Moe Lane

(H/T: Third Base Politics) Do you know this guy?

Because he went after a Iraq War veteran at a Ted Strickland rally. Dumped hot coffee on him, then came back later to give said veteran the finger (in case you were wondering whether it was deliberate or not).

The cops would like to discuss the matter with the assailant, so if you know him, please contact the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office. Or you could just call the (current) Governor: the way that Ohio Democrats have been behaving lately, that was probably Strickland’s campaign manager.

Moe Lane (Crosspost)

PS: John Kasich for Governor.

For those so interested; it’ll be on tonight at 8 PM EST. The live video feed should be available via this link; if not, check here. I spoke with the John Kasich campaign today: they fully expect Strickland to keep playing the anti-NAFTA card while steadfastly ignoring the fact that Strickland is heavily dependent on Bill Clinton (the Big NAFTA Dog himself) to somehow save him from his current slow-motion defeat. They also expect John to consume Ted Strickland’s liver raw on national television, although they didn’t exactly put it in quite those terms.

Or anything really like those terms at all, really.

OK, they were just feeling confident about how the debate was going to go. I suppose that talking about eating livers raw and stuff would probably get too many complaints from the FDA.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

The unusual thing about this article (“Losing the Class War“) is not its message.  Its message is in fact pretty straightforward: to wit, that the Democratic nominees for Senator and Governor in Ohio are both trying, and failing, to rouse public anger against the Republican nominees through some good, old-fashioned pseudo-populist demagoguery.  They’re trying this because both Gov. Strickland (who is losing his re-election bid to John Kasich) and Lt. Gov. Fisher (who is losing the Senate race to Rob Portman) are heavily reliant on Big Labor to generate some sort of buzz for their moribund campaigns; and they’re failing because under their watch Ohio’s economy has, well, tanked.  More to the point, the population of Ohio is aware that the current leadership team of Ohio consists of two gibbering, would-be rabble-rousers who apparently have, as they say, Poor Impulse Control.  So, again, that’s not the unusual thing of that article.

No, the unusual thing is that it was on NPR: there’s some sort of partnership thing going on there with National Review Online.  I guess somebody over at NPR can put two and two together, and get Armageddon…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

OK, this one is going to require a bit of background.  Short version: Ohio courts have just indicted a bunch of Democrats – some of whom have links to both Governor Strickland (D-OH) and Lt Governor Fisher (D-OH) – in a complicated real estate corruption case.  The word ‘tendrils’ comes to mind: stick around and you’ll see why. (more…)

Who is Meghan Cofield? Well, she’s a Ohio worker who lost her job, and it’s all John Kasich’s fault!

No, wait, it was all John McCain’s fault!

Yeah. That was an ad from 2008 – same person, and even some of the same footage – when Barack Obama was pretending to be hating on NAFTA (needless to say, that promise came with an expiration date: also needless to say, Strickland has no intention of bringing that up with the President). Which leads me to the next question: just why is Meghan Cofield so depressed? She seems to be developing quite the career race-baiting the Chinese.

Moe Lane (more…)

Not that they noted that, really.  But there’s still been some erosion of Strickland’s support in the last several months, whether PPP’s explicit about it or not:

43% of Ohio voters approve of how Strickland is doing his job as Governor, while 42%
disapprove. A January PPP survey found the numbers at 48/35.

Strickland’s approval among Democrats has dropped from 70% to 62%, an unusually low
level of support for a Governor within his own party. He’s also seen an increasing level
of dissatisfaction with him from Republican voters, 72% of whom now say they
disapprove of what he’s doing after just 59% did earlier this year.

Matched up against likely GOP candidate John Kasich, Strickland leads 44-42. He had a
slightly wider 45-39 advantage in January. Strickland is mostly hurt by a 54-33 deficit to
Kasich among independent voters, even though those same voters prefer a Democrat for
the Senate in numbers that PPP will release on Tuesday.

See Third Base Politics for more analysis (and Ohio Politics Online, on general principles).  What I want to see is the next Quinnipac poll; both the March and the May ones were done back when there was an expectation that DeWine would be running for Governor. It’ll be interesting to see if the twenty point lead shown in both has dropped in the last two months, too.

In the meantime… as I said yesterday: Go Kasich.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

2006:

Senator Bi-Partisan in Gambling Debate
Republican Sen. George Voinovich helped persuade Ted Strickland, the Democratic nominee for governor, to oppose any proposal to introduce slot machines that are similiar to casino gambling in Ohio through an issue on the November ballot. Voinovich, who thinks gambling is a powerful addiction and can be destructive to families, has opposed any expansion beyond current law since a casino issue was on the ballot in 1990.

2007:

Gov. Strickland has not only vowed to veto a proposed bill to allow electronic betting on archived races at horsetracks, he has now joined with Attorney General Marc Dann to call for a ban on cash prizes from table-top gaming devices that are appearing in bars and restaurants all over the state. Dann’s support for a ban has developed out of his frustration with his earlier efforts to enforce the existing legal distinction between outlawed games of chance and permissible games of skill.

March, 2009:

Columbus — Gov. Ted Strickland on Wednesday slammed the latest plan to bring full-scale casinos to Ohio, saying gambling supporters need to stop selling their proposal as a potential life-saver for the state’s drooping economy.

“Every proposal that has been brought forth I think has been designed to enrich the promoters and give a modest or, even in some cases, a meager share of resources to the state or individual localities,” Strickland told The Plain Dealer on Wednesday.

June, 2009:

Gov. Ted Strickland rolled out a surprise plan today that would add electronic slots at the seven Ohio horse racetracks to generate revenue designed to help fill a $3.2 billion budget hole.

(more…)

One of these things is not like the others.

Harry S Truman (President of the United States) – his motto:

“The Buck Stops Here!“

John F Kennedy (Author of Profiles in Courage, President of the United States) – regarding the Bay of Pigs fiasco:

“President Kennedy has stated from the beginning that as President he bears sole responsibility for the events of the past few days. He has stated it on all occasions and he restates it now so that it will be understood by all. The President is strongly opposed to anyone within or without the administration attempting to shift the responsibility.”

Ted Strickland (Governor of Ohio) – on the news of Ohio’s record 10.2 unemployment rate & the loss of a GM plant / the relocation of NCR: “Ohio’s governor says it’s unfair to blame his administration for two big job losses this week.”

Hmm.  Doesn’t have quite the same oomph to it.

See also Weapons of Mass Discussion and the Ohio Republican Party blog.  And, of course, John Kasich’s site, for those interested in confirming that Governor Strickland ends up not needing to take the blame for Ohio’s problems past November of 2010…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.