OH-2 Special Election Coverage and Prediction thread...

[Giant Saguaro]

This morning turnout was "projected" to be around 20% and considering this is essentially a glorified local election, I'm surprised there has been little to nothing come out. I'm sure everyone figures it's a no-brainer aside from both campaigns, but that it's been so quiet surprises me. Lefty bloggers backing off, way off, as someone else noted, but that's about it. Wait and see.

[Giant Saguaro]

Wow, gallant effort by Hackett. If it's a victory, and it looks like it is, it feels a bit like an empty victory.

Congrats to Schmidt, I guess. She battled back on her own turf against a new kind of opponent, so I commend her for taking this serious. Which makes you wonder how serious other Gopers took this and if Hackett was a fluke? I actually like Schmidt after all this - tough, conservative, serious, a marathonner - I read about her being up all night and going in road houses and restaurants at 3 a.m. and stopping at the Cracker Barrel or somewhere at 5:30 and then all this. Pfew.

Now the Ohio GOP will have a time picking up the pieces after this one. Goodness sakes, OH-2 almost as divided as the nation was in 2000.

[Giant Saguaro]

Wow, gallant effort by Hackett. If it's a victory, and it looks like it is, it feels a bit like an empty victory.

It's sorta like Notre Dame beating Navy by a field goal. Some will insist that Navy was just very enthusiastic. Some will think that maybe Navy will beat Notre Dame next year.

If Taft wants to feel better, he should know that his approval rating won't fall to 10% (but I could be wrong)

Yup. What jumps out at me most is how badly she got walloped in those eatern counties that I guess the one before her (a bit tired, so I'm starting to draw blanks on names) won with 70% or so.

I have issues with Paul Hackett, I wouldn't have supported him, but I respect what he did here. And low turnout, high turnout - if this is a GOP district in the 70th percentile, there's no reason to sit on your butt. Go vote, I always do no matter what it looks like. He did a real job here.

[Giant Saguaro]

I don't know if it's been mentioned or not and I figure most Dems will have a huge list of differences, but I wouldn't get too, too carried away about this one, remembering the special election last June, in '04, for one thing. Some had thought that Herseth's win was a mandate on the White House and what not and a sign of things to come and it turned out it wasn't. Maybe this one is, maybe it's not.

I think Hackett's approach was to come off as a straight/tough-talking populist leaning conservative-leaning dude who was gonna get in there and tell them all where to go and what to do with themselves when they got there. He succeeded with the rural folks but not so much with the city folks. It was a great strategy. Ultimately, though, this election was a referendum on the people running and the partisanship of the support and not that much more. If anything, it might have been more about the governor than Bush because from what I can tell he did more linking her to the governor than Bush - he just called Bush names.

And in the end, Mr. Hackett waged a fantastic campaign, but his services are needed more in Iraq than DC.