Ohio Megathread

[LeBron]

Ted Stevenot of the Ohio Tea Party Files Paperwork to Run Against Kasich in the GOP Primary

This is great news! He stands little chance of beating Kasich, but given that Kasich expanded Medicaid which is very unpopular among conservatives, it will force Kasich to put a lot of money into the primary.

[windjammer]

Kasich has tried to bust unions, he must be busted!

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Ted Stevenot of the Ohio Tea Party Files Paperwork to Run Against Kasich in the GOP Primary

This is great news! He stands little chance of beating Kasich, but given that Kasich expanded Medicaid which is very unpopular among conservatives, it will force Kasich to put a lot of money into the primary.

I doubt it, I've never even heard of this guy and he seems like a some dude candidate.  Unfortunately, Kasich can (and probably will) just ignore this.  Our best shots are still the Treasurer's office, the Auditor's office, depriving the Republicans of their super-majority in the state house (and setting ourselves up to make a play for a majority in the OH House in 2016 if that turns out to be a Democratic year), and maybe OH-6. 

I should add that with the right candidates, I think that David Joyce (good fit for his district, but it is very much a swing-seat), Bob Gibbs (wrong type of Republican for the district), and Jim Renacci (not exactly known for his competence or constituent service, involved in shady fundraising, and under-performed against Sutton who was a bad fit for the district) could all be vulnerable.  Alas, that seems like it'll have to wait until at least 2016.

[Badger]

Ted Stevenot of the Ohio Tea Party Files Paperwork to Run Against Kasich in the GOP Primary

This is great news! He stands little chance of beating Kasich, but given that Kasich expanded Medicaid which is very unpopular among conservatives, it will force Kasich to put a lot of money into the primary.

I doubt it, I've never even heard of this guy and he seems like a some dude candidate.  Unfortunately, Kasich can (and probably will) just ignore this. 

X is correct. Kasich will have to spend little more money than the nominal amount set aside for an unopposed primary to avoid even the embarassment of a strong protest vote. He'll sweep all 88 counties with ease.

[Reaganfan]

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald's commission's decision to consolidate Police Dispatcher's in Cuyahoga County has been approved, and thus my father along with many others we know are being laid off.

I hope he loses.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald's commission's decision to consolidate Police Dispatcher's in Cuyahoga County has been approved, and thus my father along with many others we know are being laid off.

I hope he loses.

Rahm Emanuel here made cuts to 911 dispatchers as well. Unless you are a first responder like a paramedic/firefighter or a public safety officer, they are consolidating jobs. This will along with MI and IL be a very competetive race.

[LeBron]

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald's commission's decision to consolidate Police Dispatcher's in Cuyahoga County has been approved, and thus my father along with many others we know are being laid off.

I hope he loses.

Not like it matters. Police and firefighters almost always vote Republican even despite Kasich's cuts to public safety in the budget which also resulted in lay-offs.

And at least Ed actually cares about them unlike Kasich. He used to work for the FBI while Kasich's "devotion" to public safety workers was once calling one of them an "idiot" for pulling him over. Real classy by our Governor.

[LeBron]

Hamilton County Commissioner, Todd Portune, considering a Democratic primary run against FitzGerald

No offense, but he really needs to just stay out of it. The main reason he gave for a possible run is for all reasons because Kearney, a friend of Portune's, dropped off the FitzGerald ticket whom Portune may consider as his LG running mate.

But really, he's only going to hurt Ohio Democrats in the long run. He entered this race way too late into it since FitzGerald's been in it for over a half a year and has the backing of the state Democratic Party, Sherrod Brown, Marcy Kaptur, Marcia Fudge, and a variety of labor unions. This is baring in mind to that a primary challenger for FitzGerald could hurt him in how much money he would have to spend which would counterpart Kasich's recent primary challenger. Neither Stevenot or Portune has declared a run yet, but Stevenot will most likely be in while Portune plans to announce his decision within the next 2 weeks.

I'm obviously 100% pledging my support for Ed FitzGerald. Not only because I'm from Cuyahoga County and Lakewood, OH where he used to be a phenomenal Mayor, but he's actually a true liberal. Portune on the other hand is fiscally conservative and honestly, we don't need another moderate Democrat up in Columbus because we just had one as recent as Strickland.

