Post-Schmidt, Ohio GOP Hurting

The squeaker victory of Jean Schmitt over Paul Hackett, wrongly protrayed by MSM as a referendum over Bush and the war, is more accurately summarized by John Gizzi of Human Events:

In the Washington Post and other national publications, Hackett was almost always identified as "Bush critic." Yet several local figures who talked to HUMAN EVENTS said that the scenario of a referendum on Bush's Iraq policy was a creation of the national media, that the Democratic camp made far more of an issue in the special election of the scandal-tinged Republican governor of Ohio than the U.S. presence in Iraq.

"This should be a wake-up call for Ohio Republicans," said Portsmouth lawyer Eddie Edwards, a longtime Republican activist in the 2nd District, who said that Iraq was only a small part of the Democratic broadside against Schmidt. "When we came home on the Saturday before the election, there were more than seven political messages on the answering machine. The call for Hackett charged Jean with being tied to [GOP Gov.] Bob Taft, who is being hurt by this Noe scandal [the controversial investment of state retirement funds into a private coin collection owned by Thomas Noe, a longtime GOP contributor], that she was a lobbyist for gambling interests, and that she voted for the biggest tax increase in state history."

Schmidt may have stumbled badly in the twilight days of the campaign, when she told the Cincinnati Enquirer she "had no recollection" of lobbying the governor's office on behalf of Cincinnati businessman Roger Ach's Internet Lottery business while she was in the legislature. The story came out when the Toledo Blade reported that the records of a Taft staffer included a memo stating Schmidt "continues to bug me on the Internet lottery;" a year after the memo, Schmidt received a $1000 donation from Ach. Hackett hit this hard, charging that Schmidt was too close to the ethical problems surrounding Gov. Taft.

The GOP in Hugh's beloved home state better start some serious house cleaning. As I recall, Ohio was rather important in 2004. (h/t Real Clear Politics)