Tag: Jean Schmidt

Well, it looks like Boehner is starting to take matters into his own hands and rectify some of Tom Cole’s incompetence.

More after the fold…

Full article from cq politics:

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmsp…

It’s not uncommon for congressional leaders to steer fundraising assistance to party candidates who are in difficult races and in need of extra campaign cash. One such effort is the House Republicans’ “ROMP,” an acronym for Regain Our Majority Program, which has released its latest list of Republican candidates who will benefit from additional aid because they are politically vulnerable and/or have been targeted by the Democrats for defeat.

“ROMP 2008,” presently overseen by the political operation of House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio, was recently established in papers filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). These records identify the 10 newest recipients of the program’s assistance.

These candidates make up the first batch of ROMP candidates named this year, and the third since the current election cycle began in the 2007-08 cycle. The new recipients’ election contests are outlined below.

7/10 of the candidates were incumbents we ousted in the last election cycle.

• Michele Bachmann , Minnesota’s 6th District (North and east Twin Cities suburbs; St. Cloud). Bachmann was first elected in 2006 to succeed Republican Mark Kennedy, who lost his campaign for the U.S. Senate to Democrat Amy Klobuchar . The Democratic nominee for November’s election will be either Bob Olson, a lawyer, or Elwyn Tinklenberg, a former state transportation commissioner. The latter candidate initially campaigned for the Democratic nomination in 2006 but later deferred to Patty Wetterling, a child safety advocate who lost to Bachmann after also losing as the Democratic nominee against Kennedy in 2004.

• Vito J. Fossella , New York’s 13th (Staten Island; part of southwest Brooklyn). Fossella is the only House Republican who represents part of New York City. He saw his re-election percentage drop from 70 percent in 2002 to 59 percent in 2004, and then again to 57 percent in 2006 even though Democratic challenger Steve Harrison didn’t raise much money. Harrison, a lawyer, is seeking a rematch, though he faces a well-funded primary opponent in New York City Councilman Domenic Recchia.

• Sam Graves , Missouri’s 6th (Northwest – St. Joseph, part of Kansas City). Graves’ campaign for a fifth term may well be the toughest of his career. His Democratic opponent, former Kansas City mayor Kay Barnes, is well-known and well-funded.

• Ric Keller , Florida’s 8th (Central – most of Orlando). Keller won a fourth term in 2006 by a 7 percentage-point margin over Democrat Charlie Stuart, a marketing executive who is one of several Democrats seeking the 2008 nomination.

• Anne M. Northup, Kentucky’s 3rd (Louisville Metro). Northup, who served in the House from 1997 through 2006, is challenging Democratic freshman Yarmuth, who unseated her by a margin of less than 3 percentage points. Northup hadn’t planned a bid to reclaim her seat this year, but she jumped in after the Republican she had been backing, lawyer Erwin Roberts, dropped out of the race to fulfill his military obligations. Northup sought a quick political comeback last year but lost a primary challenge to then-Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who subsequently lost the general election to Democrat Steve Beshear.

• Erik Paulsen, Minnesota’s 3rd (Hennepin County suburbs – Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Plymouth). Paulsen, a state representative, is the presumed Republican nominee in this suburban Minneapolis district, which retiring Republican Jim Ramstad is giving up after nine terms. The Democratic nominee will either be state Sen. Terri Bonoff or Ashwin Madia, a lawyer and Iraq War veteran.

• Bill Sali , Idaho’s 1st (West – Nampa, Panhandle, part of Boise). The strong Republican leanings of this district are indisputable, as President Bush took 68 percent of the vote there in his 2004 election. But Sali underperformed in his 2006 election for the then-open 1st District seat, in which he defeated Democrat Larry Grant by the underwhelming vote of 50 percent to 45 percent. Grant is seeking the 2008 Democratic nomination along with Walt Minnick, a businessman who lost as the party’s losing Senate nominee against Republican Larry E. Craig in 1996. Sali is opposed in the May 27 Republican primary election by Matt Salisbury, an Iraq War veteran.

