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Abernathy Strategies
RepublicanGazette
Thursday, March 6, 2008 "When news breaks, we fix it" Published daily except some days
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The Republican Gazette welcomes Emails to the Editor and press releases. All submitted items must include the name and contact information for the author of the article, and all articles will only be published with the author's name included. Thank you for reading and participating in The Republican Gazette, another of West Virginia's most biased publications.
All opinions are those of The Republican Gazette and its editor, Gary Abernathy, except letters or commentary signed by others, and do not reflect the views of anyone else, including clients of Abernathy Strategies.
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Me and Ted
The governor who helped Hillary win Ohio on Tuesday has a long history of never, ever giving up
Ted Strickland, Ohio's Democrat governor, is an inspiration to every would-be officeholder who runs and loses and runs and loses so often that he gets tagged with the description, "perennial candidate."Ted Strickland is the perennial candidate made good.I first met Strickland back in the 1980s, when he was in the middle of a series of no-win campaigns for Congress. Ted desperately wanted to get elected to Congress, but he lived in a heavily Republican district. He ran for Congress in 1976, 1978 and 1980, losing badly -- very badly -- each time. When he stopped in to visit me one day at the Hillsboro Press Gazette, where I was the editor, I politely gave him a half hour or so of my time, wished him luck, and, after he left, shook my head and wondered quietly at what motivates a guy who seems to love to get beat.A few years later, in 1992, Ted ran yet again, against popular 12-year incumbent Republican Congressman Bob McEwen. This time, circumstances were a little different. Redistricting had added more Democrat counties to Ohio's 6th District, and in fact the district had been combined with another district represented by Republican Congressman Clarence Miller. McEwen and Miller faced each other in a primary, with McEwen barely eking out a win. In the meantime, McEwen had also been caught up in the House banking scandal that hit many members of Congress (McEwen was exonerated, but too late to help him), and, in November of 1992, Ted Strickland won a very narrow victory over McEwen.It didn't last long. In 1994, when the Republican tsunami struck, Strickland was washed away by the GOP tide at the hands of little known Gallipolis businessman Frank Cremeans.But, Ted being Ted, he naturally ran again in 1996, and squeezed out a tight victory over Cremeans to regain his seat, which he held until running, and winning, a race for governor of Ohio in 2006 in the wake of the Tom Noe "coingate" scandal. By the time Ted got to Congress in the early '90s, I had become the editor of the Portsmouth Daily Times in Scioto County, along the banks of the Ohio River. It was Ted's home county, and his fiercest supporters resided there.This combination made for some interesting encounters. I wrote a weekly column at the Daily Times, and naturally I espoused the same general conservative Republican viewpoints I hold today. Often, Strickland was the target of my critiques.More than once, Ted came marching into my office, or the office of my publisher, to complain about the columns I was writing. One time, he brought with him an impressive collection of businessmen who advertised heavily with the newspaper, and they basically threatened to withdraw their ad support unless I was muzzled. Fortunately, the publisher -- whose politics leaned more Ted's way than mine -- stood by me. Failing with a heavy handed approach, Ted decided to try some honey instead of vinegar. He invited me to breakfast one morning, and we had a great chat about politics, which led to more chats and, eventually, something at least akin to a respectful relationship, if not an outright friendship.(The first time Ted met my parents at a county fair somewhere, he flattered them by saying how much he liked me, and when they visited Washington on a vacation, he gave them a personal tour of the Capitol. He's a good politician.) I would work to defeat Ted at every opportunity because of our ideological differences, but I admire the fact he is a fighter who, as is obvious by his election history, never gives up. I am not the least bit surprised that Ted successfully delivered Ohio to Hillary on Tuesday, He is never discouraged. He is unfazed by obstacles that would send many politicians into deep depression.He is much more liberal on a personal level than he exhibits in public office, but he is an honest man and an idealist. Even most Republicans agree that to meet and talk with Ted is to like him, which is a political gift that cannot be taught -- you have it or you don't.Ted is being mentioned as possible VP material, and Hillary, if she wins the nomination, could do worse than choose someone who almost certainly would deliver the important swing state of Ohio. He would also add a never-give-up tenacity that comes close to matching her own.Ted Strickland helped deliver Ohio for HIllary Clinton, and while the odds seemed long, it was nothing new to Ted.
Quote of the Day
"Shouldn't you benefit from incumbency if you've held the office and you have delivered and been responsible?"-- Fran Hughes in the Charleston Daily Mail, defending Attorney General Darrell McGraw's abuse of taxpayer dollars by putting his name on gun locks and brochures mailed from his office, and explaining why incumbents should have advantages through public money that challenging candidates cannot enjoy.Party faithful should not cross over to try to affect primaries
The evidence is substantial that tons of Republicans in Ohio and Texas voted in the Democrat primary on Tuesday in order to keep Hillary from losing the nomination.There is no evidence that the Republican effort was actually enough to make the difference, but the mere fact that it could happen is yet another argument for doing more to close, not open, the primary process.Similarly, those who want to pick at John McCain have often claimed he won the GOP nomination not because of Republican support, but because of the number of Democrats and independents who have crossed over to vote for him.(In fact, polling data has shown in state after state that McCain has won the Republican vote and at least split the support of those who describe themselves as conservatives, but facts should not disrupt a persuasive argument.)Since the 1980s, independents have been permitted to vote in the Republican primary in West Virginia, and Democrats recently joined the club, much to the dismay of many of their most outspoken members. The justification for this development is thin at best, and silly at worst.It is always amusing to hear, from time to time, independent voters complain around the country about not being able to vote for president in a primary election without becoming a member of one party or the other. But why should they?There is a reason that John McCain is the Republican nominee for president, and either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will be called the Democratic nominee of their party. They are not called the independent nominee, or the Reform Party nominee, or the Mountain Party nominee, or the North or South nominees. They are the nominees supposedly chosen by Republicans and by Democrats through the mechanisms supported and maintained by the members of their respective parties. And therein lies the rub. In Ohio's open primary process, a Republican can vote in the Democrat primary, and vice versa. The price they pay is to be labeled, legally, a member of the party in whose primary they voted, but only until the next primary. Republicans and Democrats spend countless hours of time, and often hundreds or thousands of personal dollars, to support their parties and put into place the meetings, rallies, caucuses, conventions or campaigns that go into promoting their preferred candidates for president and other offices. And then, when the culmination of their efforts comes forth at primary election time, independents say, "Hey, wait, we want to choose your nominee!" They are perfectly welcome to do so, but the price -- joining one party or the other -- is not what they are willing to pay.Maybe there is a silver lining, Maybe the crossover voting that has occurred throughout this election season will motivate states and parties to reexamine and tighten their rules, so that there can be no doubt that the Republican nominee was chosen by Republicans, and the Democrat nominee by Democrats. It is only right that it be so.Obama-Clinton: A 'Dream Ticket,' or a nightmare come true?
There's a lot of talk now about an eventual Democrat "Dream Ticket" of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for president and vice president, in whichever order it may occur. In fact, such a ticket may be wildly appealing to hard core Democrats, but in reality it would seem the height of foolishness. There are those who believe that many Americans are not ready to vote for a woman for president, and there are those who believe that many other Americans will not vote for a black person for president. (I personally would be happy to prove both those prejudices wrong by someday voting for Condoleeza Rice for president.)If the Democrats indeed put forth a ticket comprised of Obama and Clinton, they will prove Will Rogers right again -- Democrats belong to no organized party.