New Era of Government in Ohio
This past Novemeber Republicans were smoked at the polls. Republicans lost statewide races for Governor/ Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, US Senator. Ohio Republicans also lost a significant number of state legislature seats as well.
But the news isn't all bad. Despite all the damage done this election season, Republicans were able to pick up a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court with the retirement of Alice Robie Resnick due to her drunk driving charge from February 2005. Republican Apellate Judge Robert Cupp (R-Lima) was able to survive the toxic political climate for the Ohio GOP and defeat his Democratic political opponent former State Senator Ben Espy (D-Columbus) by a 53%-47% margin. Cupp's victory in 2006 was nothing short of a miracle. Despite Ken Blackwell heading the GOP ticket in Ohio and losing by about 23 points, Cupp as a non-incumbent Republican candidate, carried 70 of 88 counties in Ohio and kept Espy's margin of victory in heavily Democratic Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) down to about 54, 000 votes. Cupp even managed to carry heavily Democratic Lucas County (Toledo)!
Incumbent State Supreme Court Justice Terrence O'Donnell easily defeated his Democratic opponent William O'Neill. O'Neill refused to accept any campaign contributions as a sort of
protest against Ohio's current elected system for the state judiciary. O'Neill's quirky campaign style (which included using an old printing press he purchased and used in his garage) earned him glowing press coverage from the esteemed New York Times. The Times portrayed the Republican Terrence O'Donnell has always siding with big corporate donors and O'Neill wanting to fight for the little man. The NY Times didn't make much of a difference in the race as O'Donnell went on to defeat O'Neill easily by 18 points.
In the state senate, Democrats had only one pickup in District 12, Jeffry Armbruster's seat. Democrat Susan Morano defeated Republican Martha Wise by 26 points in that race. In all the other competitive state senate races, Republicans were able to hold on.
The closest state senate race on election night came in the Akron area with incumbent State Senator Kevin Coughlin (R-Cuyahoga Falls) defeating Democrat Judy Hanna by nearly 5 points. Hanna's campaign was hampered by numerous gaffes, most notably a blog entry she authored for a liberal blog called Week. The article is filled with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and is largely incoherent. Another interesting note to make with State Senator Kevin Coughlin is that his name is already being floated around as a possible GOP contender against Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2012. Coughlin has some baggage due to allegations of sexual harrassment but that allegation has been used over and over by his former opponents and all have been defeated.
The state house was full of GOP campaign mishaps and seats with candidates who did not campaign vigorously. Democrats ended up picking up a total of seven state house seats, leaving the balance of power count at 53 Republicans and 46 Democrats. This was a major upset of sorts for Ohio House Democrats. No pundit paying attention to Ohio would have even considered the possiblity of Democrats coming as close as they did in overtaking the state house. I suppose this is the story of the 2006 election cycle and Republicans should be thankful we're entering a new year.
But the news isn't all bad. Despite all the damage done this election season, Republicans were able to pick up a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court with the retirement of Alice Robie Resnick due to her drunk driving charge from February 2005. Republican Apellate Judge Robert Cupp (R-Lima) was able to survive the toxic political climate for the Ohio GOP and defeat his Democratic political opponent former State Senator Ben Espy (D-Columbus) by a 53%-47% margin. Cupp's victory in 2006 was nothing short of a miracle. Despite Ken Blackwell heading the GOP ticket in Ohio and losing by about 23 points, Cupp as a non-incumbent Republican candidate, carried 70 of 88 counties in Ohio and kept Espy's margin of victory in heavily Democratic Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) down to about 54, 000 votes. Cupp even managed to carry heavily Democratic Lucas County (Toledo)!
Incumbent State Supreme Court Justice Terrence O'Donnell easily defeated his Democratic opponent William O'Neill. O'Neill refused to accept any campaign contributions as a sort of
protest against Ohio's current elected system for the state judiciary. O'Neill's quirky campaign style (which included using an old printing press he purchased and used in his garage) earned him glowing press coverage from the esteemed New York Times. The Times portrayed the Republican Terrence O'Donnell has always siding with big corporate donors and O'Neill wanting to fight for the little man. The NY Times didn't make much of a difference in the race as O'Donnell went on to defeat O'Neill easily by 18 points.In the state senate, Democrats had only one pickup in District 12, Jeffry Armbruster's seat. Democrat Susan Morano defeated Republican Martha Wise by 26 points in that race. In all the other competitive state senate races, Republicans were able to hold on.
The closest state senate race on election night came in the Akron area with incumbent State Senator Kevin Coughlin (R-Cuyahoga Falls) defeating Democrat Judy Hanna by nearly 5 points. Hanna's campaign was hampered by numerous gaffes, most notably a blog entry she authored for a liberal blog called Week. The article is filled with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and is largely incoherent. Another interesting note to make with State Senator Kevin Coughlin is that his name is already being floated around as a possible GOP contender against Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2012. Coughlin has some baggage due to allegations of sexual harrassment but that allegation has been used over and over by his former opponents and all have been defeated.The state house was full of GOP campaign mishaps and seats with candidates who did not campaign vigorously. Democrats ended up picking up a total of seven state house seats, leaving the balance of power count at 53 Republicans and 46 Democrats. This was a major upset of sorts for Ohio House Democrats. No pundit paying attention to Ohio would have even considered the possiblity of Democrats coming as close as they did in overtaking the state house. I suppose this is the story of the 2006 election cycle and Republicans should be thankful we're entering a new year.
posted by Brian G. at 9:13 AM
2 Comments:
the reason the bogus sexual harassment allegation has never been used is because it's a lie. It never happened. Coughlin's campaign did a public records request at the University of Akron where this supposedly happened.
They responded in writing that no complaints were ever made, no misconduct ever occured, and that Coughlin is a highly rated professor. In fact, he's teaching there now.
No university would ever keep someone who sexually harassed a student on the faculty. Get real. This is why blogging is destructive. No facts? Wrong facts? Oh hell, just write it and post it on the internet. Chump.
Well said anonymous. This blog is wrong. The sexual harassment allegation was never even used against Coughlin in the last campaign.
Why?
BECAUSE IT NEVER HAPPENED. No allegation was ever made.
That said,
Coughlin would make an excellent candidate for the US Senate against Brown. He's as hard working as Brown - maybe better. He'd give Brown fits on the campaign trail and a taste of his own medicine.
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