Whether or not GOP Sen. George Voinovich actually runs for another term in 2010 remains to be seen, but you can bet that Democrats will attempt to mount a major challenge for his seat that year — especially with Voiny running neck-and-neck with “Generic D” in the latest polling. Who is your preferred candidate for the task?
On the gubernatorial side of the equation, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland has earned positive reviews during his first term so far, but the GOP probably won’t cede this race by any means. Who do you imagine will step up for Team Red?
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There seem to be many well-known republicans mentioned as challengers to Strickland. I don’t quite understand that considering his consistently solid approvals. Kasich and Portman are just two named often mentioned. The feeling I get is that one or more of the well-known conservative republicans will shift to the Senate race and run regardless of whether Vionovich runs or retires. Voinovich is hates by conservatives anyway, so I doubt he’d be hard to primary.
Even if Strickland draws a well-known challenger I’m not too worried about him surviving.
On the Dem Senate front it really should be Tim Ryan. He’s young, a good fit for Ohio statewide and his congressional seat may disappear in 2012 anyway.
But what about the Senate? Tim Ryan? Another House Rep.? Anyone in statewide office other than Strickland or Jennifer Brunner? Inquiring minds want to know.
I don’t know if Ohio is one of those states that hates its elected officials coming from big cities, since she’s from Cleveland, but she seems to be progressive and a strong advocate for the working class.
And now that she lost her House leadership race she could be looking to move up. I think she gives us Tim Ryan’s populism without sacrificing ground on social issues. She seems like a good cross between Ryan and Brown, actually.
Really Progressive. Lots of fundrasing. Ryan is pro-life. Kaptur is against embryonic stem cell research.
It’s sort of obligatory that someone mentions it.
Hey, we can dream, can’t we? 🙂
The GOP seems to be losing ground quite quickly in Ohio going from 12 House seats after 2004 to 11 to 8. Any blowback from the non-funding of the auto deals will hurt them further. Right now, eastern Ohio with the exception of Tiberi is ours; western Ohio with the exception of Dreihaus in Cincy is theirs. Delphi, the former DELCO, closed up its Ohio plants but other suppliers, GM etc, still operate. Given the leading position of Boehner, it will be easy to sell Ohio Republicans as sell-outs.
I think Republicans in Ohio think status quo or the glory days of the past but the Republicans in this region may well be in far worse shape than they think.
The Senate Race will come down to a primary battle between Lee Fisher and Tim Ryan. Fisher will have the support of the ODP HQ and Gov. Strickland. Rich Cordray has tacitly agreed to stay out in exchange for the central Party’s support for his AG campaign (which he won, quite handily.)
Fisher would seem to have the edge in the primary, but Ryan could argue that we would do better in the general election. But Fisher has the “inside track” to the nomination in a lot of ways. Also,the ‘sphere needs to realize that Ryan is very much a moderate. For example, he’s a Catholic and definitely pro-life. (So is Marcy Kaptur.)
Kaptur is determined to become the longest serving woman in the U.S. House, eclipsing Margaret Chase Smith. And she doesn’t poll well outside of her absolutely safe District. After she has served longer than Smith, she’ll retire. Her quixotic forays against the Dem establishment means that she wouldn’t have their support in a run for the Senate. As a populist Democrat with her pro-life stance, she doesn’t get support from women’s groups of left or right. She’ll stay right where she is.
I’m surprised that so many Republicans seem willing to run against Strickland. It won’t be easy. In fact… I think that it would be “Pickett’s Charge” all over again. Ted has carefully rebuilt the ODP and has his team in place. He was strongly behind John Boccieri’s successful run in OH-16 right from Day One. (Literally– Ted spoke at Bocceri’s campaign launch event.) And he supported Dreihaus –and look at how those races came out.
Paul Hackett is not a factor, even more so after his conduct during the fall campaign here.
but I’d much rather Sutton.
I’d guess maybe Portman runs for the GOP and gets crushed by Strickland.
Three candidates are looking at the Gov race in Ohio:
-John Kasich will run
-Rob Portman possible, maybe also for Senate
-Mike DeWine only if Portman doesn’t run for Senate
Husted is running for SoS as a stepping stone to Gov in 2014.
In my opinion, if Husted wins SoS, then the 2014 race will be Husted v. Cordray. If Brunner wins, she may end up going for GOV in 2014.
Tim Ryan would make an excellent candidate. Marcy Kaptur would as well. I am staunchly pro-choice and would gladly support either one of those two fine public servants. Hackett won’t get in if Ryan runs.