Democrats Smell Blood

Just two days after President Bush selected the least qualified person he could find to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Rep. Sherrod Brown has changed his mind on challenging Sen. Mike DeWine (RINO-OH). Rep. Brown is an extreme liberal, but unlike Paul Hackett, he's an establishment liberal. The left wing blogsphere is not happy about the announcement, but they apparently fail to realize that Brown offers them a much better opportunity to take the seat than Hackett. Unlike Hackett, Brown has experience winning and offers some political know-how. He will not surround himself by left-wing loonies that could inspire the conservative base to turnout in spite of their distaste for the incumbent and the rampant culture of corruption in state government.

Brown's personal situation has changed, but that is not the only reason that he entered the race. Midterm elections are, even moreso than this past election, centered on base turnout. The conservative base in Ohio will be, as William Kristol is, "disappointed, depressed and demoralized". This national sentiment of conservatives is exaggerated in Ohio because of the other problems particular to the race, some his fault, others not.

Democrats smell blood for good reason. The Republican base is fed up after having been betrayed because W selected a friend, an unqualified friend at that, for what is sadly one of the most powerful positions in the federal government. The President opened a door for the Democrats in Ohio, Missouri, Montana, and possibly Arizona with this terrible selection. If Republicans do not want to utter the words "Majority Leader Reid", then they had best fulfill their constitutional duty to reject this unqualified nominee.