Following the election, many Democrats hailed the election as showing the weakness of Ohio's Republican party, which had been in control of Ohio state government for a decade, and public unhappiness with President Bush's policies. Hamilton County Democratic chairman Timothy Burke was delighted. "Paul was very critical of this president in a district that Bush carried easily last November, yet she barely hung on to win. There's a clear signal in that," he told "The Cincinnati Post" on election night. The Clermont County Democratic chairman, Dave Lane, told the "Dayton Daily News" "Here we are in the reddest of red districts and it was very, very close."