Jean Schmidt Loses House Seat In Major GOP Primary Upset

[itsrobert]

Source: Talking Points Memo

In a major upset, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH), a fiery conservative voice in the House of Representatives, has lost the Republican primary for her redrawn House seat.

With 99% of precincts reports, Iraq War veteran surgeon and 2009 Cincinnati Mayoral candidate Brad Wenstrup has 49% of the vote, to Schmidt’s 43%, a raw-vote lead of about 5,000 votes. Wenstrup had challenged Schmidt from her right on such issues as the debt ceiling, pitching himself as a Washington outsider.

Carl Weiser of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Schmidt has conceded defeat — she says she called Wenstrup to congratulate him, got his voicemail, and left a message

Read more: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/jean-schmidt-loses-house-seat-in-major-gop-primary-upset.php

[DCKit]

1. "... pitching himself as a Washington outsider" my fat ass.

He's the kind of Republican we can live with.

[Tx4obama]

2. I'm happy she lost :)

We need tons more of females in Congress, but not like her.

[JCMach1]

3. Is this good news???

"Wenstrup had challenged Schmidt from her right"

[gateley]

5. I saw an earlier post referring to her as "Mean Jean" and the poster

was happy she wasn't doing well, so I think it might be good news.

[babylonsister]

10. You don't remember 'Mean Jean'? Oye, she is a witch!

Check this out for background...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Schmidt

[gateley]

36. Wow -- good riddance! nt

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

45. WOW! So many people have forgotten about "Mean Jean" who went after

decorated war hero, John Murtha, calling him a coward because he supported the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. She was rebuked in the House and earned the moniker "Mean Jean" Schmidt as a result.

Ironically, you would often see Mean Jean in the aisle vigorously trying to push everyone else aside to get President Obama's autograph after a SOTU speech.

[img][/img]

[Ruby the Liberal]

49. Yep, Murtha attacks, and Schmidt is a birther.

[gateley]

62. I just gasped when I read this -- Her name didn't click, but now I remember.

I'm glad she was ousted. Justice.

[Myrina]

64. Calling her 'vile' would be a compliment.

Horrible nasty little woman.

[Gore1FL]

6. I can;t imagine anything worse than Schmidt. n/t

[jeff47]

8. He's a teabagger

So it's good news if you're hoping the Republicans will continue to drive off the cliff.

It's not good news if you actually want Obama to get anything done.

It's schadenfreude news that a particularly mean and belligerent Republican lost her seat.

[Pryderi]

13. WOW! Getting to the right of that shrew??? Dems should win the seat. nt

[onenote]

29. Before offering an opinion, it helps to learn the facts

Ohio's second district is rated by Cook as R+13 -- its the 57th most republican district in the country. Its not going to be won by a Democrat.

[Pryderi]

50. Victoria Wulsin came within 1.3% of beating her in 2006

2006
Main article: Ohio 2nd congressional district election, 2006
Schmidt faced Democrat Victoria Wells Wulsin, a doctor from Indian Hill in the November general election.
During Schmidt's re-election bid there were several controversies, which affected her campaign. One was a March 2006 report about Schmidt's past claims that she had a B.A. in secondary education from the University of Cincinnati, awarded in 1986. Schmidt's defenders pointed out that neither her current official or campaign website had the second degree posted, and said that Schmidt had completed the requirements for the degree but never filed the paperwork to be awarded a diploma. On April 27, five days before the May 2 primary, the Ohio Elections Commission voted 7-0 to issue Schmidt a public reprimand for "false statements" for her claiming to have that second degree.[37] The Commission also found that Schmidt had made false claims of being endorsed by several organizations, but that these did not warrant any reprimand.[38]
Schmidt won the Republican primary defeating former U.S. Congressman Bob McEwen 48%-43%.[39]
She defeated Wulsin 51%-49%, a difference of 2,865 votes, and a margin of 1.3%.[40] This was the closest a Republican had come to losing the seat in 42 years. Schmidt held her seat by winning her home base in Clermont County by almost 8,000 votes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Schmidt

[FBaggins]

51. That was in a very Democratic year after just being elected in a special election.

And under the old lines.

