posted on August 3, 2005 09:58:08 AM
Ex-lawmaker narrowly defeats Marine reservist for Ohio seat
By JAMES DAO
New York Times
CINCINNATI - A former Republican state legislator narrowly won a special congressional election in southern Ohio on Tuesday, ending an underdog bid by her Democratic opponent to become the first combat veteran from the Iraq war to serve in Congress.
With all of the precincts reporting, Jean Schmidt, the Republican, had nearly 52 percent of the vote, edging her challenger, Paul L. Hackett, a major in the Marine Forces Reserve, by about 4,000 votes.
"Voters declared that they support our president and approve of his leadership," Schmidt, 53, told supporters at a suburban Holiday Inn late Tuesday. "They want us to stay the course so the enemies of freedom cannot bring their terrorism to our shores again."
But Hackett's showing was unexpectedly strong in this district, a Republican bastion that snakes along the Ohio River from affluent Cincinnati suburbs to struggling Appalachian hamlets. Republicans have held its congressional seat for two decades.
The race was to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Rob Portman, who resigned to become Bush's trade representative, and it gained national attention not only because of Hackett's combat service but also because he harshly criticized Bush.
Hackett called Bush a "chicken hawk" for failing to serve in Vietnam and "a cheerleader for the enemy" for challenging militants to "bring it on" against U.S. troops.
Democrats had hoped that a victory by Hackett would not only be a sharp blow to Bush's national standing but also set a template for future campaigns by Democratic war veterans.
But Republicans viewed Hackett's attacks as a call to arms, and they poured money and resources into the district to ensure his defeat. Bush taped a telephone message to voters, and the National Republican Congressional Committee bought $325,000 in air time for a TV spot this past weekend.
Perhaps most important, the Republican organization in Clermont County, Schmidt's base, turned out voters in greater numbers than expected, pushing her over the top. The returns showed that Schmidt won handily in most of the affluent Cincinnati suburbs, while Hackett won the district's more rural counties.
In the final days of the campaign, Schmidt accused the Hackett campaign of misleading voters by claiming that he would be the first Iraq war veteran to serve in Congress. In fact, the Schmidt campaign said, Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, R-Ill., has been serving in the Iraq war as a Navy Reserve officer.
But in an interview, Kirk said he had not gone to Iraq for the military, and instead worked one weekend a month in an intelligence unit at the Pentagon. Hackett spent seven months in Iraq leading a civil affairs unit in Ramadi and Fallujah before returning to Ohio in March.
"Why, it appears that we appointed all of our worst generals to command the armies and we appointed all of our best generals to edit the newspapers. I mean, I found by reading a newspaper that these editor generals saw all of the defects plainly from the start but didn't tell me until it was too late. I'm willing to yield my place to these best generals and I'll do my best for the cause by editing a newspaper." --Robert E. Lee
posted on August 3, 2005 10:08:05 AMDemocrats had hoped that a victory by Hackett would not only be a sharp blow to Bush's national standing but also set a template for future campaigns by Democratic war veterans.
Yep...peepa was right....people are so anti-everything-Bush that they're going to vote them all out of office.
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
posted on August 3, 2005 10:18:08 AM
Don't you know that Cheryl is crying in her herbal tea over this.
"Why, it appears that we appointed all of our worst generals to command the armies and we appointed all of our best generals to edit the newspapers. I mean, I found by reading a newspaper that these editor generals saw all of the defects plainly from the start but didn't tell me until it was too late. I'm willing to yield my place to these best generals and I'll do my best for the cause by editing a newspaper." --Robert E. Lee
posted on August 3, 2005 10:23:15 AM
lol....that was originally included in my post....then I erased it. Didn't want to anger her so much she'd go into the 'cockroach' mode again.
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
