over my comments on Vernon Robinson from last week since I was a few days late responding and probably got missed by most everyone.

    He’s running in the 13th district which includes parts of Greensboro and Raliegh, sounds fairly suburban. Wikipedia says he won 59% of the vote last time so it sounds fairly likely that Robinson doesn’t stand a chance with the crap he’s spewing.

    Here is a map of the district.

    Also, it appears that every Raliegh-area district has a Democrat representative, so it’s likely that Miller is in a pretty solidly Dem district and fairly immune to nuts like this.

    Miller’s Wikipedia entry.

    Vernon Robinson’s very entertaining Wikipedia entry. It has a lot of good stuff on him, such as pointing out that, “On February 28, the last day file for office in North Carolina, Robinson withdrew as a candidate in the Twelfth District and filed to run in the more competitive Thirteenth District,” neither of which Robinson lives in. He’s been a perpetual losing candidate, running for public office for a decade, only actually holding public office in the Winston-Salem city council for two terms, finally getting defeated largely for “placement of a 1-ton Ten Commandments and Bill of Rights monument at City Hall (which had to be removed with city money)”.

    I especially like that his campaign slogan for his failed primary bid for the 5th district in 2004 was “Jesse Helms is back! And this time, he’s black!”

    Why am I suddenly reminded of the classic Dave Chappelle sketch about the blind black man who hated n*****s?

    I could go on quoting from his Wikipedia entry but I’ll eventually have cut and paste the whole thing. So I’ll cut myself short and recommend you follow the link instead.

  • I would have to hold every election held in Ohio as suspect to fraud at this point. Considering all that has happened there, topped off by last fall, when three of four measures having to do with voting were rejected by large margins even though polls showed them favored, yet results of a fourth measure not having to do with voting held true to the poll.

    This fall’s election there will be heavily scrutinized by many, esp the governor, US House and US Senate races. I’m not sure how much more monkey business the Rs can pull off without a statewide revolt.

  • “I am constantly amazed at how much loonier and mendacious the right is becoming on nearly a daily basis”

    Oh really? Here’s more. Apparently, a picture really IS worth a thousand words!

    Ted Turner: “I am absolutely convinced that the North Koreans are absolutely sincere. There’s really no reason for them to cheat [on nukes]….I looked them right in the eyes. And they looked like they meant the truth. I mean, you know, just because somebody’s done something wrong in the past doesn’t mean they can’t do right in the future or the present. That happens all the, all the time.”

    Wolf Blitzer: “But this is one of the most despotic regimes and Kim Jong-Il is one of the worst men on Earth. Isn’t that a fair assessment?”

    Turner: “Well, I didn’t get to meet him, but he didn’t look — in the pictures that I’ve seen of him on CNN, he didn’t look too much different than most other people I’ve met.”

    Blitzer: “But, look at the way, look at the way he’s, look at the way he’s treating his own people.”

    Turner: “Well, hey, listen. I saw a lot of people over there. They were thin and they were riding bicycles instead of driving in cars, but–”

    Blitzer: “A lot of those people are starving.”

    Turner: “I didn’t see any, I didn’t see any brutality….”

    — Exchange on CNN’s The Situation Room, September 19.

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