But they don’t have the option of rejecting both.
The two-party system has its merits. But this business of holding elections every two years plays to its weaknesses. The system makes the ex the only alternative to the incumbents at a time when the wounds of an ugly parting may not have healed.
Maybe that’s why Democratic candidates in Ohio’s biggest pending elections are holding their own in polls so far. In a swing state, in a year when all the advantages appear to accrue to the party that’s not in power in Washington and Columbus, the races for governor and senator are rough ties. Sometimes they show little Democratic leads.
Voters in some other, similar states seem readier to kiss and make up with the Republicans. Here’s one measure of the national situation:
The nonpartisan website RealClearPolitics says 20 governorships are open; the Rs look clearly stronger in 10, and the Ds in only 3.
In Michigan, where the governorship is open, all the Republican candidates lead all the Democrats. In Florida, also with an open governorship, a Republican is ahead. In Illinois, a Democratic governor is running behind.
Or look at Senate races where the seat is open, as in Ohio. A Democrat is leaving in Indiana, and a Republican has the lead to replace him, though that Republican, former Senator Dan Coats, has some decided political flaws. In Democratic Delaware, a Republican is leading to replace Joe Biden.
So why are the Ohio Democrats holding up so well?
Some analysts have been saying that one Republican problem is that their candidates, Rob Portman for the open Senate seat, and John Kasich for governor, are unknown to a lot of voters.
In fact, though, they’re as well known as a lot of candidates who are leading. Often, largely unknown challengers get embraced in polls until something negative about them surfaces.
Of course, the Democrats have been more than willing to surface Republican negatives: Portman is a Bushie and Kasich is a Wall Streeter.
But how many voters are paying attention is unclear. And, after all, it’s a bit awkward to argue that voters don’t know who Portman and Kasich are but that voters know the case against those candidates.
Most likely, the Republicans’ fundamental problem is, after all, the 2008 break-up and its ugliness. If that hasn’t hurt them as much as elsewhere in Ohio, the explanation is probably local factors. In Michigan, the Democrats have run the state government longer. In Illinois, the Democrats have been plagued by scandal.
Perhaps the way to put it is this: In 2010, the Democrats are the party with no margin for error.
But if they put up candidates with the right qualifications and no great personal blemishes, they can be competitive by keeping some attention focused on the fact that the Republicans were not born in 2009, that they are not governmental virgins.
In the long run, Democratic Senate candidate Lee Fisher seems to have a tougher job than Gov. Ted Strickland, nothwithstanding all the problems that incumbents have had in primaries this year.
Historically, voters have tended to offset a new president’s power the first chance they get, electing legislators of the other party. (Whereas, of course, they tend to re-elect governors.)
The fact that Fisher is hanging in there so far — having an average lead of 1.3 percent in three polls tracked by RealClearPolitics — suggests that all is not yet forgotten between voters and Republicans.
Fisher, having been the chief jobs guy in Ohio in years that will go down in history for the numbers of jobs lost, should be glad that the voters’ ex is still in the picture, for purposes of comparison.
He should, in other words, be having warm thoughts about the two-party system. Three could be a problem.
Martin Gottlieb writes editorials for the Dayton Daily News. Contact him at (937) 225-2288 or by e-mail at mgottlieb@DaytonDailyNews.com.