Democrat
Charlie Wilson, our best hope in the open OH-06 race, faces a primary challenge, competing as a write-in against a weak candidate, former Republican Bob Carr. The new twist is that the NRCC has joined in, trying to throw the Democratic primary against Wilson.
The Washington Post brings us a story on Ohio: Republicans' Machiavellian Maneuver in the 6th that describes deceptive ads the Republicans are now running trying to trick Democratic primary voters into selecting Carr over Wilson.
details below the fold...
Wilson's need to run as a write-in comes from a terribly mishandled petition effort. Prior dKos diaries:
OH-06: Democratic candidate bungles registration?
OH-06: Wilson screws up badly (with POLL)
Ohio Strikes Again and Could Cost us a Seat in Congress
Wilson to run as write-in in primary
All this is too bad, since polling had him looking good:
OH-06 Poll: Wilson Looking Good
Bob Carr, who formerly
was the Republican nominee against Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) in 1996. Carr lost that race 71 percent to 27 percent while being outspent by Stupak $459,000 to $6,000
How are they using deception to try to help Carr win?
images of Carr flash on the screen accompanied by the phrase "liberal Democrat." The commercial's narrator goes on to note that Carr is "too far left to work with Republicans in Washington" and that he "hasn't even ruled out trying to eliminate President Bush's tax cuts." The ad's tagline? "Bob Carr: Too liberal for Congress."
These are openly NRCC ads. They are actually hoping that Democratic voters will "defend their man" against these charges of being a liberal, and go out and vote for Carr. Which is exactly what they want, because:
- Wilson is the stronger candidate
- Carr is actually (formerly) a Republican, so with Carr on the Democratic line either the GOP candidate wins the general, or this stealth Republican wins on the Democratic line.
- Carr's campaign is very weak, he hasn't even filed a financial report (which means he's raised and spent less than $5000), and in his previous run as a Republican, he was outspent $459,000 to $6,000.
As the WaPo piece describes, the Republicans have used tactics like this in the past and they've been very effective.