....Republicans lost Ohio for the same reasons they lost the country: corruption, inability to cope with voter anxiety about the war or the economy, and reluctance to embrace a reform agenda.....
....Now Buckeye State political conditions favor the Democrats. The state Democratic Party under Chris Redfern is growing and innovative like the GOP in the '90s. Candidates are winning who would have been too liberal for statewide office ten years ago, like Sen. Sherrod Brown. Brown's 12-point victory over incumbent Mike DeWine proved even Taft-Voinovich Republicans are vulnerable.....
....Then again, maybe that is the moral of the story: Once a party loses its credibility, it takes more than one election to gain it back.
To add more evidence to this point of view, check out the article in the Columbus Dispatch, "GOP Candidates Must Refund Donations":
David Brennan, one of the state's biggest Republican donors, used two political-action committees to funnel nearly $30,000 to state Auditor Mary Taylor and three other GOP candidates -- and now they must give it back.
In a deal with Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the candidates have 30 days to return the money to prevent the filing of a complaint against Brennan with the Ohio Elections Commission. Brunner's office told Brennan in April that he likely ran afoul of campaign finance law.....
Ouch!
Here is another tidbit on the GOP in the Dispatch:
A lawyer who just moved back to Franklin County was announced yesterday as the Republican candidate for clerk of courts.
Clarence Mingo II will run against Democrat Maryellen O'Shaughnessy for the office, which is considered a political prize for its more than 200 patronage jobs....
....O'Shaughnessy, a member of Columbus City Council and of a prominent political family, has the advantage, said William A. Anthony Jr., chairman of the Franklin County Democratic Party....
Is Mingo another Republican sacrificial lamb put up against a powerhouse Democratic candidate? We'll see what happens.