And the thing is, Portune is from southwestern Ohio and if he picked fellow Hamilton County Democrat, Eric Kearney, as his running mate, he would suffer the same name recognition problem FitzGerald has and would struggle up north like Strickland did. FitzGerald on the other hand has been campaigning hard these last few months and not only does he have the Cincinnati vote covered from Connie Pillich and David Pepper being on his ticket, but he's starting to improve his numbers in southeastern Ohio and will start to do so in other parts of the state very soon.

Portune shouldn't be trying to screw this up for us. This is a winnable race for Democrats.

[politicallefty]

I'm not sure how it will affect the gubernatorial race, but Ohio's Medicaid expansion was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court on Friday.

[TJ in Oregon]

I'm not sure how it will affect the gubernatorial race, but Ohio's Medicaid expansion was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court on Friday.

It shouldn't. This was the expected outcome by almost everyone. If the opposite had happened it probably would have had an effect.

[Horus]

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald's commission's decision to consolidate Police Dispatcher's in Cuyahoga County has been approved, and thus my father along with many others we know are being laid off.

I hope he loses.

Sorry for your father's lost job, but we have far too many cops and law enforcement workers, especially in Ohio. That money will thankfully be spent on more important matters.

[LeBron]

"Ho Ho Ho! Merry Corporations!" - Santa Kasich

Since we're only a day until Christmas, Ed FitzGerald decided to pay tribute to the season the best way possible: Going after Kasich for continuing to attack the poor, the 428,000 unemployed and 40,000 unemployed who receive federal benefits that Kasich is refusing to fight for. I don't think it's any coincidence that Kasich has a similar spelled last name to the Grinch.

[Badger]

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald's commission's decision to consolidate Police Dispatcher's in Cuyahoga County has been approved, and thus my father along with many others we know are being laid off.

I hope he loses.

Sorry for your father's lost job, but we have far too many cops and law enforcement workers, especially in Ohio. That money will thankfully be spent on more important matters.

On what planet?

Seriously, wtf?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

County sheriffs and city cops share some of the same jobs. Same as 311 and 911 operators. Local Governments are combining responsibilities for law enforcement to save on cost. Meter readers or a patrolman aren't common jobs now. County cops can do law enforcement with K9 dogs as I see them on streets now.

[Horus]

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald's commission's decision to consolidate Police Dispatcher's in Cuyahoga County has been approved, and thus my father along with many others we know are being laid off.

I hope he loses.

Sorry for your father's lost job, but we have far too many cops and law enforcement workers, especially in Ohio. That money will thankfully be spent on more important matters.

On what planet?

Seriously, wtf?

How is what I'm saying unreasonable? We spend too much money on police, period. We need to shrink departments, and only focus on felonies and serious misdemeanors.

[LeBron]

Todd Portune to Announce whether or not he'll Screw Ohio Democrats over on Monday at 4 PM

If he wants to work for the best interests of the state party and not his own, selfish self-interests, then he should opt out of a run. He's not the kind of Democrat that liberals in Ohio want and he'll make Ed FitzGerald spend vital money that could be used against Kasich. Portune doesn't even have a legit argument for running either except "Kearney this" and "Kearney that." My God, Portune just save yourself the embarrassment and DON'T run.

[TJ in Oregon]

Todd Portune is in.

FitzGerald's local Democratic arch-nemesis C. Ellen Connolly is also weighing being Portune's running mate. Ouch. There must be a whole lot of bad blood flowing around.

[free my dawg]

Adam's going to love this...

[LeBron]

-_____-

Portune will regret this. Not only will he not get by FitzGerald, but Kasich's already large financial advantage will put him even closer to re-election. He's going after FitzGerald for a mistake that Kearney himself made. Sorry, but if Portune would rather have another term of John Kasich rather than get FitzGerald in there, then he's not a real Democrat.

[TJ in Oregon]

-_____-

Portune will regret this. Not only will he not get by FitzGerald, but Kasich's already large financial advantage will put him even closer to re-election. He's going after FitzGerald for a mistake that Kearney himself made. Sorry, but if Portune would rather have another term of John Kasich rather than get FitzGerald in there, then he's not a real Democrat.

My impression is that Portune is probably running because he thinks FitzGerald is toast and he wants to give the Democrats another option than letting Kasich coast to re-election. That's really the only reason people start a campaign this late, well either that or because they're mad at the other candidate about some issue, but that doesn't seem to have happened here.

