Fallout Begins in Ohio Ballot Fiasco
Roll Call Staff
An embarrassing last-minute filing snafu in a must-win Ohio open-seat House race has led to a round of behind-the-scenes finger-pointing in Democratic circles, as party leaders sought to assess blame for state Sen. Charlie Wilson’s (D) failure to qualify for the primary ballot in the 6th district.
As Wilson announced Friday that he will pursue a write-in campaign to win the Democratic nomination, it was clear that some in the party were looking to Bob Doyle, Wilson’s fundraising consultant who was believed to hold great sway over the campaign, to shoulder at least some of the responsibility for the major setback.
“I think in any screw-up like this one, you first look to the campaign manager and then you look to the consultant,” said one Democratic operative.
But Doyle, who is playing a prominent role in many key House races this cycle, said his duties on the Wilson campaign were limited to fundraising and that the criticism was unfounded.
“That’s absolutely preposterous,” he said.
Doyle added that the main priority for the party is unifying behind the effort to elect Wilson.
“I am absolutely confident that party players in the district, throughout the state [and] everywhere else are going to be lock solid behind him and do everything they can to make this a successful effort,” he said. “And I’m confident that we’re going to be able to prevail in May.”
Some Democratic insiders see Doyle as a scapegoat for embarrassed national party strategists, who have hyped Wilson’s candidacy from the start.
“Ultimately it’s the fault of the campaign manager and the candidate,” said one Democratic consultant not involved in the race. “I don’t think you can blame the pollster, the fundraising consultant, etc.”
Doyle, a fundraising consultant who has branched out into general consulting, has clashed with party leaders in the past over ideology and tactics. Last cycle he was publicly criticized by the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for comments he made following a Georgia primary contest.
Also in 2004, Doyle further incensed some party insiders on Capitol Hill by working to defeat a Democratic incumbent in a Texas primary.
His client in that race, now-Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), is currently involved in a biter rematch with former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D) in the March 7 primary. Cuellar, a conservative Democrat who touts his ties to President Bush and was recently endorsed by the Club for Growth, is unpopular with liberal party leaders and interest groups.
As head of Sutter’s Mill Fundraising and Consulting, Doyle has built his reputation on electing moderate to conservative Democrats in tough contests largely in the South and Midwest, risky territory for the party in recent cycles.
But Doyle’s willingness to work against more liberal candidates, including incumbents, hasn’t helped to foster the best relationship with his party’s leadership, though he is close with House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), a champion of party moderates.
Meanwhile, within the DCCC, frustration with Doyle has festered in recent years due to the consultant’s insistence that the committee communicate with campaigns through him, according to knowledgeable Democratic sources. That frustration with Doyle has been amplified this cycle, due to the fact that he has several top-tier clients in races that are viewed as must-wins for Democrats.
Wilson and Ohio’s 6th district fall into both of those categories.
The open-seat race is among the most competitive in the country, and national Democrats had coalesced behind the socially conservative Wilson early on as their prospect for holding the seat that Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio) is vacating to run for governor.
But last week Wilson was deemed ineligible to appear on the May 2 primary ballot after only 46 of the 96 signatures he submitted were ruled valid — four shy of the 50 needed to qualify for the ballot in the Buckeye State.
Wilson has decided to run as a write-in in the primary, on a ballot where two lesser-known and underfunded Democrats will be listed.
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