Ohio Megathread

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Since some of you other guys are unbelievably defending Kasich's personal attack on Ed's family, I urge the rest of you who sincerely support Ed on here to sign Ed's petition to tell Governor Kasich that dirty politics and his corrupt administration don't belong in Ohio.

http://www.edfitzgeraldforohio.com/landing/gutter-politics/

FTR, I might seem like a "FitzGerald hack", but this is my first real and more local campaign I'm in and not only do I want to see us win back the Governor's Mansion as a party, but he lives right here in Lakewood with us. He's gotten to know and have great friendships with a lot of the families in and around the city, they go to our same parish (my parents just saw Shannon and her 16 year old daughter at church on Saturday), and I've interned for and met Ed before and he's a great, down-to-Earth guy who is very disciplined. I'll defend him to the Earth and back if I have to.

As IceSpear said, he's never been drunk and never smoked pot, and he's not a sleazy, average American who would cheat on his wife - he just wouldn't do that and I personally believe that. I don't know him intimately by any means, but I know him better than those of you making assumptions of him cheating based solely on the timing of the drive back to the hotel.

"...and he's not a sleazy average American who would cheat on his wife..." - Adam

What the hell?

He might have meant the average person who cheats on their wife is sleazy instead of the average American, but I was wondering about that as well.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

C'mon guys!

Ed FitzGerald is pure and clean - like the driven snow if the snow was made from boiled natural spring water.

"he... must... be... clean... he's not a mere dirty mortal... he's special... yes, special and different and above all others!!!"

[TJ in Oregon]

It turns out FitzGerald didn't have a driver's license at the time. He had a learner's permit at the time and either a learner's permit or no license at all for five years. I'm on my phone and can't copy the link, but this has just gotten really bizarre really fast. The original story might have been ignored but now that we know he almost certainly drove without a license (according to FitzGerald's own account) this is really blowing up.

Link: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/08/04/Fitz_driver_license.html

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

Congratulations Governor Kaisich!

[moderatevoter]

This series of events is just strange.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

How does a father of five not have a drivers license? That just seems impractical.

[TJ in Oregon]

How does a father of five not have a drivers license? That just seems impractical.

He had one until 2002 but didn't renew it. He later applied for and received a learner's permit in 2008, 2010, and 2011.

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/08/fitzgerald_went_10_years_witho.html#incart_m-rpt-1

This series of events is just strange.

That's basically my take as well... It doesn't make any sense. Who let's their license expire for ten years and apparently drives anyway while holding public office for most of it? It wasn't like it was a couple months either... Ten years? There almost has to be more to this story though I can't fathom what it might be.

[Panda Express]

Hopefully FitzGerald does the honorable thing and drops out. He's clearly a disaster.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Hopefully FitzGerald does the honorable thing and drops out. He's clearly a disaster.

Excuse me  Adam will have you know that sleazy 'ole average Americans like us simply can't comprehend the divine purpose that guides Ed FitzGerald.  We are all but mere ants compared to this giant among men.  Go back to Sodom and Gomorrah with all the other philandering ordinaries

[Vosem]

How is Mary Taylor unelected? She was elected on a ticket with Kasich. Was LBJ unelected when he succeeded JFK as President in 1963?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Is Adam on suicide watch?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Apparently they were 'punching in the coordinates' on the back seat:

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/08/witness_in_ed_fitzgerald_car_i.html

[free my dawg]

Ed FitzGerald is a true American hero, and I support him in any future endeavors.

[LeBron]

Since some of you other guys are unbelievably defending Kasich's personal attack on Ed's family, I urge the rest of you who sincerely support Ed on here to sign Ed's petition to tell Governor Kasich that dirty politics and his corrupt administration don't belong in Ohio.

http://www.edfitzgeraldforohio.com/landing/gutter-politics/

FTR, I might seem like a "FitzGerald hack", but this is my first real and more local campaign I'm in and not only do I want to see us win back the Governor's Mansion as a party, but he lives right here in Lakewood with us. He's gotten to know and have great friendships with a lot of the families in and around the city, they go to our same parish (my parents just saw Shannon and her 16 year old daughter at church on Saturday), and I've interned for and met Ed before and he's a great, down-to-Earth guy who is very disciplined. I'll defend him to the Earth and back if I have to.

