Looks to me like there’s a sanity streak breaking out amongst some Republicans.
$47,621.14 raised
$51,174.85 spent
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$27,319.20 cash on hand…
I’ve got nothing against the Tea Party folks. I agree with probably 90% of what they stand for. But being angry at Democrats and some Republicans and showing up at a rally every twenty years or so is not enough….
Beware the siren song of the teabag. In the heat of the moment, passion rushing through you like Sophia Loren’s probing tongue, it seems like a good idea, but you won’t respect yourself in the morning!
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I already reported on my fun with Ed Fitzgerald at last week’s taping of Bob Conklin’s TV show. But imagine my surprise as I walked out of the studio, and in the lobby for the next taping were more reporters for another roundtable, and featured guest David Yost, then Republican candidate for attorney general, now Republican candidate for state auditor!
On Yost’s lit piece for AG was the line “David Yost is an active leader in the pro-life movement.” Huh. David Yost has a position on abortion! Before David Yost headed back with the reporters to the studio, I asked David Yost why that would appear on his literature, and what abortion had to do with being attorney general. Time to ask about David Yost’s position on abortion, I thought.
David Yost on abortion did the standard two step, so I cut to the chase. Should abortion be illegal? David Yost said abortion should be illegal. I then asked, what would David Yost advocate as the penalty if abortion were illegal? The reporters were fascinated by this ingenious line of questioning!
David Yost didn’t answer, claiming he was just running for AG. I asked again, reminding David Yost on abortion that surely to advocate its illegality meant to advocate some kind of punishment. David Yost still wouldn’t answer. I asked again. And again. I think I asked five times what David Yost’s position on abortion penalties would be. Nothing in response.
So I turned to the gathered reporters and said, “I think it’s Chris Matthews who says that if you ask someone a question three times and they don’t answer, it means they have no answer.” Laughs all around ensued, except of course from David Yost on abortion, and Conklin waved everyone to walk back toward the studio.
As I began another conversation down the hallway with the reporters about my candidacy for county council, David Yost chased behind, as if he wasn’t done telling me precisely nothing about David Yost on abortion.
“You’re a blogger and you’re running for office?” asked one of the reporters in the hallway.
“You ever hear of Hunter S. Thompson?” I said.
“FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL!” shouted David Yost.
“You’re running as a journalist?” asked another reporter as we entered the studio.
“FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS!” shouted David Yost from behind. My, how interested David Yost is in my candidacy!
As we all piled into the studio, the reporters asking for my card, Conklin directing David Yost to his seat, David Yost on abortion shouted at us from across the studio, “Someday I’ll explain to you the importance of a candidate not having an answer for everything!” Odd, we all thought. That must be David Yost’s position on abortion!
I decided it was a good time to leave.
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Forget the GOP Senate primary. If you’re looking for evidence of Tea Bagger rebellion in the GOP in Ohio, look at the potentially GOP primaries for the Secretary of State’s race (Former House Speaker/Man of Many Residences Jon Husted v. County Treasurer/Social Conservative gladfly Sandy O’Brien) and the Attorney General’s race (Former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine v. Delaware County Prosecutor David Yost.)
Last night, the Yost campaign announced it was endorsed over DeWine by the Butler County Republican Party. If you’re not familiar with Ohio GOP geopolitics, let me explain it to you this way. Think about your last county party dinner and who your county party got as its featured speaker. Maybe you got the Governor or a statewide.
Well, the Butler County GOP has regularly gotten people like the late Tony Snow or Karl Rove. This is Boehner-land, after all. The Ohio GOP held its state party dinner in nearby Warren County this year.
In order to get any endorsement, you had to get a supermajority, at least 60% of the county’s central committeepersons. Yost got 68%…. over a former U.S. Senator.
DeWine has run, a, well, unusual campaign for someone with his political resume. His campaign website hasn’t been updated at all since his announcement speech. He was not a featured speaker at the Ohio GOP’s state dinner. He’s seemed to be virtually nonexistent on the campaign trail ( I can find little evidence through local media of him actually campaigning.)
You have to wonder if DeWine is either extremely confident to the point of being complacent (Yost’s press release actually touted a poll showing DeWine still polling at 58% among registered Republican voters in a primary matchup with Yost) or simply disinterested.
Regardless, the Butler County GOP endorsement means than DeWine is facing a credible rebellion on his right flank smack dab in the middle of the Ohio GOP’s geopolitical base.
[UPDATE:] In what can only be described as a dumb political move, the DeWine campaign later this afternoon actually gave credence to Yost’s spin that this endorse is significant by issuing a statement that was picked up by the Hamilton Pulse Journal:
“We are confident that Republican voters in Ohio will nominate Mike DeWine to be their Attorney General candidate. In poll after poll, Mike DeWine is the only candidate who can beat Richard Cordray. DeWine is known across the state by an overwhelming 93% of voters. As a former county prosecutor, he has the vision and experience to clean up corruption, fix the state crime lab, and make sure our state does everything possible to promote economic growth and job creation.”
I don’t think this response helps DeWine’s cause at all when all they say is that he can defeat Richard Corday because 93% of voters have heard of him.
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