The OH-1 race is starting to gain attention as becoming more of a hot ticket item. MSNBC has this to say about it:
Ohio-01: No election tapestry would be complete without an Ohio race this cycle. The reason to highlight this fight is because it’s a district that was previously redrawn to make Republican Rep. Steve Chabot less vulnerable. It’s also home to some of the most reliable GOP voters in the state. For Chabot to lose, GOP turnout has to be down a bit. And if it is down, it could indicate that the GOP is struggling to motivate its base. Other Republican-held seats in similar situations include two Democrats are targeting in Minnesota and three in California. Democrats need a depressed GOP base and amped up turnout among their own to win these six — higher Democratic turnout alone won’t do it.
(emphasis mine).
I highlighted that point because it contains so much truth. I am in John Boehner’s district (OH-8), yet across the street from me is OH-1, go north on the street about 6 houses and it is all OH-1. Go south about a 1/4 mile and it is again OH-1. This area is a prime victim to the GOP gerrymeandering of congressional districts that could play a vital roll this election season.
Google Earth released a new “election layer” this week, which shows you the congressional district lines on their popular satellite viewing software. Allow me to give you a visual compliments of Google Earth.
(click for larger view)
I live right in the middle (yes with the golf course in my backyard). The red-shaded area highlights OH-1 (Chabot’s district), while the rest represents my district (OH-8). Now I live right in the start of farm land. If you look at the larger view you will see some areas where Chabot’s district loops up to include a single house. This is how the Republican’s have crafted their “safe seats”.
What is amazing is that the Republicans are having to out-spend the Democrats by a phenomenal rate this year to preserve these seats. These districts have been so carefully crafted to protect their power hold, and that isn’t even enough. If for some very far-fetched reason the Republicans manage to maintain control of the House this year, it is not because the country supports them. It is because big business supports them and they have crafter such protections like this. The country has definitely turned blue. Now we need to get the Republicans out of power so we can try and balance out the district lines again and make it so we have 80 or 100 seats as competitive and not a couple of dozen.