As IceSpear said, he's never been drunk and never smoked pot, and he's not a sleazy, average American who would cheat on his wife - he just wouldn't do that and I personally believe that. I don't know him intimately by any means, but I know him better than those of you making assumptions of him cheating based solely on the timing of the drive back to the hotel.

"...and he's not a sleazy average American who would cheat on his wife..." - Adam

What the hell?

He might have meant the average person who cheats on their wife is sleazy instead of the average American, but I was wondering about that as well.

That is what I meant. Thanks.

How does a father of five not have a drivers license? That just seems impractical.

He's a father of four, actually.

Regarding the issue at hand, FitzGerald has had his driver's license since November 2012, so this is the past. Even in this time period where he did have a learner's permit, Ohio law only requires that there be a person in the passenger seat 21 or older who has a driver's license, so it would have been perfectly legal if Shannon, someone on FitzGerald's staff etc. was driving with him.

Hopefully FitzGerald does the honorable thing and drops out. He's clearly a disaster.

Like we're going to just hand the race to Kasich.

How is Mary Taylor unelected? She was elected on a ticket with Kasich. Was LBJ unelected when he succeeded JFK as President in 1963?

That's just the way it's been for the past few decades. Our Lt. Governor used to be elected separately, but on far too many instances the Lt. Gov was of a different party than the Gov (ex. Democratic Gov John Gilligan's Lt. Gov was Republican John Brown). The position is pretty much nothing, but it still allows for a more diverse ticket every 4 years and it's still a great stepping stone for future office (ex. former Sen and current AG Mike DeWine is a former LG as well as current Ohio Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor).



As for the other personal incident, everything you guys are looking an answer to can most likely be found here. Ed explains why they were at a bar after hours, where they were before going to the bar, that Ed was not drunk, that only Joanne was with Ed in the car b/c of the request of the rest of the delegation plus the other designated driver, Nate Kelly, had a larger SUV, and no crime was committed on scene and that the police found the two "just talking."

As for the eye witness and his lawyer, they're just making up lies now. The eye witness mentioned nothing about moving to the backseat or the headlights during his 911 call and his vantage point was terrible. I don't know about you guys, but I'm more inclined to trust law enforcement on this than a random stranger who didn't know what he was seeing.

It's worth noting to that the ODP is still fully behind and trusts FitzGerald in this allegation. I'm liking the strategy that our team is taking. Stay away from this negligible stuff involving Fitzy's personal life and stay on the issues that are hurting Kasich's confidence among voters.

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[LeBron]

Just because these two leaks involving the license and the alleged affair are shifting this campaign away from other aspects of it, I'll still cover you guys on all the advantages Fitzy still has and why we still have a great chance at winning here.

A total of 3 ads are coming to the airwaves this week in Ohio - 2 for Kasich, 1 for FitzGerald. Kasich's ads can be seen here. One of the Kasich ads from the RGA is the first ad to attack FitzGerald (still no sign of the DGA in this race :/), and the RGA ad mentions nothing of the parking lot incident the RGA was involved in leaking. The other Kasich ad, double the length of FitzGerald's, out of his own campaign is another story about his life and not his job as Governor - it's basically a sob story ad and it doesn't detail his record as Governor, at all.

Now FitzGerald's attack ad is the one I've been waiting for! "Working" will air around the Cleveland and Columbus media markets again as well as broadcasting on cable TV statewide. It hits Kasich hard in just the first 10 seconds for his attacks on the poor and middle class and like his radio ad, it goes right into talk of who FitzGerald is and his strong record as County Executive. For some odd reason though, Ed's approval of the message is missing at the end, but overall, a great ad. I can't wait to see the impact of it on the polls!



