As many around these parts may know by now, I have a thing about the primary elections in this country and the opportunities that an average 20% turnout presents to motivated, grassroots insurgencies. I believe with an audience of 80% of the voting public there is more than enough room to seriously ruin an incumbent’s day.
Ohio’s 8th District is the home of House minority leader John Boehner, who currently faces a challenge by just such an effort.
Businessman and German immigrant Manfred Schreyer brings a pragmatic, common sense critique to the race. With more than 20 years in Congress, Boehner has a lackluster record and the gall to put on blubbering displays of outrage that are not worthy of the seat or the party, so I suspect this challenge could lead to something depending on Manfred’s ground-game.
I don’t know anything about Ohio’s 8th district, but if John Boehner has been reelected ten times, there is clearly a disconnect between reality and sanity in that part of the Buckeye state.
The man is such a perfect hypocrite and sycophant that he can say something like this about health insurance reform passing when seventeen years earlier his republican colleagues offered an oddly similar plan in response to Bill Clinton’s health reform efforts. Consistency in Washington is not a highly valued trait except when it comes to winning elections that are mostly tipped toward one party or the other each cycle due to a misplaced emphasis on November’s general election.
Which brings us back to the coming primary election on May 4, 2010 in Ohio and how the state has fared under the schizophrenic care of Congressman John Boehner these last two decades. None too well I would imagine. To the residents of Boehner’s 8th district, I would like to highlight another date – April 5. That is the deadline for registration and it is not party specific. Once you arrive at your polling place on May 4, you “declare” your party affiliation by requesting their ballot.
This allows anyone, regardless of party loyalty, to vote in the republican party primary for Manfred as long as you live in Boehner’s district and are a registered voter with the state of Ohio. It also allows you to have a say in your district’s politics, regardless of party, since you already know the general election is fait accompli based on who wins the republican primary in the spring. Just like it is here in DC depending on who wins the democratic party primary.
Incumbents are particularly vulnerable in many areas of the country in the very near future and I think most Americans would be surprised at just how little effort it would take to unseat some who should have left a long time ago.