[LeBron]

-_____-

Portune will regret this. Not only will he not get by FitzGerald, but Kasich's already large financial advantage will put him even closer to re-election. He's going after FitzGerald for a mistake that Kearney himself made. Sorry, but if Portune would rather have another term of John Kasich rather than get FitzGerald in there, then he's not a real Democrat.

My impression is that Portune is probably running because he thinks FitzGerald is toast and he wants to give the Democrats another option than letting Kasich coast to re-election. That's really the only reason people start a campaign this late, well either that or because they're mad at the other candidate about some issue, but that doesn't seem to have happened here.

Kasich v. FitzGerald may actually be a lot closer than Kasich v. Portune. Even for me, if Portune does win the primary, I will just end up voting for the Green candidate, Dennis Spisak, and I could see a lot of other liberals, union members, and environmentalists would want to do the same given Portune's moderate and unappealing nature. FitzGerald on the other hand already got the state party's endorsement as well as other huge ones from Senator Sherrod Brown, former Governor Ted Strickland, Reps Marcy Kaptur and Marcia Fudge, and tons of unions. FitzGerald also has the money advantage against Portune and he's been to all 88 counties. Portune hasn't and has a lot of groundwork to make up in just 4 months.

Besides, Portune suffers from the same problem FitzGerald does, name recognition and money. The fact that Portune is from Hamilton County would make it competitive there against Kasich, but he would just end up losing for the same reason Strickland lost with the North not coming in big for him. FitzGerald won't get by him easily which is unfortunate, but once PPP polls the primary, I think he will have a nice advantage over Portune.

[TJ in Oregon]

I don't think much of Strickland's poor performance in the north, in particular the Greater Cleveland area, was due to him being from Southeastern Ohio. I think a lot it had to do with the Cuyahoga County corruption scandal surfacing a couple months before the election and making the Democrats somewhat toxic locally, even if Ted Strickland had nothing to do with it.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I don't think much of Strickland's poor performance in the north, in particular the Greater Cleveland area, was due to him being from Southeastern Ohio. I think a lot it had to do with the Cuyahoga County corruption scandal surfacing a couple months before the election and making the Democrats somewhat toxic locally, even if Ted Strickland had nothing to do with it.

Also, the GOTV effort in the Cleveland African-American community (and to a lesser degree the entire state's African-American community) was one of the worst I've seen.  From what I've heard, the consensus is that this was a major part of why Strickland and Cordray lost.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

-_____-

Portune will regret this. Not only will he not get by FitzGerald, but Kasich's already large financial advantage will put him even closer to re-election. He's going after FitzGerald for a mistake that Kearney himself made. Sorry, but if Portune would rather have another term of John Kasich rather than get FitzGerald in there, then he's not a real Democrat.

My impression is that Portune is probably running because he thinks FitzGerald is toast and he wants to give the Democrats another option than letting Kasich coast to re-election. That's really the only reason people start a campaign this late, well either that or because they're mad at the other candidate about some issue, but that doesn't seem to have happened here.

Kasich v. FitzGerald may actually be a lot closer than Kasich v. Portune. Even for me, if Portune does win the primary, I will just end up voting for the Green candidate, Dennis Spisak, and I could see a lot of other liberals, union members, and environmentalists would want to do the same given Portune's moderate and unappealing nature. FitzGerald on the other hand already got the state party's endorsement as well as other huge ones from Senator Sherrod Brown, former Governor Ted Strickland, Reps Marcy Kaptur and Marcia Fudge, and tons of unions. FitzGerald also has the money advantage against Portune and he's been to all 88 counties. Portune hasn't and has a lot of groundwork to make up in just 4 months.

Besides, Portune suffers from the same problem FitzGerald does, name recognition and money. The fact that Portune is from Hamilton County would make it competitive there against Kasich, but he would just end up losing for the same reason Strickland lost with the North not coming in big for him. FitzGerald won't get by him easily which is unfortunate, but once PPP polls the primary, I think he will have a nice advantage over Portune.

I like Fitzgerald a lot and think he's a decent guy who'd make a good Governor.  That being said, I haven't been too impressed by him as a candidate.  If Portune beats him in the primary after joining this late in the game, it means that Fitzgerald was easily the weaker candidate.  I'd much perfer Fitzgerald, but the more important thing is running the stronger candidate.  If Portune wins the primary, despite all of Fitzgerald's advantages, so be it.  BTW, how could it be that you'd prefer four more years of Kasich to four years of Portune? 

