User:Mwalcoff/Sample article about an electoral race

''Note: This is a sample article demonstrating a proposed style for articles on a party's candidates in a particular election. If this were a real article, it would be titled U.S. House of Representatives election, Ohio, 22nd District, 2006. In this sample article, terms that would be linked are simply underlined. See User:Mwalcoff/Candidates and elections for the style guide.

The 2006 U.S. House of Representatives election for Ohio's 22nd District matches Democratic incumbent Ziggy Dalton against Republican Joe Fox, Libertarian  Fanny Branch and independent candidate Sherry Krc. The Republican Party has targeted this seat as a potential capture from the Democrats, while the Democrats have invested heavily into Dalton's campaign.

Ziggy Dalton
Main article: Ziggy Dalton 

Seven-term incumbent Zigmund E. Dalton, 75, is running for re-election. Dalton is a former state senator, Pulaski County commissioner and mayor of Bluevale. He is the top-ranking Democrat on the House Higher Education Subcommittee. He is on the liberal end of Congress' ideological spectrum, with a rating of 5 out of 100 from the American Conservative Union. He supports abortion rights, gay rights, gun control and other liberal causes, although he has broken ranks with his party by pushing for more restraints on immigration.

The Republican-dominated state legislature tried to make life difficult for Dalton in 2001 by redrawing his district to include parts of mostly-rural Blanchard and Oak Creek counties. But Dalton has consistently won re-election by relatively comfortable margins. In 2004, he captured 58 percent of the vote against Republican state Rep. Andy Andersen.

However, Dalton's position may be somewhat less secure this year due to his support of the United States-Elbonia Free Trade Agreement. The agreement is unpopular with labor unions, which remain very strong in the 22nd district. Democratic insiders feared local unions would endorse an opposing candidate, but so far, organized labor appears to be sticking with Dalton.

Jacque O'Bannon
Bindiville insurance adjuster Jacque O'Bannon, 28, a follower of conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche, challenged Dalton in the primary election. O'Bannon spent only $500 on his campaign and won only 10 percent of the vote in the May primary.

Republican candidates
A tough three-way primary battle took place between Joe Fox, state Rep. Max Atkinson and Wallace County commissioner Wendy Wilson.

Joe Fox
Main article: Joe Fox 

C. Joseph Fox, president of Fox Widget Corp., was the first Republican to file for election. Fox, 58, of Ueker, inherited the company from his father in 1982 and built into one of the largest privately held companies in Ohio. He became politically active after a bitter labor dispute between Fox Widget and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 1999. Fox is on the right wing of the party, calling for the abolition of most federal social programs, a constitutional ban on gay marriage and government by "Judeo-Christian values." One of the wealthiest men in the state, he has pledged to "spend millions of my own money to win, if I have to".

Max Atkinson
Main article: Max Atkinson 

Max Atkinson, 47, began representing Lynn and Rose counties in the state Senate since 2004. He was elected to the upper house after the maximum eight years in the state House of Representatives. Before serving in the General Assembly, he served as councilman and mayor of Lynn City.

In the Senate, Atkinson has had a generally conservative voting record. However, he has broken from the conservatives in his party over several issues, including a proposed ban on abortions and repeal of gun-control legislation.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Atkinson's Senate district, and the Demoractic Party hoped to pick up the seat after the retirement of term-limited Andy Andersen. But Atkinson defeated Democrat Bert Alou, 62 percent to 37 percent.

Wendy Wilson
Wendy Wilson, 58, has served on the Wallace County Board of Commissioners for 11 years. She was formerly a high-school teacher and Zigmund Township trustee. A moderate conservative with populist views on economic issue, Wilson is skeptical of free trade and immigration. She is also an outspoken conservationist and has been particularly active in efforts to protect the Great Sandy Dunes from development.

The Republican primary
The primary campaign was a bitter one, marked by personal attacks on and by Fox. The businessman spent heavily on television advertisements and was the first to go negative in his campaign. Newspapers criticized Fox for ads interspercing pictures of a San Francisco gay pride parade with shots of Atkinson and Wilson, with a voiceover saying neither opponent would "protect Ohio families from immorality." Fox also attacked his opponents for insufficient zeal on the abortion issue. In contrast, Atkinson's advertisements focused on his experience, while Wilson's few TV spots featured her relations with her family and community.

 The Bluevale News  and  The Lynn City Dispatch  endorsed Atkinson, while  The Expedient  of Wallace County endorsed Wilson. The Ohio Federation of Labor also made it clear it thought Wilson was the best candidate. However, Fox made a significant push to gain the evangelical vote, speaking to dozens of churches during the campaign.

Fox outspent his primary rivals by a significant margin. He spent $500,234, most of it his own money. Atkinson spent $214,128, while Wallace spent $128,323.

Republican primary results
The primary election took place on May 2.

Fanny Branch
Frances L. Branch, 39, of Lynn City, is the Libertarian Party's candidate. Branch, a guitarist in the band DethKurling, ran for the seat in 2004, winning 1.2 percent of the vote. She is active in the Lynn chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and was arrested for marijuana possession during a protest last year.

Sherry Krc
Sherry Melon Krc, 63, of Catfish Marsh, is a retired postal worker. She has never run for office before and is a registered Democrat. According to her campaign webpage, she is running as an "independent labor" candidate in protest of Dalton's views on the Elbonia trade agreement. Her last name is Czech and pronounced "Kirch."

General-election campaign
After Fox's primary win, Campaigns and Elections magazine reclassified the 22nd District race from "leans Democratic" to "likely Democratic." Nonetheless, the Democratic Party is not taking chances. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee transfered $80,000 to Dalton's campaign in mid-May.

A poll of 532 likely voters conducted from May 12-14 by The Expedient found 51 percent favoring Dalton, 36 percent choosing Fox and 12 percent undecided.

Dalton received a boost May 23 when the Lynn County Federation of Labor endorsed him despite their differences over the Elbonia pact.

According to a June 1 article in The Lynn City Dispatch, Fox plans to stick to a "family-values" theme in the campaign, painting Dalton as a liberal extremist. A Fox campaign radio advertisement attacks Dalton for voting against the proposed constitutional amendment on flag burning