It will take a miracle.

[Selatius]

65. That was the breaking point year, though. Everybody was tired of the Republicans.

The only way the Democrats could pick up that seat was if the candidate in question was center-right or an old school New Deal populist.

[jmowreader]

60. You can go to the right of Jean Schmidt? Who knew?

[MrSlayer]

4. Who the hell did she lose to? Atilla the Hun?

You don't get much more batshit than her. How do you get to the right of that?

[Tx4obama]

7. Ben Wenstrup is backed by the TeaParty

SNIP

Representative Jean Schmidt has lost to Tea-Party-backed candidate Ben Wenstrup in the Republican primary to represent Ohio's 2nd Congressional District. Mr. Wenstrup becomes the favorite to win the seat; Republican Senator John McCain won 54 percent of the district's vote in 2008.

SNIP

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/live-coverage-super-tuesday/?src=twt&twt=fivethirtyeight#in-ohio-two-house-member-go-down-in-primaries

[xxqqqzme]

9. Does this mean Ohio

is still in the clutches of the teabaggers?

[Lasher]

16. Republicans in Ohio's second district were already in the clutches of the teabaggers.

Looks like they decided they don't love her anymore.

[mwb970]

23. The southwest corner of Ohio might as well be Oklahoma. /nt

[Ikonoklast]

25. I love how people wonder why a Democrat can't win there.

There aren't enough Democratic votes.

Pretty simple, actually, it's like asking why there are no Rabbis elected Pope.

[Mendocino]

56. My moderate niece lives down there.

She has neighbors that she describes as 3rd generation SS Waffens.

[Ikonoklast]

57. Not to be snide, but the joke used to be that within a thirty-mile radius of Cincinnati

there were more retired U-boat commanders than anywhere else on the planet outside of Germany.

Lots of Germans had family there and settled after the war...bringing their tendencies with them.

[Mendocino]

58. And the ones that didn't have family there

re-settled in Toledo.

[MrSlayer]

11. Strange, I would have thought the baggers would worship her.

This guy must be a real prize if they rejected her for him.

[CrawlingChaos]

12. It appears her constituents cut and ran

Still, we'll always have the memory of this outfit..

[img][/img]

[Judi Lynn]

14. Probably sewn for her by her friend, Betsy Ross.

[center][/center]

[peace frog]

22. "...and your little dog, too!"

DAY-UM, her face is a fright mask: fake smile pasted over a scowl that could peel paint off the walls.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

15. Do Dems have a viable candidate for fall?

or did they abandon the race, thinking she was a lock to win?

[byronius]

17. The district that sent Mean Jean to Congress has to be full of Death-Eaters.

Wenstrup, if he's a real teabagger, has a basement full of child porn or some similar habit. Hopefully the redistricted area can mount a decent Democrat to kick his ass.

Jean Schmidt is a vicious, functioning psychopath. Good riddance.

[Bohunk68]

18. Wenstrup

is to the right of Mean Jean. This district is one that is so far to the right, it makes Attilla look sweet. A very racist, homophobic district. This is not necessarily the best result.

[LeftishBrit]

19. That's what I call the First Law of Republican Politics

No one is too right-wing to lose a primary to someone still further to the right.

Soon all Republicans will be flat-earthers who will hopefully one day fall off the right-hand side of the Earth!

[pampango]

24. Love it!: "No one is too right-wing to lose a primary to someone still further to the right."

Now that's about the most incisive analysis of republican primary politics as I have seen.

It's hard to imagine someone worse than Mean Jean, but that doesn't mean it's impossible.

[CanonRay]

35. Home run!

Great analysis...didn't I see you on MSNBC, sitting to Ed's left?

[MacacaMoment]

37. Allen's Law

I call this Allen's Law in another of George Allen. I recently read that 25% of Virginia Republicans would prefer someone to the right of George Allen.

For some reason, David Duke is the only name that comes to mind.

[JennyCait]

20. Spam deleted by OKNancy (MIR Team)

[The Wizard]

21. A reflection of American insanity

Eva Braun's illegitimate daughter loses to a Wehrmacht officer.

[IamK]

26. Here is a transcript of the political ad that won for Wenstrup...

Played on the radio non stop it seemed...



