I don't know about you but Ohio is looking really blue in 2010!!

[LynneSin]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/18/jennifer-brunner-enters-o_n_167915.html

Jennifer Brunner Enters Ohio Dem Senate Primary

One of the highest profile 2010 Senate races got a little more crowded on the Democratic side Tuesday, when Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced that she would run for George Voinovich's open seat.

Brunner's entrance is likely to be followed by Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher's, presenting Democrats with two major state-wide figures from which to choose. On the surface, the up-in-the-air primary would be something for the party to lament. Republicans in the state have all but handed the nomination to former Bush U.S. Trade Representative, Rob Portman.

But Democrats aren't sweating yet. Saying he wasn't worried about having two prominent candidates in the mix, one senior Democrat explained why: "With Rob Portman on the ballot in November, all of the sins of the past will be on the table. The people of Ohio can thank him for the job losses, the tax credits for corporations who move jobs overseas, and our trade imbalances."

Indeed, Portman's ties to the Bush years, as this source explained, represent perhaps the last and best chance for Democrats to run a national race against the 43rd president.

Naturally I'd root for Brunner - I think she did a good job with the Ohio Election after Kenneth Blackwell spent years doing his best to represess have the state from voting (namely those who share the same heritage as Blackwell). But I think the Republicans are putting a very lame candidate in the past that will have to live up to the fact that he was part of the Bush Regime, which is as popular as finding a dead cockroach in your soup.

If Fisher or Brunner were to win this senate seat this would turn the state around to a very solid shade of blue - quite the change from 2004 when Ohio shenighans by Blackwell & the republicans probably cost the democrats the election for president.

[blm]

1. you can go back to 2000 - I'd bet Gore was robbed in Ohio, too.

There was no Dem party infrastructure in place with any muscle to protect Ohio's Dem voters since the state party was left to collapse by the end of the 90s.

I remember hearing horror stories from Ohio party activists and volunteers about lack of party attention towards the election system even before the 2000 election. Gore pulled out of Ohio not because of poll numbers but because there was no organized party network in place for him to work with back then. It wasn't till 2005 when Chairman Dean went in and strengthened the infrastructure in Ohio that Dems could even begin to flex their muscles in the state.

Brunner absolutely deserves support from every Dem in this country.

[ipfilter]

2. I hope the "No Republican has ever won the White House without

carrying Ohio" thing lasts forever. For some reason I just find that humorous.

[BonnieJW]

3. Then can Boner go home?

That man is a total putz. The only thing he does well is self-tan.