In the Ohio GOP US Senate Primary, David Smith Hasn’t Dropped Out, and Should — SOON

Mark at S.O.B Alliance Member Weapons of Mass Discussion has mostly figured out Ohio US Senate Candidate David Smith, and it’s not pretty. Especially if you’re from Ohio, read his post.

For those from outside of Ohio, incumbent US Senator Mike DeWine is not and really never has been popular with the GOP base for a whole bunch of reasons, and dislike for him has steadily grown in the 11- plus years he has been in the Senate. I’ll just name three reasons, and if you’re center-right or conservative, you’ll be with me: He’s anti-ANWR, he’s one of the Gang of 14 on judges, and he’s weak on the 2nd Amendment (and that only gets to about 60% of it).

DeWine had three GOP Primary challengers. With 7-1/2 weeks to go in the race, one of them, John Mitchel, figured out three things: first, that Mike DeWine can’t be defeated if there are multiple challengers; second, that he was not in the best position of the three to pull off the upset; and third, that he’d better get out quickly so that he could take his name off the ballot. So he withdrew. Class act, all the way.

That leaves two challengers. One, Bill Pierce, has gained traction in two forms. First, he’s winning endorsements from county leaders in open and honest and endorsement contests. Second, the state GOP establishment in Columbus, who has never met an incumbent candidate it doesn’t like, regardless of how many times that person has betrayed core principles, has made crystal clear its obvious dislike of Bill’s success (no time here to go into the details, but anyone with eyes can see it), i.e., the establishment’s cozy “no primaries, please” preference is paramount, and they see Bill Pierce as a clear and present danger to the status quo.

The remaining challenger is David Smith. He has lived in Ohio just over a year, and never lived here previously. On that basis alone, he’s unelectable; DeWine will rip him for it, and if Smith by some incomprehensible miracle got past DeWine, Democrat Sherrod Brown would plant the carpetbagging seed so deeply in voters’ minds in summer ad blitzes that no amount of charisma and charm would be able to overcome it.

He has won no endorsements at county GOP endorsement meetings (fair or rigged). He clearly trails Pierce, and badly, by any objective measure.

Despite all of this, Smith has dithered to the point that I am told his name will be on the ballot and cannot be removed at this “late” date. (Aside: What’s THAT all about? You would think we’re still using the Pony Express and that Kinko’s didn’t exist. There are still six weeks to go — the legislature should cut down the “off the ballot” time to four weeks at most before an election.)

But it gets worse: Mr. Smith is sandbagging county GOP leaders and voters he talks to about his background and experience, and has been caught in a litany of, ahem, less than truthful statements that I will not catalog, except to say that I can.

Last straw: He has reneged on a promise to withdraw if certain conditions were met. Pick it up with Mark:

The mediator, you, and Bill Pierce all agreed that if FIFTEEN central committee chairs could be found who believed your carpetbagging issues were a fatal flaw, then you would drop out. The FIFTEEN WERE FOUND, and you….RENEGED!!!! Columbus TownHall has you on tape making promises that you have not kept about getting out of the race, yet you deny this and you also send bots over to smear other candidates and their campaigns, yet claiming you are a victim.

David Smith has crossed the line into being clearly unacceptable under any conditions.

For the good of his party, and to give primary voters one clear and genuinely viable up-or-down alternative to Mike DeWine, David Smith should drop out of the race. He still has time, but not much, to do the right thing.

I’ll have more to say on this in the next few days as certain things shake out, and as we find out once and for all what David Smith is made of.