Narrator 1 (“Bob”): Members of Congress are now greeting the President. There’s someone kissing the President. Who’s that?

Narrator 2: Looks like Congresswoman Jean Schmidt.

Bob: Ah, Congresswoman Schmidt. Is she a Democrat? She seems very close with the President.

Narrator 2: No Bob, she’s a longtime Republican politician, but she did vote for the Wall Street bailout. And she voted for the President’s debt-limit increase.

Bob: Seems that when you vote with the President so many times, he smiles when you kiss him.

… Brad Wenstrup: I’m Brad Wenstrup, and I approve this message.


http://www.favstocks.com/a-despicable-brad-wenstrup-ad-in-the-oh-02-gop-primary/18874008/

[Kolesar]

27. I’m Brad Wenstrup, and I couldn't get a Super PAC to deliver this attack ad for me

I expect Wenstrup will win since the gops built about 14 safe seats for themselves after redistricting.

[butterfly77]

28. Yay!

clap: :

[JHB]

30. How did the rest of the redistributing affect things?

If it concentrated the batshit into one all-guano district but allowed nearby districts to be stronger Dem (or better yet, flip to Dem), then is can be good.

Better still if this guy is too extreme for the general election, but that may be hoping for too much.

[liberal N proud]

31. There is one radical right winger out of the picture

[totodeinhere]

48. Replaced by another one jsut as bad. n/t

[jmowreader]

61. Or maybe worse

Then again...maybe he's not quite as psychopathic as Jean Schmidt is.

[MaineDem]

32. This is the best news I've heard from Super Tuesday

Mean Jean lost! Fantastic.

[MADem]

33. HA HA!! Couldn't happen to a nicer person! nt

[amb123]

34. Crud. Now I can't call her a steaming pile of Schmidt anymore.

[madrchsod]

38. it`s the republican party`s "the night of the long knifes"

the party is purging anyone left of the principals of the teaparty. here in illinois we have two far right candidates for the house. one is hard core right backed by the illinois teaparty. the other guy voted 3 times with the democrats in his committee. he is being portrayed as liberal republican that can not be trusted.

since there are no democrats running in the primary and no one has come forward for the general election it will really suck to be represented by either one of these guys.

[AverageJoe90]

47. Might one of them possibly be the asshole who denied the Holocaust recently, btw?

[sinkingfeeling]

39. Bye, Mean Jean.

[deutsey]

40. Good riddance n/t

[lonestarnot]

41. Whatever. Replaced with prollee the same or worse.

[sarcasmo]

42. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, MEAN JEAN.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

43. Mean Jean lost? Couldn't happen to a better person!

[47of74]

52. Amen

[Faygo Kid]

44. "Wenstrup had challenged Schmidt from her right . . ." !!

How far right can they go if Jean Schmidt is too moderate for them??

[newspeak]

46. if he's right of schmidt, unlike studs terkel who stated he had faith in the american people

I really don't know if I do. After over thirty years of hate media, dumbing down americans, pandering to their ignorance; have we finally jumped the shark?

It reminds me of those in america, including industrialists, who admired hitler and mussolini. The bunn was alive and well in the good old USA.

Kuccinich gone and now someone more fascist right than schmidt?

[schmice]

53. How is it possible to run to the right of jean Schmidt? n/t

[Dr. Matt]

54. Honestly

I had no idea she was still in the congress. Ohio, you suck for electing this evil hack!

[mercymechap]

55. You won't be missed - unless your replacement turns out to be worse!

Which probably will be, since he is to her right. He will probably vote to ban contraceptives!

[DCKit]

59. 'Bout time someone dropped a house on that witch. nt

[rexcat]

63. I was in the Ohio 2nd Congressional District until this past year...

and was gerrymandered into the 1st Congressional District. Because of the remapping of the districts in Ohio by the republicans, Brad Wenstrup will be the next congresscritter for the district. All they are doing is trading one asshole for bigger asshole.

Previously the Democrats who ran against Schmidt had a chance because even some republicans did not like her enough not to vote for her. This will change everything. No Democrat running for congresscritter will have a chance in a general election in this district from now on.