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Friday, February 17, 2006

OH-06: Dem Candidacy in Jeopardy

Posted by DavidNYC

A few days ago, over at MyDD, I wondered out loud if we were at any risk of losing OH-06, the seat Ted Strickland is vacating to run for governor. It's an evenly split district, which was the source of my concern. But people assured me that it would stay in our hands, not least because the Ohio GOP isn't all that popular right now.

Problem is, you gotta have a candidate in order to win. And, in some truly awful news, state Sen. Charlie Wilson may have seriously screwed up:

The only Democratic hopeful in a key U.S. House race submitted a revised petition for candidacy with more signatures Thursday in a move the Ohio secretary of state's office called "problematic."

Ohio state Sen. Charlie Wilson withdrew a batch of signatures he filed Monday because he thought he could gather more signatures and resubmit them to the county election board before Thursday's deadline, said his son and campaign manager, Jason Wilson.

But a state law changed in December 2002 states: "No petition may be withdrawn after it is filed in a public office."

A spokesman for Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell suggested the maneuver could jeopardize Wilson's candidacy.

I'd expect some kind of court challenge here, but with Blackwell on the other side, I'm certainly not sanguine.

Posted at 12:06 AM in 2006 Elections - House, Ohio | Technorati

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Comments

Wow, that is really disturbing and horrible. Please keep us in the loop on this one...

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at February 17, 2006 12:22 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I'm actually sick to my stomach about this one. We might very well lose a true toss-up seat [snaps fingers] like that.

Posted by: DavidNYC at February 17, 2006 01:01 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I know, as soon as I read your post I got flushed and dizzy, and my head started racing.

This only serves to prove the belief that the only thing that's holding back the Ohio Democratic Party is its utter incompetence...

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at February 17, 2006 01:07 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

This is the kind of crap that both parties usually just forgive. Wilson didn't blow a residency requirement, or miss the signature total, or any of the usual stuff. It comes down to whether the Ohio and national GOP think 1)it's worth stealing this seat instead of competing for it and 2)they can get away with it.

I can honestly say if a Republican mistakenly re-filed a petition in my district, I wouldn't want to DQ him. This is the kind of election law designed to fuck over candidates, not clean up elections.

Posted by: Gary Johnston at February 17, 2006 01:18 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Barry Welsh lists another Dem candidate in the running for this seat...
http://barrywelsh.org/fiftystate/index.html

Her name's Diane Murphy. The Columbus Dispatch site also lists her. So if Wilson's toast, as least we've got her. And maybe the party can strong-arm her into accepting a "swap" with Wilson, if it comes to that. Surely they could give her some kind of job.

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at February 17, 2006 01:25 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Bob Carr has a website up - he's the former Congressman from Michigan. But the article claims Wilson is the "only Democratic hopeful." So did Carr and Murphy decide not to file?

Posted by: Gary Johnston at February 17, 2006 01:32 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Good catch, Hella. I missed that one. I don't know anything about her, though. We'll know tomorrow if she successfully filed.

As to Carr, it looks like it's a case of mistaken identity. But he seems to be a former Republican now running as a Dem. Hmm.

Posted by: DavidNYC at February 17, 2006 01:48 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Ohio's election system sucks so bad...

To run for Congress, you have to file with the Board of Elections of the most populous county in the District. (Not the Ohio Sec of State as if you were running for the Senate.)

Which sounds plausible...

Until you consider that some Districts cover as many as 16 counties.. or FRACTIONS of counties.

So don't expect to have any idea who actually got filed for some time... Heck, if Lucas County gets something posted before Easter I'll be astonished.

(As opposed to our copunty which had a PDF file online before the evening news was over...)

I can tell you that regional Dem staffers were putting in a LOT of mileage in the last 48 hours.

I cannot believe this has happened. I hate to say it but an otherwise excellent Toledo City council candidate got DQ'd under the same "no mulligans" rule.

I guess the take-away mesage is"no point in filing until the last minute."

Posted by: Ohanon at February 17, 2006 02:06 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Oh- and don't expect good things from a court challenge. This issue went all the way to the State Supreme court and they upheld the rule and DQ'd Lisa Canales-Flores

Posted by: Ohanon at February 17, 2006 02:19 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Unreal. Seems like something like this happens somewhere every cycle. And this from a Republican party that successfully waived regulations in Florida that allowed them to count military ballots postmarked after Election Day 2000. All we can hope for is that the public backlash in OH-06 will be such that Blackwell will have to capitulate in the name of "fair play" so as not to sabotage his own chances in the gubernatorial race. There's a risk for a PR nightmare here if Blackwell gets this anal over a pointless technicality, particularly with current OH-06 occupant Ted Strickland's ability to wield it as a "dirty tricks" campaign issue against him.

Posted by: Mark at February 17, 2006 09:40 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

from what i udnerstand, his candidacy isnt in jeopardy yet. What the article is saying is that the new submission is invalid and that tehy will have to verify the first one. Therefore, he only has 3 more sigs than the needed 50, so if 4 are invalid THEN he is screwed

Posted by: yomoma2424 at February 17, 2006 10:37 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Will be watching developments closely. I hope the situation is retrievable, one way or another.

