Ohio Megathread

[Vega]

You folks think Democrats still have a chance of knocking off that pimply faced nerd Josh Mandel?

Probably not, but god is he annoying...

[TJ in Oregon]

So how long until every single Ohio Supreme Court candidate for either party has an Irish last name?

[Vosem]

You folks think Democrats still have a chance of knocking off that pimply faced nerd Josh Mandel?

Thankfully Mandel will almost certainly still be around for another four years. I'm hopeful looking forward to a more successful Senate campaign in 2018.

[IceSpear]

You folks think Democrats still have a chance of knocking off that pimply faced nerd Josh Mandel?

Thankfully Mandel will almost certainly still be around for another four years. I'm hopeful looking forward to a more successful Senate campaign in 2018.

I'm hopeful he runs again too, considering he's currently underperforming Kasich by at least 22 points.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

You folks think Democrats still have a chance of knocking off that pimply faced nerd Josh Mandel?

Thankfully Mandel will almost certainly still be around for another four years. I'm hopeful looking forward to a more successful Senate campaign in 2018.

Vosem, why do you support a someone (Josh Mandel) who falsely accused his opponent (Sherrod Brown) of being a wife-beater?

[Badger]

You folks think Democrats still have a chance of knocking off that pimply faced nerd Josh Mandel?

Thankfully Mandel will almost certainly still be around for another four years. I'm hopeful looking forward to a more successful Senate campaign in 2018.

I'm hopeful he runs again too, considering he's currently underperforming Kasich by at least 22 points.

@ Lief: Either the Big D's poll is correct and Kasich is going to decimate Fitzgerald even worse than expected (read that again to yourself to grasp the full impact); OR it's overstating Kasich's strength and if Fitzgerald breaks 40% Mandel could be in trouble.

@ Vosem: See Icespear's comment. At best Mandel will win a close race in a really strong GOP year. The Ohio Republican bench is uber-deep. We don't need damaged goods like Mandel to screw up another race.

[KCDem]

You folks think Democrats still have a chance of knocking off that pimply faced nerd Josh Mandel?

Thankfully Mandel will almost certainly still be around for another four years. I'm hopeful looking forward to a more successful Senate campaign in 2018.

I'm hopeful he runs again too, considering he's currently underperforming Kasich by at least 22 points.

@ Lief: Either the Big D's poll is correct and Kasich is going to decimate Fitzgerald even worse than expected (read that again to yourself to grasp the full impact); OR it's overstating Kasich's strength and if Fitzgerald breaks 40% Mandel could be in trouble.

@ Vosem: See Icespear's comment. At best Mandel will win a close race in a really strong GOP year. The Ohio Republican bench is uber-deep. We don't need damaged goods like Mandel to screw up another race.

What are your thoughts Badger on Kasich's margin? Does he break 60%? Predicting minds want to know...

[Badger]

You folks think Democrats still have a chance of knocking off that pimply faced nerd Josh Mandel?

Thankfully Mandel will almost certainly still be around for another four years. I'm hopeful looking forward to a more successful Senate campaign in 2018.

I'm hopeful he runs again too, considering he's currently underperforming Kasich by at least 22 points.

@ Lief: Either the Big D's poll is correct and Kasich is going to decimate Fitzgerald even worse than expected (read that again to yourself to grasp the full impact); OR it's overstating Kasich's strength and if Fitzgerald breaks 40% Mandel could be in trouble.

@ Vosem: See Icespear's comment. At best Mandel will win a close race in a really strong GOP year. The Ohio Republican bench is uber-deep. We don't need damaged goods like Mandel to screw up another race.

What are your thoughts Badger on Kasich's margin? Does he break 60%? Predicting minds want to know...

As I answered you in another thread...

Coin flip. I'd say he has a decent chance after Republicans were able to keep the Libertarian candidate off the ballot. I question Fitzgerald hitting 40%, but there might be enough disaffected Democrats and liberals who cast ballots for the Green to keep Kasich under 60.

[IceSpear]

Ugh, even that turd Mandel won by double digits. Thanks for dragging everyone down, FitzGerald. He lost Cuyahoga County!

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Lol Fitzgerald.

What a joke.

[Panda Express]

He lost by 31. That's pathetic by even tonight's standards.

[Maxwell]

Ed Fitzgerald makes Todd Akin look like Jack Reed

[TJ in Oregon]

Anyone know what's the deal with Monroe County? I know it's Democratic down ballot but wow.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Ugh, even that turd Mandel won by double digits. Thanks for dragging everyone down, FitzGerald. He lost Cuyahoga County!

FitzGerald didn't just lose Cuyahoga, he lost it by double-digits.

[Vega]

Ugh, even that turd Mandel won by double digits. Thanks for dragging everyone down, FitzGerald. He lost Cuyahoga County!

FitzGerald didn't just lose Cuyahoga, he lost it by double-digits.

