Post-Election Analysis: State & National

State

Ohio’s gubernatorial and U.S. Senate elections proved what happens when Republicans win elections then stop acting like Republicans.  Bob Taft spent 8 years as Ohio’s governor and proceeded to take himself, and in the voter’s minds the party, through an ethics scandal and poor delegations (the so-called “coin-gate”), he committed the Republican’s cardinal sin of raising taxes (for the first 6 years*), and demonstrated weak leadership in areas that matter most to Ohio’s citizens, such as higher and lower education, jobs, and the economy.  Bob Taft was an Ohio Republican Party insider.  He either drug the party down, or he was a reflection of a weak party.  Whatever the underlying cause, the results of the Taft Administration left Republicans in Ohio set up for failure.

Enter Ken Blackwell:  a Republican with real ideas for educational, economic and social improvement for the state. (What have we heard from Ted Strickland?)  He ran as good of a campaign as one could have run in the wake of the Taft Administration.  Actually, Blackwell should be commended for even running.  It would have been easy for a good politician to say, “No way I’m going to run.  I’m not telling the voters that this joke-of-a-Republican Party should remain in power after the last 8 yeras.  I’m not taking one for the team.  I’ll run in 4 or 8 years when the previous administration is a distant memory.”  Ken Blackwell is the future of the Ohio Republican Party, whether the Party likes it or not.  It is XEKE.com’s hope and prayer that Ken Blackwell will not accept this defeat as the end of his political career, and XEKE.com will endorse him in any and all future elections

Mike DeWine is a different story.  His defeat can be chalked up to a combination of factors:

• He is a casualty of the 6th year principle.  History has shown that the party in power during a President’s 6th year loses.  Some Senators had to lose for history to hold up, and Mike DeWine was one of them.

• He was vulnerable because he was a Republican in Ohio’s political environment.  When the Anti-Taft voters showed up to vote against the Republicans, DeWine had negative association.

• DeWine’s recent votes of his in the Senate have done nothing to solidify his base.  Sure he votes pro-life, and he confirmed Roberts and Alito, but we expect this from Republicans.  He voted against drilling in ANWR, he voted for the prescription drug bill, he was part of a Senate majority that enacted no meaningful immigration reform . . . these do not motivate Conservatives to go to the polls and vote in the affirmative.  XEKE.com had contacted DeWine on several occasions with e-mails of disappointment with regard to these issues and he responded with the typical politician-speak.  He could have done better.

Congratulations to Kevin Coughlin for his re-election to the Ohio Senate.  It is XEKE.com’s wish that Coughlin would find an opportunity to pursue higher office, perhaps challenging Ted Strickland for Governor in 2010, George Voinovich for U.S. Senate in the 2010 Republican primary, or Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate in the 2012 general election.  XEKE.com will endorse Kevin Coughlin in any and all future elections, so long as he does not run against Ken Blackwell.

National

We now know what happens when Republicans forget why they were originally elected.  The Republican Majority got to Washington in ‘94 and beyond because voters wanted spending restraint, tax cuts, minimal government intervention in the private sector, strong national defense, and most recently immigration control and reform.  But what the Republicans delivered, admittedly among many good things, was increased spending, foot-dragging when it came to extending the tax cuts, and no meaningful immigration reform.

For the most part, Republicans didn’t give their base a real reason to go to the polls in 2008.  It became apparent in the weeks leading up the election that the base needed to get out and vote not to preserve Conservative principles but to keep the Democrats from gaining power.  Sorry, Republicans, that’s not enough.  Yes the Conservative base should have known better, but when the base is de-motivated, the blame falls on the politicians.  And now we’re left to watch John McCain somberly say, “We’re going to get together, listen to the voters and learn the lessons we need to learn.”  Why does it take losing the legislative branch to the Liberals for Republicans to “learn their lesson?”  Shame on the Republican party for dropping the ball over and over for the past several years.

Most depressing were two results in Pennsylvania:  Rick Santorum’s loss in the Senate and Dan Wheldon’s loss in the house.  Both of these men have been instrumental in America’s safety post-9/11.  Both of these men are principled leaders who do not look to polls prior to making decisions.  Both of them were rejected by an electorate that just wasn’t convinced of the threats of which these men spoke.  Shame on Pennsylvania.

George W. Bush should not escape unscathed, either.  Nobody is protecting our country with more passion and his tax cut proposals are what has led us into this economic boom.  However, when it came to minimizing government expansion (or actually limiting government), Bush’s veto pen was nowhere to be found.  He is just as culpable as the Republican legislative branch for expanded government, and this is near the top of the “de-motivation to vote” list for Conservatives.

But XEKE.com dwells in the past only long enough to learn lessons, and then moves forward to determine a future course of action.  What does this shift of power mean?  Many questions loom.

• First of all, Speaker Pelosi has said that she will work with the Bush Administration and the Republican minority in a bipartisan way.  XEKE.com will believe this when we see it.

• How will the Liberal Democratic leadership handle the Conservative Democrats that helped them win a majority (see Heath Schuler)?  And will those Conservative Democrats get behind the Liberal Democratic leadership?

• This election will embolden the terrorists overseas.  Only one party was tough on terror, and that party is now the minority.  The Democrats are now charged with responsibility for America’s safety as they hold the pursestrings of the war fund.  What will they do now that they cannot simply point their collective finger at the Republicans and the Bush Administration?

• Kiss extending the tax cuts good-bye until a Republican majority can be found.

• Expect inertia on every front.  Don’t expect this congress to get much done at all.  (This may not be such a bad thing.)

• Every major political battle since 1994 has been the “biggest battle we’ve ever seen.”  This description has worn thin and sounds quite trite now.  However, the “biggest battle we’ve ever seen” is on the horizon:  George W. Bush’s next Supreme Court Nominee.  We ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Conclusion

Republicans from Kevin Coughlin to John McCain must (and XEKE.com uses this in the strongest sense) observe this election and take this lesson to heart:  when Republicans do not represent their Conservative base and do not stand up for Conservative principles on a daily basis, they lose.  With only few exceptions, Conservatives win when they give their base (a majority of those who actually vote) a reason to elect them.  Let’s all look forward to 2008, improving from the knowledge we’ve gained.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that recent state tax cuts have been good for Ohio, however Ohio is still among the worst tax environments in the union.