Marc Dann’s a bigger slimeball than we realized – shocker.

Ohio’s current Attorney General was one of the loudest voices in 2006 when it was time for Change, and A New Direction, and all the same old bunk. Taft and many of his fellow elected Republicans gave him an easy case to make. But, in well under two years Dann’s proven better than the state GOP ever could that neither party’s leaders are brimming with competence.

The Democrat, who promised to end the “culture of corruption” in state government during his 2006 campaign, essentially acknowledged he wasn’t qualified for the office. But after “on-the-job training” he now wants Ohioans to give him a second chance.

Dann said he took “full responsibility” for the actions of his underlings.

“Full responsibility,” meaning the sort where his underlings lose their jobs, not the type were he’s going to sacrifice his own. Let’s not be rash.

The situation is annoying, because what difference will it make in the 2008 elections here? None. The Republican party will rail on about hypocrisy with the same self-righteous bluster of the Democrats in 2006, but without accompaniment from most metro areas’ papers and TV stations. Offenses and mistakes that are signs of deep, dark corruption in (R) politicians are lamentable distractions when there’s a (D) next to your name.

It’s fun at least for addicts of Ohio politics and tabloid news: Our very own Eliot Spitzer scandal, appropriately scaled back and boring.

[Update 05-21-2008: Mispelled "hypocrisy" a couple paragraphs up. Tsk-tsk.]