BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Glass City Jungle has put together and published a fast transcript of the Latta-Weirauch showdown broadcast this a.m. on a Toledo TV station. Read the transcript and choose your own winner.
And give a big thanks to Lisa Renee Ward, the editor of Glass City Jungle. It is a great post, a feat of grassroots journalism and the power of the Ohiosphere. She has made it possible for everyone to follow the debate between the two candidates for the open seat in Ohio's 5th Congressional District. It was an act of true public service to release the transcript on the 'net so quickly.
Thank you Bill, I try to cover Conklin & Company each week since it's one of my favorite local political talk shows but I agree with you that this one was even more important since it appears to be the only debate these two candidates will have so I did less summary with a bit more effort on transcribing for that reason.
ReplyDeleteHi LisaRenee --
ReplyDeleteI suspect that transcript is going to be a very well read item over teh next few days, and not just in NW Ohio. It's the only chance people will have to hear the two candidates speak on the same issues, while they are side by side. Do you have any sense who came off better?
Bill, Bob Latta is more of a polished politician than Robin Weirauch is, but given that she did well in answering the questions asked. Neither candidate made a fatal type of flub that could hurt them.
ReplyDeleteNeither candidate took an extreme line on a position given the questions that were asked, so it would be difficult to pick which one did better. From a polished standpoint Latta did better but as far as presenting the message of a desire to represent the voices of NWO, I think Weirauch did a good job at delivering on that. I'm not sure how Latta's message of public service will resonate with the voters. He might regret not being more aggressive in pointing out the differences between the two given the natural inclination of that area to be more conservative. Weirauch did a good job at presenting a moderate viewpoint, though I'm not sure how the message of change will be viewed realizing it worked for Strickland and Brown.
This one will all boil down to voter turnout and the affect of the last minute dollar infusion by the Democrats for advertising.
The Republican party is hitting the message hard that Latta winning would send a message to Hillary Clinton to try to use the fear factor of a Clinton presidency as a motivator and as an anti-Marcy Kaptur message since Kaptur had earlier suggested that this race would be an indicator in the presidential races. With the additional campaigning by Strickland and Brown? It's too close to call from here...
A few weeks ago with the lack of financial support from the powers that be, I would have called it in Latta's favor since he has hit the television market heavily. If Robin Weirauch does not win, it will not be for a lack of effort on her campaign's part.
Hi LisaRenee --
ReplyDeleteThanks for the analysis. Everyone I have spoken to in the last week who knows something about Ohio and its politics thinks that district is in play. Latta has the built-in advantage. But Weirauch is somewhat familiar to people because she has run before, and the campaign money that is flowing to her now, plus the active interest of her party, is quickly helping to tighten any gap. These folks there will not be a blow out up there this time by the GOP. They note that in 2006 she got about 43% of the vote against Paul Gillmor, so she already has a significant base of support in OH-05. The trick is to grow it by a few more points.
I'd love to see some recent polling, and I suppose we will start to get it in the next few days, especially if it shows that Weirauch is within striking distance. But if Latta has a nice lead, we should see that, too. The GOP could make a case that he's running a good race and can deliver in a GOP district. I will add that Ohio is lucky to have people like Bob Latta and Robin Weirauch in a race for Congress. They are both interested in public service. They are both smart and capable. They are not big heads or fat heads or pompous.