Following one of the most humiliating Democratic defeats in recent Ohio history, Ohio Democratic Party chairman Chris Redfern announced his resignation last week, saying, “It has been an honor and a privilege to build what I believe is the strongest state party in the country.”
Unless Redfern’s preposterous statement is the result of his morning coffee being spiked with peyote, apparently he is suffering from the same delusion that has haunted the Ohio Dems for the last few decades.
Currently, the number of Democrats holding statewide offices is two – Senator Sherrod Brown and Supreme Court justice William O’Neill. The other 12 statewide slots are held by the GOP. Both the Ohio Senate and the Ohio Legislature are dominated by Republicans and look to remain so as long as the grass shall grow.
This dismal situation is the fruit of Redfern’s decade at the helm of the Ohio Dems, so when he talks about “the strongest state party in the country,” he warrants the same kind of looks that are shot at ragged street folks railing on the corner.
But Redfern’s delusion doesn’t stop there. He goes on to trot out the last refuge of political losers – blaming the media. Since the Republicans have made a cottage industry out of blaming the liberal media for their problems, perhaps it’s fair game for the Dems to cry wolf in the direction of the rapidly becoming irrelevant Cleveland Plain Dealer for “conspiring” to re-elect Kasich by removing from its website part of its editorial endorsement meeting which purportedly reveals Kasich to be arrogant and dismissive.
Thus, in so many words, the Dems seem to be claiming that the PD’s missing video is the “smoking gun” behind the vast media plot to defeat gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald at any and all costs.
How predictable. How counterproductive. How delusional. How pathetic.
But wait, maybe I’m reading it all wrong. Perhaps the PD’s video deception triggered a statewide tsunami that enabled Kasich to win 60% of the female vote, 56% of the voters 29 and younger and a shocking 26% of the black vote. Perhaps the vast tentacles of the Plain Dealer reached all the way into the 86 (of 88) statewide counties won by Kasich in order to to do a number on the unsuspecting FitzGerald.
If Ohio Dems are interested in winning rather than scapegoating the media, they need to realize that in the Buckeye State (and many others), midterm elections are vastly different than those in presidential years. Historically, presidential races have around a 60% turnout rate compared to a 40% turnout in midterms. Also, historically, Republican voters have turned out in bigger numbers than Democrats in midterms.
This disparity is largely because the GOP electorate is older and whiter than the Dems and, in general, has proven to be a more reliable and consistent voting bloc than the Democratic’ base. This disparity also produces such seemingly contradictory outcomes as Ohio voting Democratic in four of the last six presidential elections at the same time as its statewide offices have almost exclusively been occupied by Republicans.
So what can Ohio Democrats do to reverse this very telling trend? The obvious answer is, first and foremost, stop nominating duds like Fitzgerald handpicked by losers like Redfern. The second is to find a way to speak to the midterm electorate in a different way than they have in the past.
Focusing on raising the minimum wage, fighting for collective bargaining rights, charging the Republicans with voter suppression and highlighting the GOP’s war on women didn’t exactly get voters (let alone progressives) turning out in record numbers.
Why? Because the minimum wage is a warm and fuzzy idea that barely makes the top 20 priorities for the majority of midterm voters. Everyone agrees with it but only a few vote because of it. The collective bargaining issue was put on the back burner with the death of SB5. Obsession with voter suppression sounds like perpetual whining (whereas giving people something to vote for aside from another couple of days of open polls is the best way to pump up turnout). And, sadly, the “war on women” charge has become such a cliché that it serves as the elevator music of midterm campaigns.
This party transformation will not be an easy task and will take creativity and hard work. But one thing is sure – it is definitely time for new leadership and new approaches for the Ohio Democratic Party. It’s either that or continuing to operate in the delusional realm of media-blaming.
[Photo: Chris Baker (Flickr)]
Larry Durstin is an independent journalist who has covered politics and sports for a variety of publications and websites over the past 20 years. He was the founding editor of the Cleveland Tab and an associate editor at the Cleveland Free Times. Durstin has won 12 Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards, including six first places in six different writing categories. He is the author of the novel The Morning After John Lennon Was Shot. LarryDurstinATyahoo.com
2 Responses to “DURSTIN: Redfern Proves There’s No Cure for Ohio Dems’ Delusion”
David Eden
As usual, Larry Durstin is TOO kind to political hacks. He gives Redfern too much credit for being a fool because Redfern is among the worst examples of Ohio Shakespearean political jesters full of self delusion and self importance. The Ohio D party is barren. The Redfern Regime just shows what happens at the end of Game of Thrones and Fools.
robert
STRANGELY Chris looks like Ed and vice versa…almost like brothers…