Does Sherrod Brown have a base problem?

Anastasia thinks so.

He’s got baggage. He’s coated with toxins left over from this year’s Democratic Senate primary, and he should not be pooh-poohing this as unimportant. It killed Ted Strickland’s political career and it could kill his.

Unfortunately, right before the May 2 primary election, Brown released a statement smearing Jennifer Brunner by telling a lie about her: that she had run a negative primary campaign.

This was especially outraging to many grassroots activists because Lee Fisher HAD been running a negative campaign. In the several weeks prior to Sherrod’s statement….

I’m not sure this will stick that badly to Sherrod, but it may.  Let’s recall that Jennifer Brunner actually should have received an endorsement from Sherrod Brown.  It was expected, given how close they’ve been in the past.  That Sherrod did not endorse Jennifer, and in fact campaigned against her at the last minute (perhaps for longer on the down low like everyone else in the ODP glitterati) was a surprise.  And it is not likely to be forgotten.

It won’t take much to make this go away, but it will take some definitive action on Sherrod’s part.  The last thing Sherrod Brown needs heading into 2012 is, to use Anastasia’s word, a “seething” base nursing a grudge.