[In 2004] Clermont, Butler and Warren Counties’ totals [were] suspect because a Democratic candidate for Ohio Supreme Court implausibly out-polled John Kerry. … Bush vastly out ran the Republican candidate for Supreme Court Chief Justice in those three counties. But Democrat C. Ellen Connelly, a pro-choice, pro-gay-marriage African-American from Cleveland somehow got a higher vote count than Kerry in these conservative, predominantly white southern Ohio counties. Richard Hayes Philips and other experts … say it is beyond implausible, indicating a high likelihood of fraud.”


— From Ohio Free Press, via Howie Martin’s blog


That’s actually the end of the Ohio Free Press story. Here’s the first part about – you guessed it — Paul Hackett’s remarkable run and too-close defeat in Ohio’s 2nd Cong. district. Paragraph one:

Overall, experts estimate more than 7,000 votes were stolen outright from John Kerry under the Noe’s supervision in Lucas County 2004.


Gee, now that I think about it, talking about John Kerry is sure a funny way to begin, and end, an article about Paul Hackett and the Aug. 2 election in Ohio’s 2nd district. Gosh darn. Now why would the author do that!? MORE BELOW:

Whether similar theft defeated Paul Hackett remains to be seen. Hackett ran extremely well in a district thoroughly gerrymandered as a permanent Republican safe seat. Democrats are now crowing about how well Hackett did in “serving notice” that the GOP may be in trouble. But the bottom line is that the Republicans still won the election.


As of 1 am … Hackett was within 3600 votes—about four percent—of Schmidt.


But election officials announced a mysterious “computer glitch” that delayed reports from Clermont County, which accounted for roughly a quarter of all the ballots cast in the district.


[Finally,] Clermont gave Schmidt 58%, and a 5,000 vote margin there. And thus the election.


Earlier in the evening—around 9pm—Hackett and Schmidt had been in a virtual dead heat, according to sources in the Cincinnati area (see among them Billmon.


A full 88% of the district’s precincts [had reported, and] half those in Clermont. As in Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004, it looked like a cliffhanger. Schmidt’s lead was less than 900 votes.


Clermont’s “technical malfunction” with optical scan readers was blamed on the humidity. Election officials said the southern Ohio summer had soaked into the ballots, making it hard to pass them through opti-scan machines.


Once the problem was “solved,” Schmidt picked up more than enough votes to guarantee victory. The percentages by which she won in the post-glitch vote count were far higher than those by which she had been winning prior to the glitch. Vote counts were also higher than expected in the strongest Schmidt precincts.


Clermont and neighboring Butler and Warren Counties gave George W. Bush a margin in 2004 that exceeded his entire statewide margin over John Kerry. Warren County became infamous on election night, when its supervisors suddenly declared a “Homeland Emergency” and dismissed all media and Democrats from the vote count. Bush then emerged with a huge, unexpected and unmonitored majority.


There’s also the “S” word. And I don’t mean “solved.”