I don't even know how. Turnout probably didn't help.

[LeBron]

I see there's a lot asking how the heck Fitzy won two counties in Southeast Ohio; one of which is R-favored. Well, Athens County is usually reliably Democratic and last night that was the case. It's home to Ohio University and there's plenty of young and Democratic voters there. As for Monroe County, it was Obama '08, Romney '12, but let me tell you, Monroe can't stand Kasich especially along the eastern banks by the Ohio River. It's home to the city of Hannibal which was the site of the shutdown of the Ormet aluminum manufacturing plant that lost over 1,000 jobs. They filed for bankruptcy protection and tried to make a deal to cut electricity expenditures, but Kasich's buddies over at the AEP said no. Kasich refused to intervene on behalf of the union workers and refused to even visit Hannibal.

Fitzy unfortunately collapsed in a massive landslide, losing 64-33 but some of that can be contributed to the very unexpected GOP wave we witnessed. Most of it though is attributed to Fitzy's campaign implosion courtesy of John Kasich, Kasich's war chest he spent on ads all throughout the year, and all those crossover votes he got and managing to somehow stay away from the media during this controversial campaign.

I'm kind of shocked as much as the next person that Kasich won Ed's home territory of Cuyahoga, as well as Lucas, Summit and a few others. But what can I say? Kasich knowing since August he would be re-elected, unleashed a strong GOTV among R's, I's and D's up here in the North. Ed's also pretty hated up here for penalizing his employees for not having a license when Ed himself didn't have one. You hear that a lot from angry voters. There's also the fact to that Fitzy had trouble garnering black support, and the historical black newspaper, Cleveland's Call & Post, endorsed Kasich last month. I'm still just really shocked Kasich pulled it out up here. He launched a few ads in the final few months that targeted his recruit of women, African American and other minority voters. Our county has saw a decline of Democratic voters, but we still have a 3 to 1 registration advantage. He lost Summit (Akron), Mahoning (Youngstown), Lorain (Elyria), and even Neuhardt's turf of Montgomery County (Dayton) by huge margins as well. We lost a weak of early voting so that hurt minority turnout, but it was also a dull election, no turnout, and plenty of defectors to Kasich.

As for the other statewide races, the Ohio GOP won big. DeWine (R) 62% - Pepper (D) 38% in the Attorney General race, Yost (R) 57% - Carney (D) 38% in the Auditor race, Husted (R) 60% - Turner (D) 35%, and Mandel (R) 57% - Pillich (D) 43%. On the OSC, Kennedy obviously won in a landslide, but Justice French (R) managed to pull out a 56-44 victory over O'Donnell (D), which leaves the OSC at 6-1 Republican.

What this means for 2018 though may not be good for the Ohio GOP. With their hold on power and increase of power in the legislature, they don't even need Kasich now to pass their right-to-work, voter ID etc. radical agenda. Heck, with Kasich not having to worry about re-election anymore and his 2016 dreams falling away with the re-election of Scott Walker, Kasich can do whatever he wants with Ohio and his conservative agenda and not get penalized for it by the voters. This also means there will likely be a competitive GOP primary for Governor between frontrunner Secy. of State Jon Husted and possibly Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor come 2018 with a lot at stake that year on who controls the next redistricting process.

Meanwhile, for our state Dem Party, this will allow us to at least reorganize our party from what went wrong this year, and build-up and recruit big rising stars like Nan Whaley and Armond Budish. Unlike the FL Democratic Party, I still have faith our state party can recuperate but it will take a lot of time and effort to do it. I'm all for Sherrod Brown leading us on the right path these next few years.

[Senate Minority Leader Lord Voldemort]

Meanwhile, for our state Dem Party, this will allow us to at least reorganize our party from what went wrong this year, and build-up and recruit big rising stars like Nan Whaley and Armond Budish. Unlike the FL Democratic Party, I still have faith our state party can recuperate but it will take a lot of time and effort to do it. I'm all for Sherrod Brown leading us on the right path these next few years.

Hopefully Brown will help the OH Dems stand for something. He has appealing populist positions that could resonate well with OH voters. Make it a model for the rest of the country.

[TJ in Oregon]

Chris Redfern also lost. I suppose blind partisan hackishness eventually catches up to a man.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Chris Redfern also lost. I suppose blind partisan hackishness eventually catches up to a man.

The person who beat him is under investigation for burglary, if I'm not mistaken.

[moderatevoter]

Startling fact from Tuesday's Governor's Race.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Source: Link

That's how damaging FitzGerald was.

[Badger]

How bad was it for Fitzgerald Tuesday? He lost his OWN PRECINCT!

http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-daily-briefing/2014/11/11-5-14-fitz-precinct.html

Apparently his neighbors don't like the idea of a chronically unlicensed driver cruising their streets.