[LeBron]

-_____-

Portune will regret this. Not only will he not get by FitzGerald, but Kasich's already large financial advantage will put him even closer to re-election. He's going after FitzGerald for a mistake that Kearney himself made. Sorry, but if Portune would rather have another term of John Kasich rather than get FitzGerald in there, then he's not a real Democrat.

My impression is that Portune is probably running because he thinks FitzGerald is toast and he wants to give the Democrats another option than letting Kasich coast to re-election. That's really the only reason people start a campaign this late, well either that or because they're mad at the other candidate about some issue, but that doesn't seem to have happened here.

Kasich v. FitzGerald may actually be a lot closer than Kasich v. Portune. Even for me, if Portune does win the primary, I will just end up voting for the Green candidate, Dennis Spisak, and I could see a lot of other liberals, union members, and environmentalists would want to do the same given Portune's moderate and unappealing nature. FitzGerald on the other hand already got the state party's endorsement as well as other huge ones from Senator Sherrod Brown, former Governor Ted Strickland, Reps Marcy Kaptur and Marcia Fudge, and tons of unions. FitzGerald also has the money advantage against Portune and he's been to all 88 counties. Portune hasn't and has a lot of groundwork to make up in just 4 months.

Besides, Portune suffers from the same problem FitzGerald does, name recognition and money. The fact that Portune is from Hamilton County would make it competitive there against Kasich, but he would just end up losing for the same reason Strickland lost with the North not coming in big for him. FitzGerald won't get by him easily which is unfortunate, but once PPP polls the primary, I think he will have a nice advantage over Portune.

I like Fitzgerald a lot and think he's a decent guy who'd make a good Governor.  That being said, I haven't been too impressed by him as a candidate.  If Portune beats him in the primary after joining this late in the game, it means that Fitzgerald was easily the weaker candidate.  I'd much perfer Fitzgerald, but the more important thing is running the stronger candidate.  If Portune wins the primary, despite all of Fitzgerald's advantages, so be it.  BTW, how could it be that you'd prefer four more years of Kasich to four years of Portune? 

From a voting perspective, not really. I wouldn't even vote for Kasich if it was only him and Charlie Earl on the ballot, but my vote will normally go to whoever I think is the most progressive/liberal, is someone who I agree with on some of the most important issues, and would seem like an effective, bipartisan leader. Portune would never meet those requirements for me because even if he did get elected, I doubt he would stand against the legislature on any economic issues. So I'll vote for FitzGerald in the primary/general (assuming he beats Portune), but in some miraculous, well-funded, popular campaign where Portune somehow beats FitzGerald, I'll vote for Spisak, the Green candidate in protest.

I also tried finding out some of this Portune's issues and while he's yet to make a stance on many of them, his position as Commissioner gives us a chance of what to expect in his campaign. He cut 25% of the functions of the county government, would decrease unemployment (is totally lying there because Cincinnati's unemployment is higher than the overall state's), would strive for transportation reform (I'll agree there at least), and would pretty much continue most of Kasich's failed policies as a fiscal conservative. It's a lot harder to find his views on social issues, but it would seem likely that he's pro-gun as opposed to FitzGerald who's pro-gun control. I also don't see why he wouldn't be pro-same-sex marriage, but I found this gem that he stated before: "Gay marriage is not a matter the commissioners need weigh in on." So he's not against it, but he certainly won't advocate for it like FitzGerald will. As for other Ohio social issues like abortion or the death penalty, I wouldn't see him being very liberal on either and VoteSmart has nothing on this guy on the issues.

So he's not all that different from Kasich. Sure he might not sign anything as crazy as SB5, but I would see a total lack of trust in him as Governor. Assuming Republicans retain control of both houses of the legislature next year and they continue to pass extreme legislation, I wouldn't feel confident that Portune would always veto the bills that would need to be vetoed. I'm just really hoping now though that Ted Stevenot announces his plans to run against Kasich. Neither him nor Portune will win their respective primary, but Stevenot would at least help FitzGerald out in the long run by forcing both major party candidates, Kasich and FitzGerald, to spend money in the primaries. Stevenot will need to decide soon to because the filing deadline is in about one month for partisan candidates.