DeWine Again Chooses Drug Company Cronies Instead of Ohio Seniors

AMHERST - Ohio Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine once again chose big industry over families when he voted today against lowering the cost of prescription drugs for Ohio's seniors.

Despite bipartisan support for S.Amdt. 4548 which passed the Senate today 68-32, DeWine joined fellow Republicans Rick Santorum (PA) and Bill Frist (TN) in voting against seniors.

Joining unanimous Democratic support for the measure were Republican Senators John McCain (AZ) and Arlen Specter (PA).

"Mike DeWine's addiction to the pay-to-play culture in Washington has betrayed our values for too long," Brown said. "Today he had an opportunity to do the right thing on behalf of Ohio's seniors. Today he failed."

The legislation would prohibit the federal government from using border security funds to prevent seniors from receiving safe and affordable prescription drug medication from Canada.

"We should make it easier for seniors to afford their life-saving prescription drug medicine," Brown said. "Mike DeWine voted to make it impossible for millions of seniors to access safe and affordable prescription drugs. Ohio seniors deserve leadership that will stand up for them, not the prescription drug companies."

DeWine, who has received more than $300,000 from the drug industry over his career, also voted for the Medicare Part D program which prohibits bulk negotiating for lower prices – a successful tool used by the Veteran's Administration. The VA pays 46 percent lower prices for prescription drugs than Medicare Part D participants.

A GAO report released today revealed that many seniors have seen their monthly drug bills skyrocket as they begin suffering from the "donut hole" in Medicare Part D coverage. The information they receive through Medicare and participating insurers about the plan is accurate only one third of the time.  Not getting correct information on plan costs makes it even more difficult for seniors to adjust to the new drug bill.

"It was irresponsible three years ago for Mike DeWine and his drug company friends to force this failed plan on Ohio seniors," Brown said. "It was immoral today for him to try and deny them the only access they have left to affordable prescription drugs. 2006 is about change."

07/11/2006 / Permalink / Medicare Part D, Sherrod, (all tags)

DeWine in unexpected re-election fight: GOP’s troubles make race tight

From AP via Cincinnati Post:

WASHINGTON - Sen. George Voinovich doesn't like that his friend and Senate colleague Mike DeWine has to worry about the toxic political environment for Ohio Republicans during his re-election bid. But, he understands why it's an issue.

"Any time you've had a party in power for 16 years, there's a tendency to say, 'Let's try out another flavor of ice cream,' " said Voinovich, who initiated the GOP reign as governor in 1991 and was elected to a second term in the Senate in 2004.

"I feel very bad about where the state is now," he added.

In a normal election year, DeWine would enjoy all the assurances of a two-term incumbent who faces no scandal, no legal difficulties, no significant questions about his ability to do his job.

But 2006 in Ohio is anything but normal because DeWine has Republican colleagues, such as outgoing Gov. Bob Taft, who was embroiled in an ethics scandal; Rep. Bob Ney, who has been implicated in a Justice Department lobbying probe; and President Bush, who has rock-bottom approval ratings.

That opened the door for the leading Democratic candidate, Rep. Sherrod Brown, to make the Ohio race one of the closest in the nation, especially after avoiding what could have been a difficult and costly primary against political newcomer Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran who raised quick money through a network of liberal Internet commentators.

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04/25/2006 / Permalink / Sherrod, (all tags)

Democrats See Political Promise in Ohio

From AP via Yahoo!:

In Ohio, where President Bush's ratings are low and support for scandal-scarred Gov. Bob Taft even lower, Republicans are in trouble.

Which is why Democrats sound uncommonly optimistic as they look ahead to the fall elections in the state that crushed their hopes for the White House in 2004 and has sent only Republicans to statewide political office for more than a decade.

"The voters want a change in direction. ... They don't want more Bob Taft and they don't want more George Bush," says Rep. Sherrod Brown, challenging Republican Sen. Mike DeWine in a close race that figures prominently in the Democrats' hopes for the midterm elections.

Other races are drawing attention in what already is blossoming into a campaign of unpleasantness. Up and down the ticket, Democrats hope Ohio will reward them at the same time it retains its standing as a national barometer.

