Senate Seat Not For Sale

Sherrod is in trouble.

It's not time to panic. But it is time to wake up.

I'll admit, I've been complacent. With his early double digit lead, his skill at connecting with Ohio families, and his long history of service to the state, I didn't imagine he could be unseated. Certainly not by an opponent as lacking in substance, political experience, and integrity as Ohio's 34-year-old State Treasurer.

But I've ignored the new reality: thanks to recent rulings from the nine robed demigods who channel the Spirit of the Founders, this year's election isn't like those held even just four or six years ago. Our public offices are now for sale in a way they've never been before.

Andrew Romano, writing in Newsweek, has proclaimed Sherrod "The Hunted Democrat" in an eye-opening piece. Please read it.

Still, Ohio is the starkest example of the dystopian havoc that outside groups can now wreak on a race. In theory, the contest shouldn’t be close. Brown has outraised Mandel by $5.1 million. His approval and disapproval ratings are roughly equal; Mandel’s unfavorables outstrip his favorables by a perilous 15 percentage points. This is part of the reason why Brown was drubbing Mandel by an average of more than 13 points as recently as January—even though the populist, pro-Obama senator is far more progressive than the swing state he represents.

But then the super PACs and 501(c)(4)s began to spend on Mandel’s behalf: nearly $12 million so far, or more than Brown dropped on his entire 2006 campaign, with another $7 million reserved for the fall. The number on Brown’s side of the ledger is much smaller: about $3 million from unions, liberal interest groups, and Democratic super PACs. All told, Mandel’s third-party allies have outspent and outreserved Brown’s 6 to 1, and nearly twice as much money has been spent and set aside by or for Mandel than Brown. No other competitive Senate race is this lopsided. In response, the polling gap between Mandel and Brown has shrunk to 7.7 percent, and strategists are beginning to talk of the race as a possible tossup.

Sherrod has become Public Enemy Number One to the outside billionaires who are now free to try and buy a Senate seat. Our Senate seat.

It was 100 years ago this year that a Constitutional amendment went to the states after receiving the requisite 2/3 vote in each chamber of Congress. The writers of this amendment, mindful of the corruption and Senate seat-selling that had come to mar Congress's upper chamber, sought to return ownership of Senate seats directly to the people.

And here we are again, with the well-connected and the wealthy seeking to write a check for a shiny new Senate seat. But it's not their seat to buy. It's ours.

I stand with Sherrod.