The other somewhat sombre note on the 50-state strategy is that Indiana's filing deadline is today, and no one appears to have filed for the Senate race.

Lugar, of course, is unbeatable... barring the unforeseen. But this is February and the election isn't until November. The unforeseen occasionally happens - witness the Carnahan/Ashcroft Missouri race. With no dog at all in the race, Democrats will be unable to exploit any unexpected opportunity that might crop up later in the year.

I wish they had worked harder to twist an arm and get *somebody* signed up for the ballot. Roehmer. Hamilton. Poor old Jill Long. Kathy Davis. Joe Kernan. Graham Richards. Jonathan Weinzapfel. *Some*body.

Running as Senate cannon fodder in Indiana is no fun, but it can have its rewards - people forget, but that's how Baron Hill got his seat in Congress. He let the state party put him up against a GOP Senate incumbent, went down in flames... but then he had the name recognition to win a House seat in the next cycle.

It's a shame to see a blank that close to the top of a ballot.

Posted by: Christopher Walker at February 17, 2006 10:53 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Relax folks, after reading the full Washington Post article it appears while Mr. Wilson is not able to submit a second petition, his first petition has more than the required number of signatures to run for congress.

Posted by: AndTun1 at February 17, 2006 11:48 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Why would they submit a second petition if the first was good enough?

It's because the first WASN'T good enough--apparently a good chunk of the signatures were invalid due to the signators living in the wrong country, I believe.

This could be a real disaster for democracy, for Ohio, for the Democrats in Congress, and for America.

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at February 17, 2006 12:01 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I read in the newspaper yesterday that the 53 signatures WERE valid. Wilson's campaign had collected a total of 96, but 43 were disqualified because those people did not live in the district. Wilson tried to withdraw the petition because 53 was cutting it way too close for comfort. The second petition, had it been accepted, had 110 signatures.

Posted by: Corran at February 18, 2006 09:01 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I hope so. Wilson better not go down as the asshat who tried to run for Congress twice but was held off the ballot because he was too sloppy with his filings.

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at February 18, 2006 10:51 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I think I am going to be sick... looks like Wilson is not on the ballot. Take a look at this excerpt from an article in yesterdays's Columbus Dispatch:

And, in a blow to Democrats’ hopes of holding the 6 th Congressional District seat, the party’s favored candidate, state Sen. Charles Wilson of St. Clairsville, apparently did not file enough valid signatures to get on the ballot.

Wilson’s son and campaign manager, Jason, confirmed that Belmont County officials informed the campaign that it apparently fell short of the 50 valid signatures of electors needed to qualify. Jason Wilson said the campaign filed 96 signatures. If Wilson is disqualified, Democrats’ chances of retaining the seat being vacated by Rep. Ted Strickland of Lisbon, the top Democratic candidate for governor, could be severely jeopardized.

Here is the full article if you care to read.

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.html?story=dispatch/2006/02/17/20060217-A1-00.html

Posted by: AndTun1 at February 18, 2006 11:14 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

there has got to be some way that the other person in the race(a no name) could withdraw somehow allowing the party machinery to add a person to the race to replace her/him, and then we can run Wilson. Otherwise, this tossup goes to solid R

Posted by: yomoma2424 at February 18, 2006 11:29 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Wow, this smells like such a collosal fuck-up.

Democrats in Ohio deserves to have their pants pulled down and their asses spanked hard over complete incompetence like this.

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at February 18, 2006 12:12 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

So, what are the state laws regarding the withdrawal of the primary winner and his replacement on the general election ballot?

Sure, having the state party reach an agreement with one of the candidates to step aside if they win to put Wilson on the ballot is sorta shady.

Posted by: RBH at February 18, 2006 12:44 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Actually, the Dispatch article may be wrong. The article from my newspaper, the Youngstown Vindicator--which also covers Columbiana county-- had more info, and none of it suggested that he had fallen short yet, only that it was too close for comfort. The petition certification is Wednsday and we'll find out then.

Posted by: Corran at February 18, 2006 04:25 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Visiting home for the weekend and typing from my parents' virus-plagued computer, I didn't dare use the link to get to the Dispatch article, but looked elsewhere and assume I found the same article. Reading it, I didn't walk away nearly as disillusioned as many here seem to be. The contested Scioto County signatures all seemed to come out in Wilson's favor, so if 43 of the 46 Belmont County signatures are from OH-06 residents (which seems fairly likely given that the vast majority of Belmont County residents live in OH-06 as opposed to OH-18), Wilson will be good to go. Furthermore, Wilson can still win as a write-in candidate in the primary, can he not? Granted, his candidacy is probably already weakened by his failure to follow filing procedures to the letter, but I would rather see a weakened Wilson on the ballot against Blasdel than one of the token primary challengers. Did I just read an obsolete article that I mistook for the one that's dragging everybody down? If not, I'm less worried about this situation than I was 24 hours ago.

Posted by: Mark at February 18, 2006 05:45 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

No, both articles are from the same day. It's more likely that the Dispatch article didn't get the facts right since it just mentioned this screwup in passing while talking about other Ohio races.

Posted by: Corran at February 19, 2006 08:47 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

How can you screw up a mere 50 signatures? I've collected as many as 600 in a single day.

Posted by: Ben Masel at February 21, 2006 05:01 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment