Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) now pro-choice

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

It's awesome that he made this conversion. Though to be honest this has always been his position since 2009 or so when his voting record on abortion began to become more progressive on things like contraceptives and allowing federal funding for abortion coverage.

However, just because this is what Kucinich did before he ran for President doesn't mean Ryan's running for Senate. I still think he's ultimately going to decline. He understands the risk and time it would take as a member of the House to take on Portman. Ryan's going to sit this one out just as he always has and hand the torch off to Sittenfeld.

Besides, he did this for mostly personal reasons. He had a son born last year, and when his wife was pregnant he emphasized he didn't want the government intruding on her rightful decision on whether or not she wanted an abortion.

Actually, this is a clear sign Ryan is probably running.  If so, either Sittenfield will drop out or Ryan will crush him in the primary without ever acknowledging him.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

It's awesome that he made this conversion. Though to be honest this has always been his position since 2009 or so when his voting record on abortion began to become more progressive on things like contraceptives and allowing federal funding for abortion coverage.

However, just because this is what Kucinich did before he ran for President doesn't mean Ryan's running for Senate. I still think he's ultimately going to decline. He understands the risk and time it would take as a member of the House to take on Portman. Ryan's going to sit this one out just as he always has and hand the torch off to Sittenfeld.

Besides, he did this for mostly personal reasons. He had a son born last year, and when his wife was pregnant he emphasized he didn't want the government intruding on her rightful decision on whether or not she wanted an abortion.

Actually, this is a clear sign Ryan is probably running.  If so, either Sittenfield will drop out or Ryan will crush him in the primary without ever acknowledging him.

I'm not convinced he'll run even with this. He has a track record of declining statewide runs for office in Ohio as recently as 2014, and this abortion thing is being over-hyped. He's been pro-choice for years now. He's going to run statewide at some point whether it's 2018 or the new decade and when that time comes the party will support him, though it won't be right now.

The field needs to be cleared as it usually is for the ODP-backed candidate (with the exception of OH-Sen 2010) and Sittenfeld was the first to stand up to take on the task of facing Portman.

To call Sittenfeld useless here just because he's a City Councilman is absurd. He has killer fundraising skills, David Pepper's support and plenty of connections and unlike Ryan, he seems to be a lot more willing to go on the offensive in this race.

No one in the ODP or the Democratic establishment would clear the field for Sittenfield if an A-lister like Ryan were interested.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

It's awesome that he made this conversion. Though to be honest this has always been his position since 2009 or so when his voting record on abortion began to become more progressive on things like contraceptives and allowing federal funding for abortion coverage.

However, just because this is what Kucinich did before he ran for President doesn't mean Ryan's running for Senate. I still think he's ultimately going to decline. He understands the risk and time it would take as a member of the House to take on Portman. Ryan's going to sit this one out just as he always has and hand the torch off to Sittenfeld.

Besides, he did this for mostly personal reasons. He had a son born last year, and when his wife was pregnant he emphasized he didn't want the government intruding on her rightful decision on whether or not she wanted an abortion.

Actually, this is a clear sign Ryan is probably running.  If so, either Sittenfield will drop out or Ryan will crush him in the primary without ever acknowledging him.

I'm not convinced he'll run even with this. He has a track record of declining statewide runs for office in Ohio as recently as 2014, and this abortion thing is being over-hyped. He's been pro-choice for years now. He's going to run statewide at some point whether it's 2018 or the new decade and when that time comes the party will support him, though it won't be right now.

The field needs to be cleared as it usually is for the ODP-backed candidate (with the exception of OH-Sen 2010) and Sittenfeld was the first to stand up to take on the task of facing Portman.

To call Sittenfeld useless here just because he's a City Councilman is absurd. He has killer fundraising skills, David Pepper's support and plenty of connections and unlike Ryan, he seems to be a lot more willing to go on the offensive in this race.

No one in the ODP or the Democratic establishment would clear the field for Sittenfield if an A-lister like Ryan were interested.

But that's the thing. Ryan and Strickland don't seem to be as legitimately interested in running against Portman as P.G. does. Sittenfeld, Pepper, Turner and others have been in talks with those two about this, and I think there will be an understanding among them that P.G. should be the candidate.

