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It is obvious that you are fond of congresswoman Jean Schmidt.

Here is my viewpoint, maybe you'll consider it to be valid and not automatically invalid just because I don't care for Jean Schmidt as a legislator. My first dealings with Jean was in 2004 when I helped my state rep. Tom Niehaus run against her for Ohio Senate. It was during this race that I lost my respect for her as a legislator and a politician. First, she used pictures of Tom's grandchildren in a negative ad that was meant to upset Tom's wife (ask me for details). Second, she was in tight with Larry Householder, the corrupt and embattled speaker of the Ohio House, and had Householder come up with several corrupt schemes to get funding (ask for more details). Third, she accused my county board of elections of being corrupt and miscounting ballots just because she did not get more votes out of my county after a required recount. Fourth, she continuously bashed my county GOP throughout the election. What really urked me was that right before she ran for Senate she had voted for Taft's tax increases, yet tried to sell herself as a fiscal conservative!!! So, this was what left the task of Schmidt in my mouth before the Congressional race.

Now to the congressional race. If DeWine had not spent $1 million dollars attacking McEwen and then later Brinkman, Jean would not have been able to squeak her way through to victory. Jean was never the front-runner in that race! And she didn't pull off a surprise victory on purpose. People were disgusted with the attack ads by DeWine and thus splintered the vote even more. So in conclusion, Jean did not have a mandate from the GOP base last primary (maybe the reason she barely won the general). Let's see if she can make it through this primary and then I'll consider her our legitimate candidate. Even so, I won't be helping her out in the general.

I view Rep. Schmidt solely through the prism of Schmidt vs. McEwen. I only offer her defense when matched against the less-than-distinguished former Congressman and some of the over-the-top and reaching attacks. From what has been explained, her record in the legislature was at worst, not stellar, and at best, perhaps average. The problem is that she has barely been in the Congress long enough to establish an objectionable record (and there have been more than a few individuals who amassed stellar records in state legislatures only to falter in DC, and some with mediocre legislative records who turned out to be a pleasant surprise in DC). If Miss Schmidt had served a full term demonstrating mediocrity and had a strong Conservative and non-flawed opponent, she would be fair game, and I would give considerable attention to the opponent. In this case, it simply is no contest. For whatever flaws Schmidt has, McEwen's more than outweigh them.

My position during the special, to be clear, was that I was solely anti-DeWine (for a time, I actually had forgotten how flawed McEwen was, and gave momentary thought to voicing support for him -- so as long as it was either Brinkman or Schmidt, that would be fine). Do not believe I have a burning passion for Schmidt, as I surely don't have for the mess the OH GOP has gotten itself into, but as long as the equation is Schmidt vs. McEwen, it's a very easy choice. Schmidt wins hands-down.