Boswell is in the GOP’s ‘Top 3′
We had a lot of bloggers at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner over the weekend, but because this week is an academic break for us, I’m not sure when we’ll post about that. I did think this was worth mentioning, though:
Yesterday, the Times ran a piece identifying what the GOP considers its best “pickup” opportunities — that is, seats held by Democrats that the Republicans could win. Because of the political climate, there are only three of them that they’re devoting resources to, and one of them is you-know-who:
For Republicans, the vast majority of that money has gone to protecting incumbents. The party is on the offensive in races for three seats: two held by Democrats, Representatives Leonard L. Boswell of Iowa and Jim Marshall of Georgia, and one being vacated by Representative Bernard Sanders, an independent from Vermont who typically voted with the Democrats.
Perhaps the other notable point made in the article is that the GOP has all but given up on Ohio. Those Grinnell students out there from Ohio (and there are a lot of you), keep this in mind: the Republicans have written off the DeWine campaign and the Blackwell campaign, and are pulling their resources from the state.
The decision about Mr. DeWine’s seat came after recent internal polls showed Mr. DeWine’s Democratic challenger, Representative Brown, jumping to a large lead. Mr. Brown’s surge came despite a barrage of Republican advertisements intended to portray him as weak on national security — the very line of attack that had given party officials confidence earlier this year that Mr. DeWine would be re-elected.
Normally, a party would be averse to scaling back its help for a senator in a state with as many as five competitive Congressional races also on the ballot. But in this case, Ohio Republicans said, Mr. DeWine and Republican Congressional candidates face the added problem of being dragged down this November by the party’s candidate for governor, J. Kenneth Blackwell, who polls show is facing a double-digit loss to the Democrat, Representative Ted Strickland.
If you’re from Ohio but live in Grinnell and have been on the fence about whether to vote here or there, you know what to do.
2 comments October 16th, 2006
