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There was a primary, but few came
On the side...
County Republican Chairman Clarence Smith seeking a fourth four-year term heading the political party.
On the night of the primary, Smith said he would run if he believed he could help the party.
Also, there isn’t anyone beating down the door to challenge Smith for the position. Even if there was, Republican precinct committee members strongly back Smith.
Too late: A day after Tuesday’s primary, mail promoting state Issue 1 from United for Jobs and Ohio’s Future, the lead agency that promoted the Third Frontier ballot initiative, was delivered to my house and others in my Austintown neighborhood.
Hopefully some of the $700 million that the state will borrow to grow high-tech industries will go toward finding a more effective way to use mailboxes and calendars.
There are some interesting lessons to be learned from the primary.
First and foremost is an old lesson — people don’t vote in primaries.
Directors at board of elections had predicted low turnouts. Voters never cease to surprise me and the directors as turnout was even lower than expected.
In Mahoning County, it was 24.9 percent. Trumbull County’s turnout was 24.1 percent and Columbiana County had only 21.8 percent of its registered voters cast ballots.
We also learned that the reaction to the 2000 presidential election with its hanging chads and butterfly ballots has slowed down the counting of ballots.
Gone are the good old days of results by 9:30 p.m. In its place are final results much later as many counties use electronic voting machines that still confuse many of its poll workers and delay vote counts.
The worst offender in our area on Tuesday was Trumbull County. Final results were posted on its Web site at 1:05 a.m. Wednesday.
As for the races, one that really stood out to me was U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan’s easy victory in the Democratic primary for the 17th Congressional District.
Ryan of Niles has received criticism from various special-interest groups for his votes on the health-care and cap-and-trade bills as well as his close alliance with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
There are those who believe James A. Traficant Jr., ex-con/ex-congressman, is going to beat Ryan in the November general election or at least make the race competitive.
I’m not buying it.
Ryan received more total votes, 48,413, than any other Democrat running in Ohio’s 18 congressional districts. And he did it against two primary challengers.
Admittedly neither challenger was a legitimate threat, but Ryan put little effort into the primary and was No. 1 in the state in total votes among Democrats.
Only four Ohio Republican members of Congress had more total votes in Tuesday’s primary than Ryan.
Vulnerable? Not at all.
Traficant received and will continue to receive national media coverage for his independent bid for Congress. But people who live outside the 17th District who watch and/or listen to his anti-government rants can’t vote for him.
If Traficant plans to rely on public rallies, primarily TEA Party events, and local media coverage to usher him into Congress, he is mistaken. Of course that wouldn’t be Traficant’s first stupid political move.
Finally, we learned that the Mahoning County Democratic Party realizes it has clout.
The party, under Chairman David Betras, pushed for endorsements to be used in the primary in about 18 years.
The most telling result: Youngstown Councilwoman Carol Rimedio-Righetti, who won the party’s endorsement, beat 12-year incumbent David Ludt in the Democratic primary for commissioner. That was primarily because of the party’s endorsement and what comes with it.