The new fundraising reports are released for July which show Kasich still has a 5-to-1 cash advantage with Kasich's $11.4M to FitzGerald's $2.44M. While Kasich has his political machine to spend however much he pleases, this does show that Fitzy actually had more donors than Kasich did and that his grassroots campaign has become very successful. He got only $40K from the ODP, this time, but that's mainly to shift more money and resources to Pillich (who has the best chance of winning a seat). As Sharen Neuhardt once said, if you can't outraise Kasich, then you better be ready to out-grassroots him and FitzGerald's done just that.

Down-ballot, every Democratic candidate except Nina Turner outraised the Republican incumbents, but all of the GOP officeholders hold a cash advantage still. Mandel has $3.4M CoH to Pillich's $2M in Treasurer, Husted has $3.1M CoH to Turner's roughly $750K, Yost has $1.3M to Carney's nearly $1M, and not that it matters, but Pepper has $1.8M against very safe incumbent DeWine who has $3M.



That so called "Ohio comeback" has again proven to be false according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's a fact that Kasich has created plenty of jobs under his administration, but we trail the nation in private-sector job growth by 1.3% in Kasich's first term and missed out on 65,000 jobs in Ohio. Not only that, but under Kasich, we're still not below pre-recession levels and our manufacturing jobs industry is not recovering fast enough. With people leaving the work force in big numbers as well, I love how Kasich also claims we're in an "Era of Good Feelings." Not even Republicans in Southeast Ohio want anything to do with him b/c of the job crisis.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

...the DGA probably thinks Fitzgerald is doomed and better of focusing on FL/WI/MI

[moderatevoter]

...the DGA probably thinks Fitzgerald is doomed and better of focusing on FL/WI/MI

And Georgia with Jason Carter.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

...the DGA probably thinks Fitzgerald is doomed and better of focusing on FL/WI/MI

And Georgia with Jason Carter.

Completely forgot about that :S, but yes, him too.

[Potus]

Just because these two leaks involving the license and the alleged affair are shifting this campaign away from other aspects of it, I'll still cover you guys on all the advantages Fitzy still has and why we still have a great chance at winning here.

A total of 3 ads are coming to the airwaves this week in Ohio - 2 for Kasich, 1 for FitzGerald. Kasich's ads can be seen here. One of the Kasich ads from the RGA is the first ad to attack FitzGerald (still no sign of the DGA in this race :/), and the RGA ad mentions nothing of the parking lot incident the RGA was involved in leaking. The other Kasich ad, double the length of FitzGerald's, out of his own campaign is another story about his life and not his job as Governor - it's basically a sob story ad and it doesn't detail his record as Governor, at all.

Now FitzGerald's attack ad is the one I've been waiting for! "Working" will air around the Cleveland and Columbus media markets again as well as broadcasting on cable TV statewide. It hits Kasich hard in just the first 10 seconds for his attacks on the poor and middle class and like his radio ad, it goes right into talk of who FitzGerald is and his strong record as County Executive. For some odd reason though, Ed's approval of the message is missing at the end, but overall, a great ad. I can't wait to see the impact of it on the polls!



The new fundraising reports are released for July which show Kasich still has a 5-to-1 cash advantage with Kasich's $11.4M to FitzGerald's $2.44M. While Kasich has his political machine to spend however much he pleases, this does show that Fitzy actually had more donors than Kasich did and that his grassroots campaign has become very successful. He got only $40K from the ODP, this time, but that's mainly to shift more money and resources to Pillich (who has the best chance of winning a seat). As Sharen Neuhardt once said, if you can't outraise Kasich, then you better be ready to out-grassroots him and FitzGerald's done just that.

Down-ballot, every Democratic candidate except Nina Turner outraised the Republican incumbents, but all of the GOP officeholders hold a cash advantage still. Mandel has $3.4M CoH to Pillich's $2M in Treasurer, Husted has $3.1M CoH to Turner's roughly $750K, Yost has $1.3M to Carney's nearly $1M, and not that it matters, but Pepper has $1.8M against very safe incumbent DeWine who has $3M.



That so called "Ohio comeback" has again proven to be false according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's a fact that Kasich has created plenty of jobs under his administration, but we trail the nation in private-sector job growth by 1.3% in Kasich's first term and missed out on 65,000 jobs in Ohio. Not only that, but under Kasich, we're still not below pre-recession levels and our manufacturing jobs industry is not recovering fast enough. With people leaving the work force in big numbers as well, I love how Kasich also claims we're in an "Era of Good Feelings." Not even Republicans in Southeast Ohio want anything to do with him b/c of the job crisis.

