From today's Columbus Dispatch editorial page:
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat who is running to fill the seat of retiring Ohio Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich, has launched one of the oddest political attacks in recent memory.
Brunner said that Voinovich, who voted with his fellow Republican senators in an unsuccessful attempt to block the $787 billion economic-stimulus bill passed last month, should have voted for the measure. The reason? To spare taxpayers the cost of flying Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown by military aircraft from Mansfield to Washington to cast the deciding vote.
Democrats needed one vote to prevent a GOP filibuster, but Brown was attending his mother's funeral in Ohio, and ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., also was unavailable. So Democrats asked Voinovich to vote for the measure. He declined.
Instead, Senate Democrats delayed the vote for five hours while the White House sent a military aircraft to Ohio to fetch Brown.
To criticize Voinovich for refusing to vote against his beliefs is bizarre. And pointless, because Voinovich won't be her opponent.