...DeWine also pledged that by the time the campaign is over, "voters will be able to compare my record with Sherrod Brown." Republicans, in a preview, have taken to calling the Democrat "Far out Brown."

Brown, a seven-term lawmaker, has a ready response. "I'm in the mainstream on every issue," he said, stressing his opposition to the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, the administration's energy policy and the Iraq war.

Neither Bush nor Taft, who is nearing the end of his final four-year term, is on the ballot this fall, but their impact is unmistakable.

"I voted for President Bush. I'm not real happy with the way things are going, although I don't admit that to everyone," says Sally Wangler, a Columbus resident interviewed outside a public library.

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04/22/2006 / Permalink / Sherrod, (all tags)

Senate Gains Still Looking Certain For Dems

From WashingtonPost.com:

Sitting down to write this week's Friday Line on the top Senate races, one thing immediately became clear: There are two tiers of Senate races right now -- the top four contests and everything else.

The top four (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Montana) are locked in as the top takeover opportunities this cycle, and each of those seats is currently held by a Republican. While the top four may flip-flop with each other from time to time, there is little chance these races will drop lower down on the list.

The remaining six races are much harder to read, and we have repeatedly struggled to do so over the past few months. Has Missouri's Jim Talent (R) really committed a fireable offense? Is Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R) a star on the rise or a flop in the making? How valuable is the Kean last name in New Jersey? Which Republican millionaire -- Mike McGavick in Washington or Pete Ricketts in Nebraska -- has the better chance of ousting a Democratic incumbent?

...

3. Ohio: The race between Sen. Mike DeWine (R) and Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) has been decidedly quiet of late. The biggest development is DeWine's announcement late last month that he would be a cosponsor of a Senate resolution advocating a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages. That position should help mollify conservatives, who are still angry for DeWine's participation in the "Gang of 14" compromise on federal judicial nominees. While most Republicans running for federal office across the country this year will need to find a way to overcome the political environment, DeWine faces an even more difficult task since atmospherics in the state are even more toxic toward Republicans, thanks in large part to scandals involving outgoing Gov. Bob Taft (R). Republicans argue that Brown's voting record over his 14 years in Congress is decidedly more liberal than the average state voter. (Previous ranking: 4)

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04/14/2006 / Permalink / Sherrod, (all tags)

Ohio Republicans Racing Storm Clouds

From The Washington Post:

Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) wants you to know he is not President Bush, whose popularity has plummeted.

Nor is he Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, who was fined for taking unreported gifts.

Or Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, who is under indictment.

Or Ohio Rep. Robert W. Ney, who is under investigation.

Yet the well-publicized troubles of DeWine's GOP colleagues are becoming one of the biggest obstacles to his election to a third term in November against an energized Democratic opponent, Rep. Sherrod Brown, and his long-thwarted party that smells a chance to paint red-state Ohio a shade of blue.

...For his part, Brown is staking his seven terms in the House on becoming the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Ohio since 1992. The state, which narrowly put Bush over the top in 2004, is dominated by Republicans who control the legislature and have occupied the governor's office for 15 years.

And that, Brown and his fellow Democrats believe, is a blessing for them.

Polls show voter frustration with political corruption, a faltering economy and an Iraq war that has hit Ohio particularly hard. Brown, a staunch liberal and onetime boy wonder of Ohio politics first elected to the state legislature when he was 21, tells audiences that DeWine shares responsibility for a federal government that has "betrayed its public trust."

"This is a chance to change the direction of the state and the country," Brown, 53, said during an interview at his Avon home. "It can show a progressive Democrat can win in a state like Ohio. It's going to show that in 2008, there's a very different political dynamic in this country."

For the past five years, Brown has worn a lapel pin that shows a canary in a cage. It represents birds that alerted miners to dangerous gases in mine shafts. He says the pin signifies the continuing struggle for workers' rights and social justice.

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03/25/2006 / Permalink / Sherrod, (all tags)

Harbinger In Ohio?

