CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR

From The Enquirer:

In a race that had been the focus of national attention, Republican Jean Schmidt beat Democrat Paul Hackett for the 2nd Congressional District seat – though by far less than Republicans had anticipated a few short weeks ago.

With all precincts reporting, Schmidt had 52 percent of the vote to Hackett’s 48 percent – the closest election in the district since 1974.

Democrats – especially the 250 or so Hackett supporters gathered at the Aronoff Center downtown for what they hoped would be a victory party – had thought they could pull off an upset that would shake national politics to its core.

By running Hackett – an Iraq war veteran who opposes the war – Democrats nationwide hoped the race would become a referendum on President Bush, and especially his Iraq policies. Schmidt had hoped to continue the Republicans’ three-decade-long winning streak in the southern Ohio district, won easily by President Bush in 2004.

Can anything of value be extrapolated from the results of this race?

Not really.

It's one Congressional district. There are 435.

Does this mean support for Bush is eroding and the Democrats are poised to regain power?

No. In spite of how the Dems and their liberal media mouthpieces will spin it, HACKETT LOST. They will no doubt read a lot into the percentages and insist that this election proves that Bush and his policies are in trouble. They'll say this is a victory for Democrats.

That, of course, is ridiculous. Turnout for a special election, especially in the summer, is light. I suspect that the voters that turned out to cast ballots today were the hard-core crowd, the base of each party.

The Dems tried. They tried to paint Hackett as a Republican, pushing his military service, because they know that conservatives win elections.

In the end, their smoke and mirrors didn't work.

HACKETT LOST.