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

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I think we should wait to see if Ed Fitzgerald is planning on running. It fits with the practice of running losers from past elections. Feingold Hagan Sestak Begich Romanoff. Why not Fitzgerald? He did great this past year, he even managed to win 2 counties against Kasich.

Because he performed significantly below the floor of a Democrat running statewide in Ohio. In fact, he performed below the foundation.

Sittenfeld began accepting donations for a Senate bid today. Once he's raised $5,000, he has 15 days before he has to file his candidacy.

And everyone in Cuyahoga County asks...who?

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These are among the biggest names on that list. But wow. This really shows the state party is united around Portman (although some of these endorsements probably were not willingly), and he avoided several potential primary challengers here. I guess this is Kasich's "reward" to Portman for staying out of the Presidential primary so that Kasich can attempt to fulfill his own ambitions in doing that.

I really doubt that Kasich intends to run for President in 2016, and I really don't think Portman was ever in serious danger of a primary challenge (and I doubt, unless there's a very large Democratic wave, that he's in particular danger in the general election either, though that's not a 100% thing in this state).

And why doesn't he deserve another term? He has a fantastic record in the Senate, having become one of the Republican leaders on economic policy and having been considered for the vice Presidency at one point. And how in the hell is Josh Mandel a 'Tea Party darling' or 'corrupt'?

You're hurting my head

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Strickland is quite, old, right?

He's 73. If he were elected to the Senate in 2016, I think he'd be the oldest non-placeholder to enter the Senate...ever. But that doesn't mean he'd be a one-termer; like others have noted, others have served well into their 90s, and Strom Thurmond crossed the 100 barrier. He could stay in office for a while, especially if at 73 he still has the energy to do something new like this.

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Lebron: TL, DR, dude.

Shorter LeBron: The primary winner should be the first person to announce--how dare the Dem establishment rally around a more experienced candidate. Cegelis! Darcy! Hackett! Sittenfeld!

First of all, the Democratic establishment isn't rallying around anyone yet. There's plenty of activists and party leaders in the state who said they don't want Strickland. P.G. is accumulating ODP support, and it helps when you're best friends with the state party chair.

As for Strickland having "more experience", the last time Strickland ran in a race was 5 years ago. The last time he won a race was nearly a decade ago, and if you read what I said his statewide campaigns are incredibly below average when it comes to GOTV strategy. P.G.'s experience of campaigns involves gaining support from Democrats, Indies and Republicans in his past City Council races with the help of his fundraising skills, bipartisan credentials, and ability to connect with people in many ways.

So with that said, Strickland is an experienced loser at the age of 73. P.G. is a learning to become experienced winner at the age of 30.

No, leaks indicate that P.G. will drop out, basically because the state Democratic Party is rallying around Strickland, which is because -- I say this as a fellow Ohioan (as a fellow Northeast Ohioan, in fact), even if I don't wear the avatar -- with his appeal to Appalachia and experience running a campaign, Strickland is the best candidate the Democrats' have. You're right, of course, that Strickland cares more about himself than the Democratic Party, but after two consecutive beatings in 2010 and 2014 the Democratic Party basically has to accept that. I would love to see my region adopt a neutral (or, hell, pro-Portman) attitude in the Senate race, but we both know the reason Strickland takes Northeast Ohio for granted is because Northeast Ohio will vote for him anyway, especially in a Senate race conducted in a presidential year.

I think Strickland's comeback rather echoes Tommy Thompson's and that Rob Portman will ultimately win (and that one of his key advantages is the weakness of the OHDP), but this becomes an actual, real race starting now. Whether Sittenfeld could've challenged Portman or not was unclear (though I suspect, because of the presidential year, it would've happened).

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Meh. Sittenfeld was an unknown before his brief Senate campaign, but he fundraised pretty well during it and that could well have allowed him to compete. Almost certainly not win, but yes to compete. People go from no elective experience --> Senate fairly frequently (David Perdue, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee), so I don't see why City Council --> Senate should be harder except for the fact that it is typically difficult for City Councilmen to fundraise and they are not typically self-funders. If Sittenfeld would've been able to fundraise and wouldn't totally drop the ball, he would almost certainly have been able to keep Portman at least to a high single-digit margin.

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Strickland is an old man whose campaign is the second coming of Tommy Thompson's; he's incredibly lucky that he will have Hillary Clinton atop the ballot, though even that may not be enough.