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OH-15: Today's Dispatch has an interesting piece:
"We could have a primary," Brooks acknowledged.
She returned yesterday from Washington, where she attended the National Association of Counties’ annual legislative conference.
Off-hours, she courted officials of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
"I got a very good reception," she said.
Also yesterday, Kilroy announced that she was planning a rematch against U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Upper Arlington. She began asking supporters this week for donations.
To summarize: Kilroy is in officially and Brooks unofficially. It is very early, but neither of them sounds of if they are planning on backing down from this race. That obviously leave us with a potentially contested primary. I'm not personally going to voice and opinion because I like, respect, and have good relationships with both women.
But I will say a few things that I don't like about about a contested primary scenario:
1. It leaves two county commission seats undefended. We have our collective foot on the throat of the FCRP. The only position of any consequence outside of judges they still hold is the county auditor. I don't like potentially handling them a big homerun to revitalize a faltering county party
2. Money--this one is going to cost the big bucks, and I don't want to see our eventual nominee wasting valuable $$ on a primary. Remember, it's about taking the seat in November, not in March. Also, unless Pryce drops out, there is little change of an R primary. We don't want our candidate weakened by a primary.
3. It pits two powerful and important women in the Franklin County party against one another. I hate to lose one of them to service in the federal government, but I would especially hate to see them both out of government at the local level. It puts incredible pressure on Marilyn Brown (the remaining commissioner) to campaign hard and get two new colleagues for herself elected.
This debate has been raging at BSB here and here. I'd love to know what readers here think about the OH-15 race. At the very least, Pryce has got to be sweating that fact that in less than 6 months from her last election, she potentially has already got two strong challengers coming for her.
Unfortunately, these things get decided by the power brokers. I don't know the the positions on the issues of either Brooks or Kilroy to have a preference. But, usually candidates get one shot and someone else gets an at-bat next time around.
Pryce was and is very beatable.
Another alternative is to seek a non-Commissioner Candidate. State Rep. Dan Stewart has progressive values and got re-elected last year with 70% of the vote. He would make a great U.S. Congressman.