OH-Sen: Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld likely running

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It's pretty sad that he's the best they have for 2016.

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It's pretty sad that he's the best they have for 2016.

No kidding. A city councilman? I guess Portman is invulnerable.

In a smaller state a councilman might be able to run for Governor... but this is just another depressing sign that the Ohio Democratic Party has given up.

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NJ quotes some senior Dem strategists calling Sittenfeld their most promising prodigy since Brown.

I thought their "most promising prodigy" was FitzGerald... and we see how that turned out.

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Can't we all just sit around and agree that Ed FitzGerald would be a phenomenal Ambassador to Ireland?

Obama should have tried to ram through his nomination during the lame duck session.

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Fitzy made a huge mistake in running for Governor. I would have just been content to stay County Exec.

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Isn't DeWine a little bit long in the tooth to be taking up new office that isn't the Governorship?

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P.G.'s career so far has been pretty immaculate and it would be tough for Portman to find worthwhile baggage on him.

Nobody knew Ed FitzGerald was banging Irish girls and couldn't drive until late in his campaign.

As someone who wasn't here for most of 2014, I'm intrigued. Tell me more. I knew FitzGerald's campaign was terrible, but just how terrible could it get?

Also, I'm glad that Adam hasn't stopped being incredibly optimistic about whatever candidate he supports. I'm not even joking, it's honestly refreshing, after feeling cynical about my own state party.

I don't think his actual campaign was the worst ever, but him not being able to drive and.... certain... questions.... about his personal life led to his collapse as a canddiate.

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I didn't realize how old Strickland was and how extremely young Sittenfeld is.

That being said... Strickland has less to loose and more of a shot of winning than P.G. I always like to see competitive primaries, though.

Either way, I can't imagine Strickland will stick around too long in the Senate due to 1). loosing re-election or 2). retirement.

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The funny thing is that Sittenfeld still looks older than Josh Mandel.

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Could Sittenfield transfer the money he's raised to a re-election bid (if he has an election coming up)?

I doubt that's allowed, but it might be.

Also, glad to hear Strickland is running. Sittenfeld should remain in exclusively LeBron's heart and not try a suicide this early in his career.

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The good thing is that if Strickland looses next year, it's water off a duck's back when it comes to the state party (at least bench wise).

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Strickland is in. Sittenfeld has told party leaders he'll drop out.

Sooo... thread name change?

Also, that puts an end to one rather strange chapter in Ohio Dem. history.

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I'm not an ageist but running a 73 year old candidate for Senate just doesn't sit well with me. He'd probably be one of the oldest freshman Senators ever.

Ed Markey was like 68 when he was elected in 2013. Strickland is in great health, too.

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Ted Strickland is probably going to end up as the Tommy Thompson of 2016, an over the hill former governor who is running more as a reflection of their state party's horrible bench and will probably lose by somewhere in the mid single digits

The Ohio Democrats don't really have a horrible bench, though.

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Sittenfeld says he's still all in.

He must be craving a good primary spanking.

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Will Sittenfeld have to resign from his council seat?

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So at this point, if Portman does get a primary challenger, it will likely be a no name who Portman ignores.

But that challenger will still probably get like 6-8% of the vote because of rural counties.

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Maybe an endorsement from Adam is the kiss of scandals to Democratic candidates in Ohio.

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Please X, do not criticize Lebron's *skills*. You should remember how right he was about Fitzgerald in 2014.

It's not his fault that FitzGerald was banging Irish girls.

Yeah, to be fair, Fitzy looked like the perfect candidate. It's not like he was a clear bomb from the beginning.

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Portman has a Some Dude running to his right:

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Never heard of him, not a factor.

He'll still probably end up getting 10-15% of the vote because he's someone other than Portman on the R-ballot.