There's A Winnable Seat In Ohio-- If The DCCC Does Its Job

Hard core right-wing GOP voters, particularly in the former Confederate states-- something between a quarter and a third of all voters-- are pretty gung-ho on shutting down the government. Normal voters, on the other hand, just hate it. Last week, when first McConnell and then Paul Ryan let it slip that the Republicans plan to stay quiet about triggering more government shut-downs until after the election-- and then move in for the kill. (And by "kill," of course, they mean you, your family, the American economy and democracy itself.)

Alison Lundergan Grimes responded to McConnell's "slip of the tongue" with the web ad above. But she isn't the only Democrat who recognizes an opportunity. Michael Wager, the only Democrat in Ohio who has a shot to replace a Republican in that state, can benefit from the resuscitation of an issue that had died down. When MoveOn.org had polled OH-14 between Cleveland and the Pennsylvania border, they found most people concerned. 59% of the people in the district said they opposed the government shut down. And on being informed that David Joyce had voted to shut it down, only 44% of respondents said they would vote to reelect him. 47% said they would vote for his Democratic opponent.

That's Michael Wager, the only Democratic challenger in Ohio who has raised over-- or even close to-- a million dollars. But Steve Israel has been urging Democrats and Democratic support groups to contribute to a recruit in an impossibly red district (OH-06-- R+8), where a drastically right-wing, anti-Choice/anti-gay/pro-NRA/pro-fracking recruit of his, Jennifer Garrison, is running a miserable, losing campaign. Israel won't win the OH-06 seat but he could well blow the chance to win the OH-14 seat. But that isn't how Wager is looking at it. He and his grassroots team don't think much about the DCCC. They think about the voters in Ashtabula, Mayfield Heights, Mentor, Chardon, Solon, Middlefield and Painesville instead.

"The dysfunction of the 113th Congress," Wager told us this morning, "is all too evident in their lack of action on so many of our nation’s critical needs, but the truly emblematic failure of this Congress will be the several votes in October 2013 to shutdown the government and put our nation in economic peril. Once again, Republican leaders, like Senator McConnell, talk about advancing extreme and ideologically-driven spending bills, potentially causing another shutdown of the federal government.

"Regrettably, my opponent, Republican Congressman David Joyce, has shown his willingness to vote again (as he did three separate times in October) for these extreme measures, as Republicans push our nation to the economic precipice to wantonly advance their agenda of obstructionism. In November, I will call upon voters in the 14th District to hold David Joyce  accountable for his betrayal of public trust and his lack of truthfulness about his extreme voting record."

You can give Wager a hand here and help Blue America try to plug some holes the DCCC is leaving in his campaign. This is the one Democrat who can win in Ohio. Steve Israel doesn't like backing progressives and he won't allow the DCCC to help Wager win the seat. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown has tried to turn things around for Wager, but Israel is a pig-headed jackass and he absolutely refuses to change his approach. It's a winnable seat and we shouldn't let Joyce waltz back into office.