Election Atonement

Ohio has tried to atone for electing Dubya in 2004. They have done so by voting in nearly every Democrat they could--no matter how untested--and throwing out almost all the Republican bums, even the (few) reasonable and competent ones. Yay Democracy!

Governor: I understand why they rejected Ron Blackwell. He's a right-wing ideologue, too close to the colossal incompetence of Bob Taft, and even closer to some of Ohio's abysmally seamy corruption scandals. Corruption is typical in Ohio, but some of this stuff the past two years has been enough to turn the stomachs of even the state's most jaded politicos. To tell the truth, I never heard enough about Ted Strickland to convince me why he was better than anyone else apart from Blackwell. But with Blackwell so far behind in the polls, it really didn't matter. So I voted Green.

Senator: This is the one that really bowls me over. Two-term Senator Mike DeWine was one of the "Gang of Fourteen" that opposed Bush on a judicial appointments, and he's shown himself to be both independent and an accurate representative of his constituents, a moderate and reasonable Republican. So how did the voters reward him? "Throw the bum out!" Sherrod Brown has impeccable left credentials, but his campaign ads focused either on his opponent's supposed failings or his own opposition to the war. Now, I'm as down on the war in Iraq as the next leftist academic Middle East expert (wannabe). But that doesn't mean I'm going to reduce myself to voting for a one-issue candidate. I actually kinda liked the spirit of the dialogue and conviviality that DeWine tried to inject into Congress's poisonous partisan atmosphere. But I knew DeWine would lose so I voted for him, as much a reward for standing apart last year as for anything. (No Greens were running.)