From another reader:
Dear Jonah,
In response to your earlier emailer:
Of course conservatives adore Ken Blackwell and have similar sentiments for DeWine as McCain. That’s like saying that nationally conservatives liked Phil Gramm more than Arlen Specter. Not much profundity there. There are two more meaningful issues:
(1) most Ohioans do not realize how liberal Sherrod Brown is. Can most Ohioans distinguish Brown and Strickland (Blackwell’s gubernatorial opponent) issue-wise? I don’t think so. It seems to me that most Ohioans view Sherrod Brown as a typical wheeny moderate Ohio politician and not the to-the-left-of-Kucinch liberal that he is. Because Brown doesn’t talk about the crazy stuff (Dept. of Peace) that has gotten Kucinch so much attention most people perceive a difference that doesn’t exist.
(2) Is there anyone, who doesn’t follow politics closely, who knows anything about DeWine? In Ohio we can assume that the number of politically interested conservative and liberal voters roughly cancel out. And what do moderates and independents know about DeWine? Unfortunately, they know that he is a Republican and that Taft and co. are Republicans. The economy in Ohio actually sucks, and state-wide Republicans are rightfully getting called on it. As one of the brilliant columnists (Barone maybe?) noted this morning, Ohio is the only state were the economy is a bigger issue than Iraq. I am now in Boston for law school, and it seems like Massachussetts might be an easier climate for Republicans than Ohio is.
Love your stuff. Keep fighting the good fight.