With all those "advantages" and "hard hitting ads", it's a wonder that no pollster has had Fitzgerald leading or tied with Kasich. I mean, how could voters still support Kasich so just tells "sob stories" while he has created "plenty of jobs?" They should definitely get to know Fitzgerald soon since every Ohio news outlet is covering the fact that he was just "punching in coordinates" in the backseat of a car with a hot Irish lady after a late night at a bar.

And who cares that a grown man, father, and unfaithful husband can't legally drive? It's not like that's going to create another barrier for Fitzgerald to connect with average voters. And the fact that Fitzgerald broke the law for five years is just a distraction! I just wonder why the DGA isn't hopping on the Fitzmentum.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Plus people who put themselves on the moral high-ground "I've never been drunk ..." etc etc - are utterly ripe for the hypocrite tag.

[LeBron]

...the DGA probably thinks Fitzgerald is doomed and better of focusing on FL/WI/MI

And Georgia with Jason Carter.

Completely forgot about that :S, but yes, him too.

Even before this stuff was leaked, the DGA pledged their support (and later reaffirmed it), for FitzGerald, but you practically saw large cash amounts in every battleground Governor state but Ohio (with the exception of one small donation at the beginning of the year from them). They're wasting their time in Michigan and Florida when Schauer and Crist have been running awful campaigns and no matter how much they spend in Georgia, it won't be enough to get Carter to 50%. I bet there would be a lot more faith in FitzGerald here if the DGA had used their resources more wisely.

Just because these two leaks involving the license and the alleged affair are shifting this campaign away from other aspects of it, I'll still cover you guys on all the advantages Fitzy still has and why we still have a great chance at winning here.

A total of 3 ads are coming to the airwaves this week in Ohio - 2 for Kasich, 1 for FitzGerald. Kasich's ads can be seen here. One of the Kasich ads from the RGA is the first ad to attack FitzGerald (still no sign of the DGA in this race :/), and the RGA ad mentions nothing of the parking lot incident the RGA was involved in leaking. The other Kasich ad, double the length of FitzGerald's, out of his own campaign is another story about his life and not his job as Governor - it's basically a sob story ad and it doesn't detail his record as Governor, at all.

Now FitzGerald's attack ad is the one I've been waiting for! "Working" will air around the Cleveland and Columbus media markets again as well as broadcasting on cable TV statewide. It hits Kasich hard in just the first 10 seconds for his attacks on the poor and middle class and like his radio ad, it goes right into talk of who FitzGerald is and his strong record as County Executive. For some odd reason though, Ed's approval of the message is missing at the end, but overall, a great ad. I can't wait to see the impact of it on the polls!



The new fundraising reports are released for July which show Kasich still has a 5-to-1 cash advantage with Kasich's $11.4M to FitzGerald's $2.44M. While Kasich has his political machine to spend however much he pleases, this does show that Fitzy actually had more donors than Kasich did and that his grassroots campaign has become very successful. He got only $40K from the ODP, this time, but that's mainly to shift more money and resources to Pillich (who has the best chance of winning a seat). As Sharen Neuhardt once said, if you can't outraise Kasich, then you better be ready to out-grassroots him and FitzGerald's done just that.

Down-ballot, every Democratic candidate except Nina Turner outraised the Republican incumbents, but all of the GOP officeholders hold a cash advantage still. Mandel has $3.4M CoH to Pillich's $2M in Treasurer, Husted has $3.1M CoH to Turner's roughly $750K, Yost has $1.3M to Carney's nearly $1M, and not that it matters, but Pepper has $1.8M against very safe incumbent DeWine who has $3M.



