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2008 Cityfolk Festival
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EDITORIAL
Our recommendation: Mitakides best bet for Democrats in 3rd District
Learn more about David Esrati, Charles Sanders, Jane Mitakides
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The three candidates for the Democratic nomination to run against Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, for Congress have lost more elections than you could shake a stick at. But all Democrats who have been more successful are taking a pass on this election.
Among their reasons, to be sure, is the assumption that Rep. Turner has a virtual lock on his office. Some congressional seats in Ohio are considered by the professionals to be in play, including some that have been consistently Republican before. But not this one.
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But the "experts" don't know everything. So we're off.
Only one of the losses mentioned above belongs to Jane Mitakides. She lost to Rep. Turner in 2004. Though unknown to the public, she had been active in party affairs and had some contacts at the national level. She raised an impressive amount of money, but it served mainly to demonstrate that money isn't the magic weapon. She got 38 percent of the vote.
She had taken on a task that couldn't be done. But she did demonstrate some potential.
Also running this year is David Esrati, whom some will remember as a frequent candidate for the Dayton City Commission in the 1990s. He also ran for mayor the year Mike Turner was first elected to that job. One year, he found himself in a physical scuffle with a mayor. Mr. Esrati is also the fellow who later wore ninja masks to city commission meetings in protest of certain rules. An advertising man by trade, he's lately been blogging about local matters.
He presents himself as an unusually blunt-spoken candidate, somebody who is free from the big-money "interest groups" and is best equipped to beat Rep. Turner, because he knows him best.
Online, Mr. Esrati has said that when he takes those tests one sees occasionally about which presidential candidate one shares the most views with, he comes up with Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich. He thinks this is mainly because of his views on Iraq. He says the war there was "concocted to bolster the bottom line of the military industrial complex."
He approaches the online world with relish. He is better cut out for blogging than legislating.
Also running is Charles Sanders, who has run for Congress repeatedly, starting in the 2nd District, south of Montgomery County. A former General Motors worker and still a strong union man, he has failed to generate much support.
Of the three, Ms. Mitakides is the natural choice of the Montgomery County Democratic Party, which has endorsed her. She also makes the most sense for voters.
She makes the case one might expect from a Democrat. She points to the condition of the local economy as evidence that Rep. Turner isn't effective. She criticizes him as too eager to support the president. She points to her opposition to gun control and says she wouldn't be as partisan as he is.
These are not magic pitches. But if the Democrats are to have any hope of giving Rep. Turner a run, they need a candidate who starts with at least the Democratic base relatively united behind her. Ms. Mitakides, though her credentials aren't great — lacking local involvement — is the best bet.
