Ohio Opportunities
by Tim Holloway

Democrats and their support groups such as Moveon.org have identified Ohio as as fertile ground for their efforts to unseat Republicans at every level of government.

Much was made of the unusually close race between Paul Hackett (D) (Iraqi war veteran) and Jean Schmidt (R). This was the seat vacated by Rob Portman who left the seat after becoming US Trade Representative for the Bush administration. In a district dominated by Republicans, Democrats saw this as another sign that Republicans were ripe for defeat. Democrats were also motivated by Hackett’s “courage” and willingness to fight which he allegedly demonstrated by calling the President a “son of a bitch” and referring to the President as the greatest threat to the United States.

Buoyed by this race, Democrats in Ohio and throughout the nation combined their efforts and resources to place four constitutional amendments on the ballot to “reform” Ohio’s election process. These amendments were to change redistricting, expand absentee ballot voting, restructure campaign finance laws and most notably to remove Ohio’s Secretary of State from the overseer of all Ohio elections. It is no coincidence that Ohio’s Secretary of State is also Ohio’s premier conservative, Ken Blackwell.

At the end of the day, all of these issues were resoundingly defeated with Issue 5, the attempt to remove the Secretary of State from election oversight, suffering the greatest defeat with 70 percent opposing the amendment.

Rather than crumbling as a result of the congressional race, the ineffectual leadership of Gov. Bob Taft (R) and the increasing moderation of Senators Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, Republicans in Ohio seem to be holding the line. Why? Each of these events has inspired and energized the conservative base. Conservatives, more and more are becoming engaged and demanding that Ohio’s Republicans begin to act as they have promised they would.

Bill Pierce, teacher, engineer and entrepreneur has recently announced his candidacy to challenge DeWine for the Republican Senatorial primary in Ohio. Pierce is friendly and engaging and his passion for governmental reform and a return to governance as intended by our constitution resonates with his every word. Pierce’s experiences as a business owner and his run-in’s with the Department of Labor demonstrate how detrimental government interference in the free market can be to the small business owner. On the issues, Pierce is solidly conservative. Local conservative groups are asking for meetings with Pierce and are anxious to support him and there is also evidence that county level Republican leaders are realizing that it may be time to move on from Dewine and support a true conservative like Pierce.

At the same time, recent polls show Ken Blackwell holds double digit leads over two other establishment Republicans in the gubernatorial primary. Blackwell has also had success in fundraising with a large number of donors indicating that his principled message is engaging and motivating grassroots conservatives.

While Republicans may still be vulnerable in Ohio, recent events demonstrate that a return to conservative principles and conservative candidates represents the most effective strategy to defeat Democratic efforts.

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