That so called "Ohio comeback" has again proven to be false according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's a fact that Kasich has created plenty of jobs under his administration, but we trail the nation in private-sector job growth by 1.3% in Kasich's first term and missed out on 65,000 jobs in Ohio. Not only that, but under Kasich, we're still not below pre-recession levels and our manufacturing jobs industry is not recovering fast enough. With people leaving the work force in big numbers as well, I love how Kasich also claims we're in an "Era of Good Feelings." Not even Republicans in Southeast Ohio want anything to do with him b/c of the job crisis.

With all those "advantages" and "hard hitting ads", it's a wonder that no pollster has had Fitzgerald leading or tied with Kasich. I mean, how could voters still support Kasich so just tells "sob stories" while he has created "plenty of jobs?" They should definitely get to know Fitzgerald soon since every Ohio news outlet is covering the fact that he was just "punching in coordinates" in the backseat of a car with a hot Irish lady after a late night at a bar.

And who cares that a grown man, father, and unfaithful husband can't legally drive? It's not like that's going to create another barrier for Fitzgerald to connect with average voters. And the fact that Fitzgerald broke the law for five years is just a distraction! I just wonder why the DGA isn't hopping on the Fitzmentum.

Actually, the only non-partisan PPP poll in Ohio had FitzGerald leading Kasich by 3 points, 38-35 which was back in August when FitzGerald was even less known than he is now. Undoubtedly, women who learn about FitzGerald just from this might hurt his base among them a little bit, but we still have exactly 3 months left to go in this campaign. This whole thing will be blown over when a lot swing voters are going to be seeing FitzGerald's ad on the air focused on the issues while the Kasich campaign is seen attacking Ed's family.

How is Mary Taylor unelected? She was elected on a ticket with Kasich. Was LBJ unelected when he succeeded JFK as President in 1963?

That's just the way it's been for the past few decades. Our Lt. Governor used to be elected separately, but on far too many instances the Lt. Gov was of a different party than the Gov (ex. Democratic Gov John Gilligan's Lt. Gov was Republican John Brown). The position is pretty much nothing, but it still allows for a more diverse ticket every 4 years and it's still a great stepping stone for future office (ex. former Sen and current AG Mike DeWine is a former LG as well as current Ohio Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor).

First of all, I also live in Ohio (coincidentally enough, in Westlake, the very community where Ed Fitzgerald was stopped several years ago). Second off, my point is that when two people are elected as part of a ticket, they've both been elected, and 'replacing the Governor if XYZ happens' is in fact the job description of the Lieutenant Governor, the very role to which Mary Taylor has been elected. (It's all academic, since I very, very strongly doubt Kasich will run for President in 2016 after his reelection.)

Oh, nice! I'm just slightly Northeast of you than in Lakewood. Beyond being the successor if ever needed (the last time that happened was with Hollister for a few weeks), they still do campaign alongside the Governor candidate and during their actual role as Lt. Governor, will normally be occupied by overseeing the Senate or the Governor will appoint the Lt. Governor to some important positions in the state government if he chooses. For example, Kasich appointed Taylor as Director of the Department of Insurance which has some major responsibilities in it's own right.

She wouldn't even have to wait for Kasich to be term-limited or to retire for the Presidency, either. There's been talk she might run for Senate shortly down the road, or if DeWine or Husted opts a run for Governor, that would leave her open for a Senate run against Brown.

[Potus]

Ed Fitzgerald had one job. He has a decent record at the county level. A family that looks good on mail. A face that cameras can take a picture of. And he was theoretically the biggest square ever. He had the one job of being Generic D.

He has been running on "stop being mean to the poors" and "muh gays" for the entire campaign. He's been hitting the Governor on the issue of right to work and his support for the unborn since the campaign started. He has not been winning with that message. This supposed miracle ad you're relying on to put his affair to rest is that same message.

This significantly damaged Fitzgerald's fundamentals. He's lost what made him shiny. His mistress pretty much did him in. Even if they are just friends, there is a lot of suspicion that the media is playing up and the donors are about to run for the hills. If you think 5-to-1 is bad, wait til your fundraising dries up.

Earlier in the thread, you were talking about Southeast Ohio supposedly souring on the Governor. I think that was a fallacious opinion to have. Now, there is no question that is not a valid region for Firzgerald to pursue. Those were the folks that turned out en masse for Bush. They're integrity voters and values voters. The affair ended any chance that Fitzgerald had in Southeast Ohio.