It would be an embarrassment if P.G. had to drop out of the race less than a month after declaring because one of them wants to run, and I preferably don't want to see that happen to Sittenfeld.

This is a sign Ryan is really interested in running.  I imagine Pepper, Turner, etc's talks with Strickland and Ryan were less "don't run against Sittenfiled" and more "please, please, please run against Portman, we're begging you!"  I actually like Sittenfield, but I like winning Senate seats more   Sittenfield will still be a strong candidate down the road.  You'll be happy to know that I do think he would have a good chance of winning if he runs against Mayor Cranley whenever that office is up next.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

It's awesome that he made this conversion. Though to be honest this has always been his position since 2009 or so when his voting record on abortion began to become more progressive on things like contraceptives and allowing federal funding for abortion coverage.

However, just because this is what Kucinich did before he ran for President doesn't mean Ryan's running for Senate. I still think he's ultimately going to decline. He understands the risk and time it would take as a member of the House to take on Portman. Ryan's going to sit this one out just as he always has and hand the torch off to Sittenfeld.

Besides, he did this for mostly personal reasons. He had a son born last year, and when his wife was pregnant he emphasized he didn't want the government intruding on her rightful decision on whether or not she wanted an abortion.

Actually, this is a clear sign Ryan is probably running.  If so, either Sittenfield will drop out or Ryan will crush him in the primary without ever acknowledging him.

I'm not convinced he'll run even with this. He has a track record of declining statewide runs for office in Ohio as recently as 2014, and this abortion thing is being over-hyped. He's been pro-choice for years now. He's going to run statewide at some point whether it's 2018 or the new decade and when that time comes the party will support him, though it won't be right now.

The field needs to be cleared as it usually is for the ODP-backed candidate (with the exception of OH-Sen 2010) and Sittenfeld was the first to stand up to take on the task of facing Portman.

To call Sittenfeld useless here just because he's a City Councilman is absurd. He has killer fundraising skills, David Pepper's support and plenty of connections and unlike Ryan, he seems to be a lot more willing to go on the offensive in this race.

No one in the ODP or the Democratic establishment would clear the field for Sittenfield if an A-lister like Ryan were interested.

But that's the thing. Ryan and Strickland don't seem to be as legitimately interested in running against Portman as P.G. does. Sittenfeld, Pepper, Turner and others have been in talks with those two about this, and I think there will be an understanding among them that P.G. should be the candidate.

It would be an embarrassment if P.G. had to drop out of the race less than a month after declaring because one of them wants to run, and I preferably don't want to see that happen to Sittenfeld.

This is a sign Ryan is really interested in running.  I imagine Pepper, Turner, etc's talks with Strickland and Ryan were less "don't run against Sittenfiled" and more "please, please, please run against Portman, we're begging you!"  I actually like Sittenfield, but I like winning Senate seats more   Sittenfield will still be a strong candidate down the road.  You'll be happy to know that I do think he would have a good chance of winning if he runs against Mayor Cranley whenever that office is up next.

If Pepper and Turner were doing that kind of encouragement and begging for Strickland or Ryan to run, that would only create some brewing bad blood between Sittenfeld who wants this candidacy and the ODP. Sittenfeld's already raising money, he has his campaign team and the way it looks like the party, is ready to band together.

While the ODP would benefit of course from them, it's mostly the nationals who want Strickland and Ryan. They have more to gain by one of them running (better chance at a Senate majority with them) then does the state party who by running P.G. still gives the state/national party a realistic opportunity in this race while simultaneously helping lift P.G.'s career.

That isn't until 2017 when Cranley's up. He's a terrible incumbent and deserves to be primaried, though he has an unbeatable outer city machine. He flooded the airwaves in his 2013 race and defeated one of Cincinnati's strongest Democrats by a double point margin. If Sittenfeld does run for local office, it should be for state legislature (either running to replace term-limited Driehaus or Reece or running against Cecil Thomas in the Senate primary). At least then, he would be more involved with state politics, but I can't help but think he would be a strong U.S. Senate candidate as well.

I'd be down with Sittenfield primarying Cecil Thomas.  This is kind of like the Paul Hackett situation.  Does it suck for Hackett/Sittenfield?  Sure.  But Brown/Strickland are electable Democrats with progressive values.  That matters more than temporarily stroking the ego of a rising-star by setting them up to lose in a landslide.