[Badger]

Chris Redfern also lost. I suppose blind partisan hackishness eventually catches up to a man.

The person who beat him is under investigation for burglary, if I'm not mistaken.

Correct.

http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/story/news/local/2014/10/07/new-special-prosecutor-named-lightner-road-burglary/16845245/

[MATTROSE94]

LOL at Fitzgerald losing his own county (Cuyahoga County) by 7%! Also, was John Kaisich's margin of victory the largest one in Ohio history?

[KCDem]

LOL at Fitzgerald losing his own county (Cuyahoga County) by 7%! Also, was John Kaisich's margin of victory the largest one in Ohio history?

Nope. Voinovich won by 48 in 1994.

[LeBron]

There's several frontrunners to replace Redfern as ODP Chair a month from now. Dennis Wojtanowski was originally supposed to be set in stone as the Sherrod Brown-endorsed candidate, but Wojtanowski dropped out of the running after it was revealed he's donated money to Republicans in the past.

So as it stands, here's the top frontrunners and other "potential" replacements for Redfern:

David Pepper - Former Hamilton County Commissioner, 2014 Democratic nominee for Attorney General. He's expressed interest and he's popular intra-party. I really wouldn't mind him being the chair. He's a great fundraiser, even outraising DeWine a number of times, and he ran a vigorous and aggressive campaign against him. The main issue with him though is his controversial association with Todd Portune, but otherwise besides that, he's got a great shot.

Janet Carson - President of the Ohio Democratic County Chairs Association and Chairwoman of the Geauga County Democratic Party. Party leaders are trying to recruit her and she's considering it. I don't know a lot about her, but Geauga County is a blood red county for the GOP, so her as chair could really help us continue Chris Redfern's tradition of expanding the map for Democratic pickups all around the state.

John Haseley - Strickland's former chief of staff. He also worked on Strickland's 2010 re-election campaign as his senior adviser and in 2006 as campaign director. Overall, pretty bland as you could guess and very little name ID. The one benefit of him though if he does become chair is he could possibly influence a Strickland Senate 2016 run. He could also carry over any past experience he has with the Strickland Administration into his role as ODP Chair in an era of Ohio politics where we're desperate for a Democratic Governor again.

Sharen Neuhardt - Believe it or not, her name has been thrown around. She was the running mate of Ed FitzGerald, yes, but Neuhardt was not the reason for Fitzy's implosion or his loss. Neuhardt does have great fundraising skills, but her negative falls under being a lackluster speaker imo. There's also the downside of having a radical feminist and perennial loser as our ODP Chair, which would be kind of embarrassing.

Nina Turner - Outgoing State Senator from right here in Cleve, and 2014 Secretary of State Democratic nominee. tbh, it's unlikely she goes for the chairmanship. She was a good friend of Pepper during the election as the "election protection team", and she'll presumably just support him for chair. Mayor Frank Jackson is likely going to retire in 2017, and Turner has her eyes set on replacing him as Cleveland Mayor anyways, and for right now, Turner plans to go back to her teaching career for awhile. If she does run, then she's the exact opposite of Neuhardt, actually. Turner is a poor fundraiser, but man can she motivate voters and fire up a crowd. Plus if this year is any indication, the ODP needs to get a better outreach with African Americans, but again, she probably won't run for the chairmanship.

Melissa Klide Hedden - She's most known for joining FitzGerald's fundraising team as the finance chair earlier this year. Aside from that, she's also fundraised before for Sen. Sherrod Brown and State Rep. Ted Celeste and is a former aide for Sen. John Glenn. She likely won't get it, but it should be interesting to see if Brown will endorse her or not.

Sarah Benzing - She's a national Democratic prospect that worked to get Gillibrand elected to the Senate in 2010, Brown re-elected in 2012, and Markey elected in 2013. The problem is, she isn't even a native of Ohio and she was the campaign manager for the flopped Braley campaign this year. She could set Ohio up big in the national spotlight for 2016, but she's also the "bailout" option.

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The next Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party ultimately gets chosen by the executive committee so we have no idea how this will end up, though many high up in the state party, including Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O'Neill and the 4 U.S. Democratic Reps from Ohio, have been asking for more involvement and discussion over this. And there should be.

I personally would prefer Turner the most, but Pepper and Carson I would be perfectly fine with to. Our problem's just don't stop at a lack of quality candidates and being bombarded in fundraising by the ORP. It goes one step further with the lack of young enthusiasm in Ohio, and Pepper can change that.

Redfern meanwhile is aiming and has been approached by some to be a co-chair for Hillary's campaign in Ohio in 2016. Redfern's early tenure as state party chair was very, very successful and he could be a good recruit, but I'd much rather see him have a rematch in 2016 for HD-89. Obama carried the district with 53% of the vote in 2012, and Redfern could easily win the seat against a corrupt Republican incumbent (Kraus) or in an open seat.