Whither Ohio GOP?

The state of Ohio may be edging toward a cataclysmic color shift: from red to blue.

The long-dominant Republican Party in Ohio today is beset by chaos, scandal, ethical breaches and shoddy performance at all levels.

Gov. Bob Taft’s approval rating dangles well below 50 percent, and he has recently retained a criminal lawyer to defend against charges of fund-raising irregularities.

...But now, with no incumbent and the GOP in disarray, this race is much different. The most striking difference is in the candidates, who met in a debate last Thursday night in an old gym on the rural campus of tiny Chatfield College in St. Martin, a village in Brown County.

Jean Schmidt, the Republican nominee, who was the only female in a 10-person primary race, is a slight, chic, low-key, 100 percent Bush backer from Loveland, and the head of an anti-abortion group in Cincinnati.

Her opponent, Paul Hackett, is a charismatic, impressive lawyer from Indian Hill, who recently returned from a seven-month tour of duty in Iraq as a Marine major, where he served on the front lines in battered Fallujah, an insurgent stronghold. If elected, he will be, incredibly, the only member of Congress to have served in Iraq.

"Hackett a standout in 2nd District race"