What's happened here? I remember a couple of years ago, Kasich was considered one of, if not the most endangered Republican incumbent.
Kasich's approvals were in the gutter, but since then, he seems to have tacked back to the center (Medicaid Expansion, for example). Plus, the Ohio Democratic Party doesn't have a particularly impressive bench.
It's not so much that our bench is bad, but more-so Ryan, Sutton and Cordray were all considering running for Governor before FitzGerald became the acceptable Democratic candidate. This really dates back to 2012 when Fitzy gained statewide rec. among his party after challenging Husted on the cuts to voting the weekend before Election Day. On paper, Ed did look great and the party itself was ready to rally around Ed. He seemed like a phenomenal rising star in Ohio Democratic politics, but this campaign just ruined him.
Meanwhile, I continue to see emails from Lauren Hitt, Erin Ryan and a few others high up in the FitzGerald campaign team continuing to ask for donations, hitting Kasich on the issues, and mentioning how Ed's "closing the gap" in this poll. I admire this campaign's consistent optimism, but it's over. I mean come on, you know your campaign is dead when you drop as low as debating the Green candidate without Kasich involved or managing to lose the female vote by double digits.
In regards to Kasich, the Kasich of 2011 will be returning in 2015. This moderate heroism by him as of late won't last much longer, as the legislature, which is in safe GOP control, is waiting for the election to end to start passing more radical legislation like photo ID and right-to-work. We won't see Kasich calling cops "idiots" anymore, but Kasich will be on the Tea Party's and special interest's sides again soon enough gearing up for 2016.
