John Nichols: Zerban rips Ryan: We need leaders who avoid catastrophe, not invite it

In 2012, the Janesville Republican lost his home precinct, his hometown, his home county as a candidate for vice president. And he was re-elected to the U.S. House with the lowest margin of his career. Why? Wisconsinites are getting to know where Ryan stands on the issues. And they are unimpressed.

Ryan got by for years on the basis of family ties and nice-guy image. But voters don’t think it’s very nice to propose the mangling and dismemberment of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And they don’t think it’s very wise to align with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Ryan has gone to extremes. And that makes Rob Zerban, the Democrat who in 2012 ran the best race ever against the incumbent, think he might be able to beat Ryan in 2014.

“It’s just totally unbelievable that the incumbent in this district continues to vote to risk the full faith and credit of the United States,” says Zerban. “He continues to vote in favor of crashing the global economy. His commitment to partisanship and ideology is so extreme that he actually voted for the United States to default on our obligations."

Zerban for Congress!

For those that read Cog Dis regularly, Zerban should be a familiar name. He ran against Ryan in the last cycle and damned near beat him then. In fact, Zerban trounced Ryan in Ryan's hometown of Janesville. The only thing that saved Ryan's butt that day was the gerrymandered voting districts that gave Ryan the deep red area of Walkersha County.

But unlike some candidates who also lost that year, Zerban did not sit back and just shrug his shoulders. He did not give up or lose interest.

If anything, he did the opposite. He got more invested in the district and in state. Whether it was a labor event, a call for immigration reform or standing up for women's rights, Zerban was there, with his sleeves rolled up and working hard.

I would say that it's a fair statement to say that in the last two yearrs, Rob Zerban has done more for the district than Paul Ryan has done in his entire career as their so-called representative.