OH-Sen 2018: Mandel launches fundraising effort for possible run

[RogueBeaver]

Rematch time? He said he won't decide till after November.

[Maxwell]

Excellent news! Mandel has the worst chance of anyone, in my opinion.

[Maxwell]

Too bad he won't get the nomination.. but nonetheless, he's not to be underestimated. If 2018 is a Republican wave, Mandel will defeat Brown.

Republicans spent all of 2012 hyping Mandel as their dream candidate only for him to lose by more than Romney did in Ohio, even as the Democrats had a super liberal incumbent. If 2014 weren't such a GOP tidal wave in Ohio then Mandel may have lost re-election. Mandel is a weak candidate.

[Asian Nazi]

He may be a weak candidate, but I agree with TNVolunteer that he would win in a wave election, which 2018 is likely to be if Clinton wins this fall.

[Vosem]

As an actual Ohio Republican, it's been well-known for a while that Mandel, short of some very unlikely scenario like losing reelection in 2014, has been planning a rematch with Brown.

As to those saying he's a weak candidate, I think you're misinterpreting the lessons of the 2012 campaign: rather, Brown is a very, very strong candidate, and probably the most talented politician that the Ohio Democratic Party has, and Mandel ran a very credible fight against him; over the summer, even as Ohio was effectively tied (or Obama had a very small lead), Brown was leading Mandel by double-digits; even as Ohio moved left in the autumn, towards a more certain Obama lead, Mandel was making up the gap with Brown. It was ultimately not enough, but the point was that this wasn't a race that correlated with the presidential race, and there were a decent number of Brown/Romney voters. These people voted for Brown, not against Mandel.

At the same time, Ohio is a very different state now between presidential versus midterm elections; consider that every statewide election in 2014 Republicans won by double-digits. The different electorate will be a weight on Brown's shoulders, and Mandel will be stronger since he'll have eight rather than two years of statewide experience. In a neutral or pro-Democratic environment Brown should win, but I think Mandel has a very strong shot in a Hillary midterm, which should tilt R in really any case.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I think Strickland is undeestimated in his race against Portman and Brown, which is too a candidate, will be undestimated. I strongly support them.

[Ogre Mage]

Perhaps Josh Mandel's terrible candidate skills have improved since 2012.

Two of his greatest hits from that campaign:

When local radio host Ron Ponder hung up on Mandel during an interview because Mandel would not answer questions about cronyism in the State Treasurer's Office (includes audio clip and transcript):
http://www.plunderbund.com/2012/10/12/josh-mandel-loses-cool-makes-radio-host-hang-up-during-interview/


A terrible meeting with the Youngstown Vindicator editorial board which sunk to this level:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/09/josh-mandel-editorial-board-auto-bailout_n_1952762.html

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Ohio has been good to Dems, and I hope Strickland unseats Portman. But, since Kasich will no longer be Gov, that compassionate conservatism will be gone. And Dems will start to rise in 2016 & 2018.

[Free Bird]

Give DeWine his rematch, Josh

[Maxwell]

Give DeWine his rematch, Josh

From what I've heard and read DeWine seems more interested in the imminently winnable Governors race.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Give DeWine his rematch, Josh

From what I've heard and read DeWine seems more interested in the imminently winnable Governors race.

That is correct.  Husted and DeWine, for that matter.

[MT Treasurer]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/04/josh_mandel_wastes_little_time.html

[Vosem]

Good, good. We're well on track to reaffirm in 2018 that we are the Natural Governing Party of this nation.

[Heisenberg]

Unless Kasich is President or VP, I think he should run for this seat, but I'm not sure if he's interested.

[IceSpear]

Great news!

[/]

thank god

[BuckeyeNut]

Mandel will almost definitely get in, while Kasich probably isn't interested. That said, The Cleveland Plain Dealer is speculating Pat Tiberi might get in.

Tiberi's a lot more credible a threat than Mandel, so hopefully they get into an ugly primary.

EDIT: DeWine rematch would be foolish, and as X stated, he wants to be Governor. He's held pretty much every-other elected position in the state.

[Kingpoleon]

Kasich or Tiberi will probably get this. The Kasich support is heavy in Ohio.

[BuckeyeNut]

Kasich doesn't want to go back to Congress. And running for the Senate in '18 would ruin a third POTUS run in 2020. Rubio, and more locally, Mandel, have proved voters don't like politicians who are discontent with the job they already have.

[Xing]

Mandel shouldn't be underestimated, but Brown shouldn't, either. Mandel certainly could win in a wave, but if it's a neutral year or a slightly Republican-leaning year, I think Brown probably holds on.

[syntaxerror]

Brown's held on in a strong Republican year before; I believe he can do it again.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Brown's held on in a strong Republican year before; I believe he can do it again.

He won in 2006 & 2012 not strong GOP years. But he has an upper hand on Mandel

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Mandel will almost definitely get in, while Kasich probably isn't interested. That said, The Cleveland Plain Dealer is speculating Pat Tiberi might get in.

Tiberi's a lot more credible a threat than Mandel, so hopefully they get into an ugly primary.

EDIT: DeWine rematch would be foolish, and as X stated, he wants to be Governor. He's held pretty much every-other elected position in the state.

Tiberi doesn't seem to want it, Stivers is probably gonna be the nominee.

[ElectionsGuy]

Congratulations Senator Brown on your re-election!

[Heisenberg]

Brown is VERY liberal, like the 3rd most liberal senator, and his state is R+2 or so on Cook.  Mandel is weak, he should seek another statewide office, or OH-16 if Renacci vacates it before running for Senate.  It's clear Mandel really wants to be Senator, but he should let Kasich have this seat.  Kasich would probably beat Brown by about 20 points.