GOP's Ohio Double Play

[papau]

Not the first time the Machiavellian NRCC has had ads in a Democratic primary. In 2000, unknown septuagenarian librarian Regina Seltzer beat Congressman Forbes (D-N.Y.) by 35 votes via NRCC ads that noted Forbes's conservative positions on abortion and guns. Damn good thing no one on DU can be manipulated by the GOP because they demand pure lefty Democratic candidates, and will reject the less to the left person that might have a better chance in the general election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801445.html?sub=AR

GOP's Ohio Double Play

By Chris Cillizza
Wednesday, April 19, 2006; A04



A new television commercial running in Ohio's 6th District sure sounds as if it has mean things to say about Bob Carr. He is supposedly a "liberal Democrat" who wants to overturn President Bush's tax cuts and is "too far left to work with Republicans in Washington."<snip>

The ad is paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee, whose strategists -- trying their best to channel the spirit of Niccolo Machiavelli -- actually are hoping to damage another Democrat, state Sen. Charlie Wilson.

This gets a bit complicated. The Democratic primary is May 2. Republican strategists believe that Wilson would be by far the strongest candidate this fall. But Wilson has a race on his hands, largely because he is hoping to win as a write-in candidate. That is because earlier this year -- in a blunder that would have won no applause from Machiavelli -- Wilson failed to collect the signatures to qualify for the ballot.

The NRCC, Republican and Democratic strategists privately agree, would pay for an ad attacking Carr for one reason only: They want to help him in the primary. Being called an anti-Bush liberal, after all, is the best endorsement one could get for many of the people who will vote in the primary.

If Carr wins, there is no reason to suppose that he will be a formidable candidate in this open district, being vacated as incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland runs for governor. Carr once ran a hapless campaign, as a Republican , in Michigan. He lost that race in 1996 to Rep. Bart Stupak (D) by 71 percent to 27 percent.<snip>





Cillizza is a staff writer for washingtonpost.com. The Fix, his online politics column, runs daily athttp://www.washingtonpost.com/thefix.