• Jean Schmidt , Ohio’s 2nd (Eastern Cincinnati and suburbs; Portsmouth). Schmidt, who is seeking a second full term in a district that usually exhibits strong Republican leanings, faces a rematch of her exceptionally close 2006 race against Democratic physician Victoria Wulsin. Schmidt won that contest by a margin of about 1 percentage point. In the primary elections that took place March 4, Schmidt was renominated with 57 percent of the Republican vote and Wulsin won with 58 percent on the Democratic side.

• Tim Walberg , Michigan’s 7th (South central – Battle Creek, Jackson). Walberg, a freshman, was elected in 2006 over Democrat Sharon Renier, a little-known and underfunded Democrat who lost by just 4 percentage points. The unexpectedly close outcome was influenced by a bitter Republican primary fight in which the very conservative Walberg unseated one-term GOP moderate Joe Schwarz. Renier is running again this year, though Democratic officials are rallying behind state Sen. Mark Schauer, a better-known and better-funded candidate.

• Darren White, New Mexico’s 1st (Central – Albuquerque). White is the sheriff of Bernalillo County, which includes Albuquerque and which is the population base of a politically competitive district that Republican Heather A. Wilson left open to pursue a U.S. Senate bid. White is opposed in the June 3 primary by state Sen. Joseph Carraro. The four Democratic primary candidates are Michelle Grisham, a former state health secretary; Martin Heinrich, a former Albuquerque councilman; Robert L. Pidcock, a lawyer; and Rebecca Vigil-Giron, a former New Mexico Secretary of State.

Back in May, former Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich (yes, from that Heimlich family, hence the awful pun in the headline) said he’d run against Evel Knievel Mean Jean Schmidt in the OH-02 Republican primary.

Democrats rejoiced at the thought of a bloody internecine war – and then rejoiced again last month when yet another GOPer, state Rep. Todd Brinkman, also jumped into the fray. What better way to ensure Schmidty’s survival than a fractured, multi-way primary?

On Wednesday, though, Heimlich bitterly acknowledged this possibility and decided to bail for his own warped version of the greater good:

“Mr. Brinkman’s candidacy serves no purpose other than to assure Rep. Schmidt’s renomination,” Heimlich said in the news release. “There is no reason to put the Republican Party through a tough primary battle when victory isn’t possible.”

However, I’m not so sure this is necessarily a bad development. Heimlich had actually out-raised Schmidt and conceivably could have chalked up a narrow plurality win with a third candidate in the race, assuming the anti-Schmidt vote were big enough to drive the incumbent below, say, 40%.

But Brinkman now has to win outright, and he’s only been in the game for six weeks. What’s more, Ohio has one of the earliest primaries in the country – it’s fast approaching on March 4th. Whereas Heimlich had been campaigning for the better part of a year, Brinkman will have less than three months to attempt his coup.

Sure, it’s conceivable that the local establishment will rally behind Brinkman in the short time left, but what we’ve seen so far suggests it’s not likely. The same Enquirer article notes:

Friday night, the Hamilton County Republican Party’s executive committee passed over two Hamilton County Republicans – Heimlich and Brinkman – to endorse Schmidt, of Clermont County. Schmidt was the favorite of 69 members, while Heimlich had 33 votes and Brinkman, five.

If the GOP powers-that-be (at least in Hamilton County, one of seven that make up the district) were going to pick an anti-Schmidt, they’d probably already have done so.

Given that Schmidt took under 48% in her hotly-contested primary in 2006, I won’t rule anything out. But Brinkman will have to move fast and raise a lot of money to out-hustle Schmidt. Like her sartorial idol Mr. Knievel, Mean Jean has already defied (political) death more than a few times. She may have another jump in her still.

Steve Black, Democratic Candidate for Congress from OH-2 has posted a position paper on Irag:

A New Direction For Iraq

The situation in Iraq is grave. There are no easy answers to the numerous challenges presented by Iraq’s multi-sided civil war and the increasing threat of terrorism and regional insecurity the war has fostered. However, we must act now to contain the violence and move the region toward stability, as well as to ensure that our superb military is not stretched thin and that it used more effectively.