From The Washington Post:

By George F. Will
Sunday, March 26, 2006; Page B07

CLEVELAND -- In the central Ohio town of London, an independent pharmacy was absorbed by a national chain because, says Rep. Sherrod Brown, the pharmacy could not afford the staff needed to decipher for customers the new prescription drug entitlement that Brown voted against because the Bush administration "let the drug companies write it." Brown, whose district is in the western portion of the Cleveland-Akron-Canton metropolitan area, where nearly one-third of Ohio voters live, voted against authorizing the use of force in Iraq, against the Bush tax cuts, against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and against school choice for 2,700 District of Columbia children. If Democrats are to recapture the Senate this year, Brown probably must defeat Sen. Mike DeWine in the state that secured President Bush's reelection when, late on election night, it turned red.

...Brown is a harbinger of a momentous, and ominous, aspect of the 2008 presidential election: For the first time in living memory, one of the major parties -- Brown's -- will be essentially hostile to free trade, the foundation of today's prosperity. The Democratic Party's protectionism operates under the dissimulating label of "fair trade."

A serious student of trade policy, Brown notes that the trade deficit for all of 1992 was $39 billion, but was $724 billion last year and $68 billion just for January 2006. He wants U.S. trade policy to force "stronger labor and environmental standards" in less-developed nations. He says the point is to "bring up their living standards." Oh, please. The primary point is to reduce the competitive advantages of nations with lower labor costs and lighter environmental regulations -- nations that many Ohioans believe have caused their state to lose 222,800 manufacturing jobs in the past 10 years.

DeWine, one of only four senators who supported John McCain in 2000, is a moderate conservative with an independent streak -- for example, he has repeatedly voted against drilling in the Alaskan refuge. This may be enough to annoy some conservatives without being sufficient to distance him from the state Republican shambles. We shall find out late on election night, when, as usual, the nation will be watching Ohio.

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03/25/2006 / Permalink / Sherrod, (all tags)

Ohio a Battleground State in November Elections

From NPR "All Things Considered" (3/20/06):

SIEGEL: Let's start, first of all, Jennifer Duffy, with President Bush went to Ohio. How would you describe President Bush's standing in Ohio nowadays?

Ms. DUFFY: Like many states, the president's ratings are sagging in Ohio. You know, of the states where, that went for him in 2004, Ohio did very narrowly, so it's probably hurting there more than, say, South Dakota, a state that he won by 20 plus points. You know, their concerns are about Iraq, the economy, and, again, the scandals that are both, you know, happening at the state level and at the federal level.

SIEGEL: Ohio and the governorship. What's the situation there?

Ms. DUFFY: You know, Ohio is probably ground zero in this election cycle for this whole notion of Republicans and the culture of corruption. There are a number of scandals enveloping the Taft Administration, state government, that have really taken a toll on almost any Republican in the state, regardless of the office they hold. The governorship there is going to be hotly contested. Because of that, a Senate race will be contested. Senator Mike DeWine, a Republican, is not inherently vulnerable. But because it's Ohio, because he's a Republican, he's getting weighed down by all this scandal. Therefore, he polled a very competitive Democratic opponent, Congressman Sherrod Brown. This is going to be a very close race.

03/23/2006 / Permalink / Sherrod, (all tags)

Democratic Prospects in Senate Looking Up

From AP via CBS News:

It wasn't too long ago that Democratic leader Harry Reid mused aloud how it would take a miracle for his party to gain a 50-50 tie in the Senate, much less wrest control from Republicans this fall.

No one is claiming divine intervention in the days since. Yet eight months before midterm elections, Republican incumbents in Pennsylvania, Montana, Rhode Island, Ohio and Missouri face difficult races for re-election in a noticeably more challenging political environment for the GOP. And the early polls show a competitive campaign in Tennessee, where Majority Leader Bill Frist is retiring.

"We're feeling pretty good. If they did a snapshot today, the Senate would be 50-50," said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, campaign committee chairman for the Democrats.

...Sen. Mike DeWine in Ohio is running against Rep. Sherrod Brown in a scandal-scarred state where the political environment borders on toxic for Republicans. In Missouri, Sen. Jim Talent is seeking his second term, and recent surveys show State Auditor Claire McCaskill running even in the polls. The state leans Republican, though, and GOP strategists argue that Talent, like other GOP incumbents, has yet to engage his opponent.

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03/17/2006 / Permalink / Sherrod, (all tags)