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Ohio's Next Congresswoman: Jean Schmidt

The results are in from Ohio's 2nd District, and Republican Jean Schmidt has defeated Democrat Paul Hackett to keep the seat of former Rep. Rob Portman in GOP hands. The final tally from yesterday: 59,132 votes for Schmidt to 55,151 for Hackett, or about 52 percent to 48 percent.

Democratic bloggers celebrated Hackett's loss as a big-time win for their party. That's because Portman repeatedly won the heavily GOP district with 70 percent of the vote through seven elections, and President Bush won it with more than 60 percent in 2000 and 2004. Those same bloggers praised themselves and their readers for making the race competitive when, by the numbers, it should have been an easy GOP win.

The bloggers started talking up the race a few weeks ago and helped Hackett's campaign raise nearly a half-million dollars through the ActBlue fundraising site alone. Blogger Bob Brigham of Swing State Project even trekked to the district in the final days of the campaign to help get out the vote.

"Kudos to the netrooters and to Hackett for such a close result," TalkLeft said. "Republicans should take heed."

Republican bloggers, who unlike their Democratic counterparts did not have much to say about the special election until this week, breathed a sigh of relief at Schmidt's narrow win. PoliPundit offered an "insta-analysis" that covered the good, bad and ugly of the special election.

Here's a roundup of other reactions:

Jerome Armstrong of MyDD: "Hackett should run for governor of Ohio. Or, if Sherrod Brown decides not to run, Hackett should run for the U.S. Senate seat against [Mike] DeWine. Either way, Hackett's calling in 2006 is to run statewide in Ohio."

Lorie Byrd of PoliPundit: "The margin was much closer than it should have been, considering that this is a 'safe' Republican district. It was a special election, though, and it got an incredible amount of attention, and money, from Democrats seeking to take advantage of something they don't normally have in a candidate, a Marine vet who ran ads aligning himself with George Bush and the effort in Iraq."

Adam C of RedState.org: "[T]his election should serve a major wake-up call to the OH GOP. Since the Coingate scandal broke, the OH GOP is in bad shape. The most unpopular gov in the country is OH's Bob Taft (R). He is not running for re-election in 2006. Since Senator DeWine (R) joined the 'Gang of 14,' conservative activists have started questioning their support for him. So the OH GOP faces a problem of scandal and loss of base support at about the same time."

Captain's Quarters: "In the end, it doesn't matter much because in 2006 this district simply won't get the national attention it drew here. The Democrats will not have the resources to dedicate to this one single seat that they did in an off-year special election. Without the overwhelming focus on this rock-solid conservative seat, it will revert to a fairly easy GOP race next year."

DavidNYC of Daily Kos: "There is no doubt about it -- tonight's results represent a tidal wave in Ohio (and perhaps national) politics. In 2004, the Democrat running in OH-02 lost by 44 points. Tonight, the Democrat, Paul Hackett, lost by a mere 4 points."

Eschaton: "A win would've been great, but I certainly didn't expect to do this well. ... Something is very, very wrong for the Ohio GOP."

Erick of RedState.org: "The Kossacks [readers of Daily Kos] and their guy Hackett lost tonight. Remember in 2004 when every Kossack-backed candidate won? Hahahaha! You can't because that didn't happen. They. All. Lost. ... Will the left stop Internet-funding silly candidacies of lefties who try to hide behind the flag so you can't see their hands in the surrender position?"

Ezra Klein: "Remember in Rocky, where Rocky didn't beat Apollo Creed but went 15 rounds when no one ever has? Remember what a victory that was? This was a total victory. And don't mistake it for anything less. Paul Hackett is Rocky."

Michelle Malkin: "Won't be long now before the Left starts peddling Ohio conspiracy theories."

Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos: "OH-02 saw the resurgence of the Democratic Party, the GOP had to spend $500K they hadn't otherwise planned on spending, and a Democratic star is born (next stop for Hackett -- statewide elected office). So much for 'burying' Hackett."

Posted by | 12:43 PM

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Comments

The Democrats will overanalyze this race and the possible implications for next year, but they won't mention this: Hackett didn't run as a liberal Democrat in this race. He ran as a faux Republican, and he even used Bush in a campaign ad. How can the Democrats feel good about not being able to show their true colors in an election?

Stephen Johnson | 08.03.05 01:34 PM

Stephen's out of his mind. The name on the ballot said Paul Hackett, Democrat. It's just that simple. The single ad he ran had Bush in it, sure, but all it was was Bush's call to arms--something Paul, unlike other chickenhawk Republicans did. He served honorably and came back ready to fix the lack of accountability in Washington. The one ad he ran was only up for the last week to two weeks of the campaign. There were still at least 3 and a half months before that where Hackett major sure people knew he was a Democrat--especially by calling the President out for what he is: an SOB.

Chris Woods | 08.03.05 06:45 PM

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