The bill passed the GOP-dominated House in June but has yet to receive a Senate committee assignment. Though the Senate is also dominated by Republicans, Reuters reports that passage is not imminent. Beyond the Buckeye State, anti-abortion-rights advocates nationwide are rallying for support of the “heartbeat bill,” and GOP presidential candidates Texas Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich have voiced their backing.

But in Ohio, one anti-abortion-rights activist is taking another tactic, by trying to unseat Speaker Boehner in the 8th Congressional District. David Lewis, a tea party member and full-time missionary from West Chester, Ohio, told The American Independent he is fulfilling a promise he made in February, when — standing outside Boehner’s office in political protest — he announced he would challenge the speaker in a primary if he voted for a federal budget bill that did not strip Planned Parenthood of all federal funds. That day, Lewis said he was arrested for picketing. But he’s kept his promise — last week he announced his congressional candidacy, which is based almost entirely on an anti-abortion-rights platform.

“I want to see abortion become a criminal act, from conception until birth,” Lewis told TAI, on his way to the “heartbeat bill” rally in Columbus, Ohio. He said he wants to see similar legislation introduced at the federal level. ”Abortion is the slavery of today. It is the segregation of today.”

Lewis’ campaign website features three 30-second videos that mix graphic images of aborted fetuses with pictures of Boehner. Through voiceover narration, Lewis accuses Boehner of “giving our money to Planned Parenthood, a criminal syndicate that murders babies and covers the crimes of rapists, sex-traffickers and pedophiles.”

Some in the media have suggested that Lewis is using his campaign as a way to air graphic anti-abortion commercials. The blog Addicting Info suggested that Lewis might be a plant by the anti-abortion-rights activist Randall Terry, who is running for president as a Democrat on a platform entirely based on his anti-abortion-stance. The front page of Terry’s campaign website shows graphic images of aborted fetuses. (Terry founded the anti-abortion-rights group Operation Rescue, but for the past few years, Operation Rescue has been trying to distance itself from him.)

Lewis denied the idea that he is a plant for Terry, though said that the two frequently work and lobby together. He also said though he wants the public to see his graphic anti-abortion-rights ads — he will begin airing them 40 days before the state primary, he told TAI — his main goal is to beat Boehner, which he admitted will be a “David and Goliath task.”

“But David beat Goliath,” he said.

Other than abortion and Boehner’s vote on the federal budget, Lewis’ campaign vows to eliminate entitlement programs like Social Security, which he refers to as “socialism,” “legalized theft” and “a Ponzi scheme,” borrowing Rick Perry’s line.

Before working as a missionary and anti-abortion-rights lobbyist full time, Lewis said he worked in the IT department at a bank in West Chester.

It’s premature, I think, but even some Republican leaders are saying Obama will win by a landslide, and politicos are sizing up the potential challengers to a President Obama.

This kind of chatter, however speculative, has the practical effect of undermining Sen. John McCain’s attempts to regain momentum. It also fosters the notion that McCain’s attacks on Sen. Barack Obama have less to do with important policy differences than with efforts to rescue a “losing” campaign.

If the predictions are right, however, smart Republicans won’t wait until November to work on their game plan.

These thoughts were prompted by a note I just received from an astute Democratic operative. Ticking through recent Republican pronouncements about a McCain loss, the operative, who has worked on several presidential campaigns, lays out an intriguing case for why Republicans are not only worried but worrying out loud:

I think that not only do the Republicans know the election is over; they are sensing that an Obama presidency could be highly successful.

Obama will have:

1. Large congressional majorities (and fairly liberal majorities — the conservative Southern Dems that plagued Clinton and Carter are gone).
2. The media will not stop talking about the implications of having an African American president for months — virtually no democracy outside India has elected an ethnic minority as its leader (I can only think of Leon Blum, the first Jewish leader of France during the height of European anti-Semitism in the 1930s as the only thing that strikes me as more extraordinary. [Disreali was an Anglican of Jewish heritage]). Obama will have an incredible honeymoon period.
3. The opposition GOP is a mess without a clear opposition leader – there is no Newt Gingrich or what Hillary [Rodham Clinton] would have become if McCain had won or what Reagan was to Carter. While the Republicans are better in opposition and will win a lot of seats in 2010, all their biggest “stars” (maybe minor celebs is a better term) are governors–Satah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Tim Pawlenty, etc.

All this will allow Obama to do what has to be done to turn the economy around in two to three years and insure his reelection. There really aren’t any excuses.

After 1932, the Dems held the White House for 20 years, and after 1980, the Republicans held it for 12 years. While the financial crisis and overall Bush unpopularity are fueling this particular loss, when you add the overall demographic trends, this could be the beginning of a long drought for the GOP.

An early time to talk about a long drought, to be sure, but that’s the landscape some Democrats are eyeing.