Dem
52
Ties
3
GOP
45
We've now written a lot about Vivek Ramaswamy's (R) ad, in which Amy Acton's (D) mother, Donna Arthur—who stood by when her lover raped her daughter repeatedly for almost 2 years starting when she was 10 years old—claimed that Acton is a liar. After the lover was indicted by a grand jury for the rapes, Arthur and lover fled to Pennsylvania and lived there as fugitives from justice until he died in 2004. Arthur claimed that Acton has lied her whole life—something Arthur couldn't actually know since her kids were taken from her and lived with their biological father after the incident and Arthur never saw Acton after that. And the mother is not without sin, having been convicted of animal cruelty and theft. A woman who would let her lover rape her own daughter and then stay with him after he was indicted for it, who was convicted of crimes herself, and who would make a shameless ad about her own daughter (whom she has not seen or spoken to in 48 years) is probably not the most reliable witness. Some people are even suggesting that perhaps some money changed hands at the time Arthur cut the ad.
The fact is that decency does not have a long and robust history in the Republican Party, going back to at least June 9, 1954, when Army lawyer Joseph Welch asked Sen. Joe McCarthy: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?" McCarthy didn't and neither does Ramaswamy when there is a governorship at stake. But some Republicans do.
Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) called the ad "deeply, deeply troubling" and "just plain wrong." Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), who is in a tough race himself, said he would not have run the ad. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), who is in a tight Senate race in Iowa, said it should come off the air.
Even Scott Jennings, who is CNN's house shill for Donald Trump, said: "What you're talking about here is Amy Acton's mother is basically saying, 'I don't trust 12-year-old Amy Acton, who was quite possibly raped in my own home, to be governor.' It's a ludicrous sort of argument that they're making." But even worse (from his point of view), the morality aside, it's bad politics. Jennings: "This is probably the worst politics you could imagine, and it's bringing a lot of attention to Amy Acton's story, her narrative." Jennings went on to say: "One of Ramaswamy's key candidate deficiencies is likability. Not certain this is doing anything to help that. It was a problem for him in the '24 presidential primary, and it's a problem for him in this governor's race." That's Ramaswamy's real sin: a tin ear.
On Friday, Ramaswamy's hand-picked running mate, state Sen. Rob McColley (R), said the campaign did not believe Dr. Acton was lying about her childhood abuse.
The ad has divided Republicans like no other. Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have cheered Ramaswamy and the ad on. To them, all's fair in war and politics, including using the rape of a 10-year-old girl for partisan politics. On his social media site for sexual assaulters, Trump bleated: "Vivek should keep it up."
Acton's campaign spokeswoman, Addie Bullock, said of the ad: "Ramaswamy will do anything, including embrace child sex predators, to get what he wants." Bullock blew it. She had a perfect opening and didn't say: "How come Republicans always side with the child sexual predators, from Epstein to Ramaswamy? Why are they always on the wrong side?" This would tie Ramaswamy to Epstein, however tenuously, and force him to react, just making it more newsworthy and him even less likable.
As soon as the ad came out, Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, did what she always does when something dreadful happens: She conducted a focus group. This one was of Trump voters. She reported that all the voters were repulsed by the ad. Many said they would just not vote for governor but a few said they would vote for Ramaswamy despite the ad because they hated Acton for restricting their freedom during the COVID-19 pandemic when she was Ohio's health director. Almost no one said they would now vote for Acton. Still, if enough Trump voters leave that box blank, it will help Acton.
On Saturday, Barack Obama campaigned in Ohio for Acton. Before he got on stage, Acton spoke to the crowd and said: "Decency still matters. Mr. Ramaswamy, you are not just out of touch, you are out for yourself and you are a danger to my state. Apparently there is no low to which you won't stoop." Then Obama took the stage and said of Ramaswamy: "In recent days, we've seen there is no line he will not cross, no low he will not sink to. There's a decency we should expect out of our public officials. And I don't know what's happened where the standards of behavior are so low that somebody could run an ad like that." Obama also noted that Acton has spoken movingly about her painful childhood and all the abuse, neglect, and homelessness she experienced as a child.
The Cook Political Report quickly understood that the last week of the campaign would not be about illegal immigrants sneaking over the border and then teleporting to Ohio or even J.D. Vance commenting on how Haitians just love sweet-and-sour dog. It would be about how the Republicans are split and how Acton was abused as a child, survived, and became a doctor so she could help people. The Report wrote: "It's an inescapable law of politics: Money can only propel a campaign so far when its candidate's flaws act as an anchor." The race is now rated "lean Democratic." When it is over, it will be interesting to see the crosstabs of the exit polls to see how big the gender gap was. (V)