An excerpt:Just a few years ago, Ohio Republicans flexed outsized political muscle on Capitol Hill.I don't know how much of this article I buy, but it is an interesting read. I'll grant that things look bad for Ohio Republicans, but I am not all that convinced that there has been that significant of a change in Ohio's demographics to warrant such hysteria and/or wishful thinking on the part of media types.
Deborah Pryce, the GOP Conference chairwoman, was the highest-ranking woman in Congress. Ralph Regula and David L. Hobson chaired Appropriations subcommittees. Michael G. Oxley, John A. Boehner and Bob Ney wielded gavels as committee chairmen, and Rob Portman, a veteran member of the Ways and Means Committee, had the ears of the president and the Speaker of the House.
On the Senate side, Mike DeWine could earmark money for the state from his slot on Appropriations.
But power shifts in the blink of an eye in the political world. The once-mighty Buckeye Republicans have suffered defeat, retirement, the death of veteran Paul E. Gillmor and Ney’s incarceration for taking bribes.
In the perfect storm of the '06 election cycle, Ohio Democrats were only able to nab one seat in the House: Ney's. Granted, losing DeWine in the Senate was quite a blow; but some would argue that neither he or Voinovich were/are advancing a conservative agenda. What does this tell me? Combined with the loses for governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and treasurer, the Senate loss tells me that the Republican brand is pretty heavily wounded statewide, but that the local parties and the local candidates are still relatively healthy. There is room for further inoculation if the state party gets its act together.
That the Republicans managed to maintain control of both houses of the state legislature and extend their dominance in the state supreme court illustrates the strength of the Ohio Republican Party and its local candidates. And let's not forget that Mary Taylor won auditor proving that competence matters... What the Ohio Republican Party needs to do is clear out the deadwood and start recruiting smart, capable, and qualified candidates that can rebuild the brand in Ohio. That will take some work and imagination, but it is doable. If the party gets to it sooner rather than later, the road to recovery could be travelled much sooner than the media types ever expect.
