Tuesday, January 06, 2009

HORSERACE

A Theory Narrowing the Anti-Blackwell Suspects to One State

Several readers in Ohio, including some closely tied to that state's Republican Party infrastructure, strongly suspect that this morning's anonymous hit on RNC Chair candidate Ken Blackwell came from his enemies within their state.

One reader noted that Blackwell defeated former state attorney general Jim Petro in the 2006 gubernatorial primary. Petro was backed by the state party, Blackwell was not. The Ohio Republican State and Central Executive Committee contributed $380,313 to Petro, and none to Blackwell; the primary was bitter. One reader recalls, "One long-time Republican campaign consultant made his presence known at now-Governor Strickland's victory party on election night."

Another reader notes that Jo Ann Davidson of Ohio, the current RNC Committee co-chairman, is backing current GOP chairman Mike Duncan.

Another political veteran offered my favorite alternative theory: "My guess is that Blackwell has some Ohio enemies that wouldn't mind hurting him in this. (Steele has Maryland enemies, Katon has South Carolina enemies, Saul has Michigan enemies, and Chip has Tennessee enemies.) . . . My only other theory is that there's one guy in the race with a building full of opposition research people sitting around with nothing to do, and they all type stuff in that funny, capitalize-every-word op research style."

01/06 11:39 AMShare