[Хahar 🤔]

Earlier in the thread, you were talking about Southeast Ohio supposedly souring on the Governor. I think that was a fallacious opinion to have. Now, there is no question that is not a valid region for Firzgerald to pursue. Those were the folks that turned out en masse for Bush. They're integrity voters and values voters.

This is not an actual thing. Mark Sanford is an elected member of Congress.

[Potus]

Earlier in the thread, you were talking about Southeast Ohio supposedly souring on the Governor. I think that was a fallacious opinion to have. Now, there is no question that is not a valid region for Firzgerald to pursue. Those were the folks that turned out en masse for Bush. They're integrity voters and values voters.

This is not an actual thing. Mark Sanford is an elected member of Congress.

It's different when they have to cross party lines. They were default Kasich voters who were considering voting Democrat. Now, the Democrat ran them back across the party line.

[LeBron]

Ed Fitzgerald had one job. He has a decent record at the county level. A family that looks good on mail. A face that cameras can take a picture of. And he was theoretically the biggest square ever. He had the one job of being Generic D.

He has been running on "stop being mean to the poors" and "muh gays" for the entire campaign. He's been hitting the Governor on the issue of right to work and his support for the unborn since the campaign started. He has not been winning with that message. This supposed miracle ad you're relying on to put his affair to rest is that same message.

This significantly damaged Fitzgerald's fundamentals. He's lost what made him shiny. His mistress pretty much did him in. Even if they are just friends, there is a lot of suspicion that the media is playing up and the donors are about to run for the hills. If you think 5-to-1 is bad, wait til your fundraising dries up.

Earlier in the thread, you were talking about Southeast Ohio supposedly souring on the Governor. I think that was a fallacious opinion to have. Now, there is no question that is not a valid region for Firzgerald to pursue. Those were the folks that turned out en masse for Bush. They're integrity voters and values voters. The affair ended any chance that Fitzgerald had in Southeast Ohio.

Cuyahoga County Exec. wasn't his only elected job in Ohio. Before that, he was elected Lakewood Mayor in 2007 and was a City Councilman for nearly a decade. His record shows he isn't your typical "big government liberal" and through a lot of his crime or education based initiatives, has turned Lakewood into one of the best family-friendly places to live.

His campaign has focused on much more than that. You forget than Ed was the same guy who stood up for Ohio before the federal government when Kasich in plain sight attempted to cut funding to any county who distributed absentee ballot applications. Aside from fighting for voting rights, yes, he has been talking about reproductive and gay rights a lot, but these are the voters he'll need to win in November. He campaigned for the referendum on SB5, he's focused on green energy and condemned Kasich rolling back energy standards, he's demanding to see the legislature raise the minimum wage in Ohio, and there is a huge injustice with our current income tax rates, so he should be allowed to campaign on that. He simply wants an Ohio for everyone and not the wealthy, and that's very much a positive message to send. But what's Kasich been doing this whole time Riley? AFAIK, he's been sitting behind the ORP and are letting them do all the campaigning. He's far from the definition of "The People's Governor."

Until FitzGerald is evidently proven to have had sex with his friend from Ireland, he's still in pretty good shape. It's all speculation for now. It's worth noting to that it's easy to avoid the TV news, but it's hard to avoid a TV ad which goes good for Fitz. Could this incident with Joanne hurt Fitzy among Planned Parenthood and other women's rights groups supporting him? Yes, but he still has organized labor, the state party and a lot of Ohio Democratic citizens behind him. That ad only cost Fitz about $50K btw, so as recent reports show that has him at around $2.5M, he still has enough money to defend himself against Kasich.

Regarding SE Ohio, I only said that they hate Kasich down there, which is true. The last approval rating for him in that region was in the 30s I think, and it's mainly because Kasich is doing nothing about the large industry plants, including Ormet, shutting down there. Now of course, not even I would argue about Fitz's chances in that region. They're low and the only Democrat who could carry all of coal country is someone who's from coal country (which Fitzy isn't).