Victoria Wulsin To Challenge Jean Schmidt Again In 2008
"Mean Jean" Schmidt — who earned the eternal enmity of liberal activists for calling decorated Marine John Murtha a "coward" on the House floor over his Iraq War opposition — will be facing a rematch.
Dr. Victoria Wulsin — who lost to GOP Rep. Jean Schmidt by roughly one percentage point in 2006 — will take on Rep. Schmidt again in 2008, the local Ohio press is reporting. According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, Wulsin has just sent out a press release announcing that she's definitely in the race. From her release:
"When Americans are fighting in Iraq, going without affordable health care, and struggling to support their families, we need an independent voice in Congress, not a rubber stamp for special interests and the Bush Administration. The people of the Second District deserve a Congresswoman who will be honest with her constituents."
Schmidt previously drew national attention from Democratic activists during her successful 2005 special election against Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett, which she won by a 52%-48% margin in a district that President Bush won by a landslide 64%-36% over John Kerry. The rematch between Schmidt and Wulsin is a contest that's all but certain to attract major national money and attention.
The people of the Second District deserve a Congresswoman who isn't an idiot like Schmidt.
April 16, 2007 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do you think the DLC will help her this time?
April 16, 2007 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
If only we in the 5th District of NC could get rid of our Republican Bush clone.
April 16, 2007 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Schmidt needs to resign from Congress and volunteer to for military service and patrol in the heart of Anbar Province in Iraq for the duration of the occupation. Then and only then, will she have the creds to question any veterans courage.
April 16, 2007 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jean Schmidt is a hideous looking witch, her likability factor must be down near worms and slugs. She really is ugly. I know that's sort of shallow, but combine that with her personality characteristics of abrasiveness and cluelessness and I think in the current climate she gets her clock cleaned and it's not even close.
April 16, 2007 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mean Jean is under the impression she is a hottie.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/16/schmidt-hottie/
April 16, 2007 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
A few months ago I heard that Wulsin was hesitent to run again, but I'm glad she is. Now if only more presidential candidates besides Wes Clark could give her a hand, she could probably win. Why are the best people (Clark) always the one doing the thankless jobs and getting no credit?
April 16, 2007 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
A few months ago she was running for the democratic primary win.
June 11, 2008 9:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're lowering the LCD with the ugly business. I want to know why she keeps winning.
April 16, 2007 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Because it is a heavily Republican district. Here's the Wikipedia profile:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio's_2nd_congressional_district
The district stretches along the Ohio River from the Hamilton County suburbs of Cincinnati east to Scioto County. It is the 57th most Republican district in the nation by the reckoning of the Cook Political Report and includes all of Adams, Brown, Pike, and Clermont counties and parts of Hamilton, Scioto and Warren counties. Among Ohio's districts, only the 4th District is considered to be more Republican.
April 16, 2007 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
sully18
District 2 has been highly gerrymandered when Rob Portman was congressman even though repubs have won there since the early 70s.It seems to me that the dems have never really been interested in this race until Hackett almost beat Schmidt in a 2005 special election.
From what I hear the dems asked Hackett to run for Senate,then changed their minds and supported Sherrod Brown.Had they not said anything Hackett would have just run against Schmidt again,and would have probably won.
I sure hope the dems support Wulsin next time.This past election,I saw "Republican`s for Wulsin"bumper stickers on cars in Schmidt`s neighborhood.
April 16, 2007 2:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
can someone get her an actblue listing ?
April 16, 2007 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
The closeness of the race in November underlies how vulnerable Schmidt is in this, the most "red area" in the state. Republicans have typically garnered upwards of 70-75% of the vote here since the 1970's. There are many jokes in Republican circles around here about the dearth of competitive Democrats (or any Democrats at all for that matter).
I believe that Hackett would have beaten Schmidt this last time if he had decided to run again. He was, in fact, going to run for a Senate seat but the "leaders" of the Democratic Party intervened and asked him to withdraw in favor of Sherrod Brown. He threw his support Brown's way and that helped propel Brown to victory over a beaten-down and vulnerable Mike DeWine. I believe Hackett's "maverick' status created a lot of unease among the more centrist (and cautious) Democratic leadership. They felt much more secure with Brown's track record.
If Wulsin runs again, I believe she has a very good shot this time. Schmidt is the penultimate Bush supporter. She is so far up Bush's behind it would take her a week to find her way out to daylight. And even in the super red area being a Bush supporter right now is analogous to taking a "poison pill". Even here, he has lost virtually everyone but the base. And even having 100% of the base is not enough right now for Schmidt to win an election.
April 16, 2007 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
The people of the Second District deserve a Congresswoman who isn't an idiot like Schmidt.
No they don't! They deserve what they elect, especially if they voted for this idiot twice.
The same is true, on a larger scale, of the country as a whole. We may be moaning that we are stuck with this idiot because we did not vote for him. But don't forget all the people who are now sorry that they did help to elect W. Worse yet, think of all the people who did not vote. Do they deserve our elected leaders? I certainly think so.
This is something I've been saying in response to some Evangelicals claiming that Bush was sent by God. I tell them that they are right--he was sent as a punishment for their utter stupidity.
April 16, 2007 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not excited by this. Losers have a tendency to lose again. The Dems need another candidate.
April 16, 2007 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Buck I'm not going to be poking fingers in the eyes of people who voted for Bush if they are willing to learn the errors of their ways. Shutting them out is no way to get more Dems elected next time.
April 16, 2007 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Presumably you mean the DCCC.
April 16, 2007 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wulsin was underfunded. Word from the campaign is that $100,000 would have easily changed the outcome. This race didn't get competitive until the end, but resources were allocated elsewhere by that point.
April 16, 2007 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is already done.
I donated to Dr. Wulsin in 2006, and I'll be happy to do so again in 2008.
April 16, 2007 8:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I won't be sending her any money this time; I think there must be a curse on it. Everyone -- including Wulsin -- I sent money to in '06 lost. By very litle, but, nevertheless...
April 16, 2007 8:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yikes, that's sad to hear. I was trying to convince people to donate to Wulsin last fall. The Dems tossed tons of money at some races in expensive districts/media markets, and it seems like some places where they could have gotten a cheap win got overlooked.
I try to give to races that look underfunded, so the money might actually make a difference, but that are also close in the polls.
April 17, 2007 1:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was tracking this race last November. Wulsin is a great candidate and had some nice commercials. She was coming on strong at the end, so another commercial buy or two probably would have made the difference.
Give her another shot with better funding this time, and she will clean Schmidt's clock. Wulsin's got the gravitas that Schmidt clearly doesn't have.
April 17, 2007 2:19 AM | Reply | Permalink