I believe it is imperative to reduce troop levels in Iraq and to begin their phased redeployment to strategic counter-terrorism missions under the guidance of our military leadership. Aggressive diplomacy is also long overdue to ensure that our allies and Iraq’s neighbors have a strong incentive to promote regional security; greater diplomatic efforts are also necessary to quell heightened tensions in the Israeli-Arab conflict. A renewed focus on Afghanistan is likewise critical – the gains we made there are rapidly being lost as the Taliban and al-Qaeda regroup. In addition, we must fulfill a moral duty, as well as protect our long-term security interests, by dealing with the huge refugee crisis arising from the Iraq War. Finally, we must ensure that the military and their families who have borne the burdens of Iraq receive the best of care and services – it is the right thing to do, and it is common sense to ensure that our military stays strong to continue the fight against terrorism and to make our nation secure.

The complete position paper on Iraq is here:
http://www.steveblac…

Murphy West
OH-02 Democrat
It’s time for Jean Schmidt to go.

Given that Republican Representative Jean Schmidt of Ohio has accomplished the remarkable feat of barely winning two successive House elections in a district that delivered nearly two thirds of its vote to George W. Bush in 2004, it should probably not come as a surprise that Schmidt is on the receiving end of her second primary challenge in as many years.  As you may recall, she beat back a 2006 primary challenge from former Congressman Bob McEwen by a 5% margin, despite only receiving a plurality of the vote.  That primary proved to be an ominous warning against her abilities to navigate the political environment that November.

This time, the man itching for a fight is former Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich (yes, of that Heimlich family, it would seem).  Heimlich served for eight years on the Cincinnati City Council and one term on the Hamilton County commission until his defeat by Democrat and former Cincinnati mayoral candidate David Pepper last November.  It’s an okay resume, but his experience is decidedly more city-focused than the largely suburban/rural nature of the 2nd district–something that could conceivably hurt him in a head-to-head with Schmidt.

Still, Heimlich says he means business:

Heimlich said in an e-mail message to supporters that he has filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission and that his campaign treasury, which will be overseen by Bill Luchsinger, contains $120,000.

“Our party is yearning for a return to the principles established by Abraham Lincoln, the leadership and dignity demonstrated by Ronald Reagan and the common sense conservative values shared by all Republicans,” Heimlich said.

If that’s the case, Mr. Heimlich’s $120K puts him in a good position against Schmidt, whose lackadaisical fundraising pace only left her with $17,000 cash-on-hand (and $20K raised) after the first quarter of 2007.

Essentially, if Heimlich, or any other halfway stable Republican beats Schmidt in the primary, this district is most likely off the playing field for Democrats in 2008.  Any Republican who hasn’t spent their time advocating for the importation of nuclear waste into their congressional district, brushing off the Walter Reed scandal as “overblown”, or being scolded by the state’s Elections Commission for displaying a “reckless disregard for the truth” is going to have a much smoother ride than Schmidt in this solidly Republican district.  Our best case scenario would be for Heimlich and possibly one or two other credible Republicans to hammer Schmidt mercilessly for a year, leading her to another underwhelming plurality victory, and letting Vic Wulsin or the eventual Democratic nominee take over from there.

(Hat tip: Buckeye State Blog)

Race Tracker: OH-02

Whether it’s advocating for the importation of nuclear waste into her congressional district (which inspired one of my all-time favorite editorial cartoons), sending out infantile, racist campaign mailers, or embarrassing herself on the floor of the House of Representatives, you’ve got to wonder if Jean Schmidt was born with some of the worst instincts in American politics today, or if she’s simply trying to test the upper limits of endurance that her ruby red district (R+13) is capable of handling.

Add disregard for America’s veterans to the list:

Schmidt, a Clermont County Republican, decided to take “several hours” to travel to the hospital in Washington, D.C., to see the situation “first hand.”

Her conclusion?

“I found the situation at Walter Reed to be overblown by both politicians and the media.”

Unbelievable.

(Hat-tip to TPM.)

Race Tracker: OH-02