Mo' Stories, Mo' Killer?

Just as GOPers looked to have knocked state Senate Maj. Leader Debbie Halvorson (D), and IL-14 Dems, off the offensive, concrete Co. owner Martin Ozinga (R) has again shown why he's his own worst enemy.

-- Ozinga's camp has been hammering Halvorson for weeks on her tenure in the state Senate and her links to Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D). That pressure even led her to be taken off the Senate Rules cmte. For a time, it appeared this race, once written off as a sure Dem pickup, would merit a closer look. Ozinga has raised the money to compete, and the CD's actually got a GOP tilt.

-- But Ozinga again appeared in the news this weekend, this time for being contradicted in an affidavit for a lawsuit his company is bringing against an 80-year-old farmer. As in the previous media firestorm Ozinga found himself, the details of the case may be much less salacious than the headlines suggest. But with Dems doing such a good job of defining Ozinga early on, every one of these stories fits into the narrative they've created for Ozinga.

-- With the unpopularity of IL state gov't, and Ozinga's troubles, the mud on both sides is likely to go back and forth this cycle. But in his position as underdog, Ozinga must be the one on the offensive. He can't afford many stories like one this weekend that take him off the charge.