Schmidt Wins: A Look at Fantasy v. Reality

Fantasy:

Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Congrats to our new Congresswoman Victoria Wulsin
By Nate Noy

Victoria Wulsin WILL be the next congresswoman from OH-2.

Reality (Note: OH02 accurately points out that it is technically not a “clinch.” But it is an insurmountable lead — also see Update below):

Republican Clinches Re-election to House

Two years after a heartbreaking recount loss in a state Senate primary left her future in doubt, Schmidt has gained re-election to Ohio’s 2nd District by again holding off a fast-closing Democratic challenger. This time, her race went into overtime, but absentee and provisional ballots counted Tuesday in Warren County gave her a clinching 3,200-vote lead.

Schmidt, who gained national attention last year with her harsh House floor attack on a Democratic veteran, had 51 percent of the vote compared with 49 percent for Victoria Wulsin, according to unofficial results.

Schmidt expressed thanks Tuesday to her supporters and also workers at the seven county boards of elections who are counting remaining votes this week.

“I’ve worked hard in Congress for the people of southern Ohio and I look forward to continuing that work thanks to the confidence that the voters of the 2nd District have shown in me,” Schmidt said in a statement.

Wulsin, who got little help from national Democrats until the campaign’s final weeks, says she’s in no hurry to concede and wants to make sure all votes are counted.

Fantasy:

(Wulsin) says she could have won if the party gave her more support.

Reality:

Wulsin essentially stole 10,000 votes in the district’s easternmost counties by lying (Whiskey Tango post; BizzyBlog post), with the active complicity of the Cincinnati Enquirer, about the possibility of Piketon becoming the site of a “nuclear waste dump.”

Regardless of what she did or did not get from “the party,” Wulsin received plenty of money from the party’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, i.e., her locally invisible endorsers from NOW, NARAL, and Emily’s List. During the final weeks of the campaign, that money was more than enough to carpet-bomb the airwaves with the false “dump” claim, the false claim that Schmidt opposes stem-cell research (not true, Vic; Jean likes the kind that’s actually accomplishing something, and opposes the type that not only hasn’t gone anywhere, but also terminates human life in the process), and even the laughably bogus plagiarism charge.

Wulsin had every conceivable and contrived advantage, not only from what I just mentioned, but also:

• A local media that thought “malariotherapy” was too big of a word for readers to understand.
• Free help from an antiwar PAC whose sponsoring parent supports “immediate withdrawal” from Iraq while pretending to support a “timetable” during the campaign.
• The added benefit of that Schmidt-harassing “right-wing” attack poodle endorsed by the America First Party of Ohio.
• An area electorate that was as disinclined to support Republicans as it has been in 30 years.

But yet, what I said just after the election to all who have tried to take her out during the past 17 months still holds — “Jean Schmidt’s still standing. You ….. aren’t.”

Vic Wulsin should cherish this moment. Her 2006 performance will more likely than not come to be known as “her high-water mark.”

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UPDATE: This may surprise some, but I respect Wulsin’s insistence that all votes be counted, and that she won’t formally concede “until the outstanding votes are fewer than the difference between her and me.” Though there’s really no doubt that she lost, her insistence on the formalities is as it should be.

Someday, I hope to see reciprocation in cases like Virginia GOP Senator George Allen’s nail-biter of a situation, instead of relentless pressure to concede before the counting is completed. But I’m not holding my breath — It still seems that when a Dem holds out, it’s “respect for the process” and “courageous”; when a Republican does it, it’s “sour grapes,” “bad manners,” and “refusal to bow to the inevitable.”

UPDATE 2: Commenter Kevin fairly notes that Schmidt’s spokesperson is going too far in essentially demanding a concession, and I agree. As I noted in my comment to Kevin, the press has been giving Wulsin a (deserved) pass on holding out that a Republican in identical circumstances would never get.