If You Think Ken Blackwell Fixed the 2004 Election, Here’s Your Ohio Guv Candidate
Bob Fitrakis is on the ballot as an independent candidate for governor of Ohio, endorsed by the Green Party.
If you’re in the “Ken Blackwell stole the election” camp, why settle for Ted Strickland’s Moonbat Mild when you get Bob’s Moonbat Gone Wild?
Hoo boy, is it ever deep:
Will Ken Blackwell find the ways to steal Ohio 2006 as he did in 2004?
The man who stole Ohio for George W. Bush in 2004 is now trying to steal it for himself in 2006. The question is: who will stop him, and will he also affect the balance of power in the U.S. Congress?
As election day approaches, Blackwell’s dirty tricks sink ever deeper.
…..Blackwell is using Rove’s notoriously deceptive push poll device to spread an unsubstantiated smear against his Democratic gubernatorial opponent, Ted Strickland. Push polls were rendered infamous when Rove used them in South Carolina to falsely suggest that Senator John McCain had fathered a mixed-race child.
(Aside: Yeah, Karl Rove invented the push poll — Ed. [/sarcasm])
….. Blackwell attained national notoriety after serving as state co-chair of the Bush-Cheney Re-election Committee while also, as Ohio Secretary of State, running the dubious vote count that gave Bush a second White House term.
This year Blackwell will count the votes in his own race for governor, in the crucial U.S. Senate race between GOP incumbant Mike DeWine versus Congressman Sherrod Brown, and in a number of cricital House races hotly contested for the first time in years.
As he does so, Blackwell is conducting the largest purge of voter rolls since the apartheid nightmare of the post-Reconstruction Jim Crow south.
….. Blackwell is now imposing restrictive voter ID requirements aimed at crippling his opponents. Passed by the Republican legislature, these strictures aim to eliminate from the 2006 vote count tens of thousands of mostly poor and black-and thus mostly Democratic-voters who cannot or will not obtain the required identification cards.
….. Overall, Blackwell currently trails Strickland by 20 points and more in state polls. Ohio Democrats have begun to crow that Blackwell’s defeat is a done deal, just as they celebrated John Kerry’s “victory” in 2004.
But Blackwell’s push polls, voter elimination campaigns and ballot attacks cannot be underestimated. At very least, they could tip the balance in the state’s hard-fought U.S. Senate and Congressional races, any one of which could help determine whether the Democrats re-take control of the Congress. Local pundits are already talking about a last-minute shift toward the Republicans, and bracing for thousands of alleged fundamentalist voters who will supposedly swarm the polls at the last minute.
In-depth studies of the 2004 ballots now cast serious doubt on the actual existence of such alleged voters, then or now. But unless Americans truly committed to tangible democracy are careful, J. Kenneth Blackwell just might find the ways to steal Ohio 2006, as he did in 2004.
Who says third-party candidates can’t be entertaining? Fritrakis might even get into double digits if he trolls around Democratic Underground and Daily Kos long enough.
What an asshat. I assume next week will be bloody, but if Voinovich hadn’t spent the closing weeks of this campaign bitching about Issue 3 instead of campaigning for DeWine, maybe we wouldn’t have to put up with quasi-Socialist Brown for six years. And since I work in politics, I’ll get to put up with it. Great!
I blame Voinovich. He could have made the difference.
Comment by The Hand Grenade of Quiet Reflection — November 3, 2006 @ 11:59 am
#1, Let not your heart be troubled.
Comment by TBlumer — November 3, 2006 @ 12:57 pm
Not sure quite what you mean, T.
I’m no DeWine fanboy (does such a person exist?) but I am in favor of keeping control of the Senate, and if DeWine could pull this off, that could have been the stopgap the NRSC needed.
Alas, if Voinovich wasn’t wasting his time on that ballot measure, he could’ve helped make the case against Sherrod Brown. It’s not that hard a case to make. But apparently he’d rather be stuck in the minority than campaign for his fellow senator.
Comment by The Hand Grenade of Quiet Reflection — November 3, 2006 @ 2:15 pm
#3, What I am saying is that DeWine will, I think, be OK.
First, I think Issue 3 needs to be fought because it is among the cleverest, stealthiest, most misleading campaigns I have ever seen. Voinovich is remembered as a guy who has opposed legalized gambling consistently. His absence from the fray would be noticed, and might give aid and comfort to Issue 3 proponents.
Second, I am not sure that Voinovich would be a great help to DeWine anyway, esp if he reminds some of us that he cried over John Bolton and opposes ending the death tax.
I think it is a tough call, and I would hope (though I do not know) that Voinovich discussed all of this with DeWine and the GOP before making this choice. I personally believe there is a lot more confidence in GOP circles than is being let on, but I do not have any insider info. We will find out on Tuesday whether or not it is my imagination.
Comment by TBlumer — November 3, 2006 @ 2:55 pm
Well, I don’t care about Issue 3. That one could go either way as far as I’m concerned. What really bothers me is what seems like a lack of communication. I know Voinovich has said he thinks opposing Issue 3 would be good for GOP turnout, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Fingers crossed.
Comment by The Hand Grenade of Quiet Reflection — November 3, 2006 @ 3:20 pm
#5, likewise on the finger-crossing.
Comment by TBlumer — November 4, 2006 @ 12:08 am