I guess 15% of any group of people are idiots. James Traficant, a convicted felon who campaigned from his prison cell, still received over 27,000 votes for the new U.S. House District 17 seat in Northeast Ohio. What other explanation is there other than brain damage?
Young Democrat Tim Ryan won the seat:
- Democrat Timothy Ryan last night won a majority in a three-way race to fill the U.S. House seat vacated by the imprisoned James Traficant.
Aside from defeating Traficant, his one-time mentor and an independent on the ballot, Ryan trounced by a wide margin his Republican opponent, Ann Womer Benjamin, who, with her party, waged an aggressive and costly campaign.
"This isn't about Tim Ryan. This is for Northeast Ohio and the Mahoning Valley," he said in his victory speech.
He went on to describe his great-grandfather, Dominic Guerra, a "little Italian guy who about 100 years ago had the courage to get on a ship and sail across a vast ocean."
The people of the 17th Congressional District, stretching from Youngstown to Akron, have "role models" like Guerra. "We're going to turn this valley around, and we're going to turn Northeast Ohio around."
Ebullient Ryan supporters at a Mollica Banquet Center in downtown Niles danced and drank to disco music. Minutes before his speech, they danced to Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock," played in honor of Traficant, the disc jockey said.
- Traficant never campaigned by telephone or wrote letters from his federal prison cell in Pennsylvania, but he cast a shadow over the race. Ryan and Womer Benjamin both avoided talking about or criticizing him.
At Traficant's election celebration at the Eagle's Club, also in Girard, a steady stream of supporters approached Tish Traficant, his wife, offering testimonials about the former congressman's effect on their lives.
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