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

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

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.

Who else do they have? Sittenfield is only known locally, and tim Ryan probably will never leave the house

From Wikipedia's page on the 2016 OH senate election:

John Boccieri, former U.S. Representative
Jennifer Brunner, Judge on the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals, former Ohio Secretary of State and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010
Michael B. Coleman, Mayor of Columbus
Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and former Ohio Attorney General
Connie Pillich, State Representative and nominee for Ohio State Treasurer in 2014
Betty Sutton, Administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation and former U.S. Representative
Nan Whaley, Mayor of Dayton
Bob Hagan, Member of the Ohio School Board of Education and former State Representative
Joyce Beatty, U.S. Representative
Nina Turner, State Senator and nominee for Ohio Secretary of State in 2014

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

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.

Who else do they have? Sittenfield is only known locally, and tim Ryan probably will never leave the house

From Wikipedia's page on the 2016 OH senate election:

John Boccieri, former U.S. Representative
Jennifer Brunner, Judge on the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals, former Ohio Secretary of State and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010
Michael B. Coleman, Mayor of Columbus
Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and former Ohio Attorney General
Connie Pillich, State Representative and nominee for Ohio State Treasurer in 2014
Betty Sutton, Administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation and former U.S. Representative
Nan Whaley, Mayor of Dayton
Bob Hagan, Member of the Ohio School Board of Education and former State Representative
Joyce Beatty, U.S. Representative
Nina Turner, State Senator and nominee for Ohio Secretary of State in 2014

I don't want Nina Turner anywhere near higher office.

[Keystone Phil]

I haven't seen this much excitement for a defeat former Governor who has been out of office for 4+ years since Tony Knowles lost whatever he ran for last!

[Brittain33]

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.

Unlike Thompson, he's running in the good electorate year, not the bad electorate year. (But on the other hand, unlike Thompson, it's not an open seat race so is harder for Strickland.)

Portman is a strong incumbent but with first Kander and now Strickland jumping in, Dems must feel they have a good year coming.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I haven't seen this much excitement for a defeat former Governor who has been out of office for 4+ years since Tony Knowles lost whatever he ran for last!
[/quote

Strickland is a Bob Casey Dem on gun rights. Casey lost a gubernatorial bid, too and won a Senate seat, Phil.

Dems may very well win WI, MO, OH, IL and Pa and CO and wind up with a 51-50 majority with Chuck Schumer as Dem leader, with Reid's defeat. Which I am hoping due to CRONIBUS.

[LeBron]

Before I say anything else, I have a lot to get off my chest about this Strickland candidacy and the possibility that P.G. drops out, and I'll cover this in one or two posts.

Strickland was giving Democrats considering running the wrong impression when he initially said he had no interest in the Senate, and only recently post-Sittenfeld announcement started making big hints that he's running. The fact that he expects P.G. to drop out just like that after misleading P.G. really goes to show a lot about Strickland's character and if he really does care about the best interests of the ODP.

So P.G. has to either do what the Strickland machine asks of him, or end up like Jennifer Brunner. If P.G. drops out, then Strickland gets his way and he'll "promise" to support P.G. in a future statewide run. When Brunner dared to defy Strickland and ran against Fisher, Strickland made sure Brunner's donors were cut off significantly and attacked her and her family repeatedly. The same could possibly happen to P.G. if he stays in. It's Strickland's old intimidation tactics at work again, and it was those same vicious assaults that gave the clown of a Lieutenant Governor the Senate nomination in 2010 only for him to implode against Portman. Let's also not forget that was around the same time Strickland attempted to go against the party's wishes and did all in his power to try and get Jennifer Garrison, who's a massive bigot and flamethrower herself, the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State. He doesn't care what Ohio Democrats want. Ted Strickland will do what's best for Ted Strickland.

So you know, if Strickland has to scare or bribe all his possible opponents so that he can get the nomination, then the voting process is out the door according to Strickland. I would much rather prefer Strickland to prove himself to Democrats in Ohio by facing P.G. Sittenfeld in the primary, rather than just handing him the nomination on a silver platter.

Enough about that though. Strickland is talked as the miracle candidate the ODP needs for Senate to move forward, but I'm about to prove that false.

First, campaign strategy - Strickland in his 2010 campaign proved just how flat-footed and incompetent he is of running a statewide campaign. Even if you go as far back as 2006, he won on account of a Democratic wave and the most unpopular outgoing Republican governor in Ohio history. Not because he was some "master campaigner." Money was his answer to everything, and his strategy involved spending a majority of his time campaigning in Appalachia. He had nobody on his ticket from Northeast Ohio, did nothing for this region while governor, and barely spent any campaign time up here, and it showed at the polls when turnout was abysmal. He took Northeast Ohio for granted, and after he lost he blamed Cleveland, not himself for why he lost. This is a true story, to. He's quoted as saying he "deserved"/was entitled to Northeast Ohio's support, even though Strickland refused to show Northeast Ohio support during the recession.

His strategy was a joke if you just look at the registration numbers. In Northeast Ohio alone, there's over 2.5 million registered voters. That includes nearly a million in Cuyahoga, one of the most Democratic counties in Ohio. In southeast Ohio alone, there's only about 400,000 registered voters, give or take. Just from this you can tell the strategy to winning in Ohio is GOTV heavily and spending a crucial amount of time in Cuyahoga, Summit, Mahoning, Hamilton, Lucas....areas that will supply Democratic candidates with plenty of votes especially if they campaign for them. He would need to run up the margin's there, but Strickland is wasting his time thinking that southeast Ohio will decide elections. He'll have Hillary at the top of the ticket who already does well in that part of the state. And I don't trust him here with this after he failed us in 2010 for being partially accountable for why John Kasich became governor. I would trust P.G. though who is very promising, and has been able to do something that Strickland can't - win.

If he's so interested in getting back in office, then he could just as easily stay relevant in another way by defeating the very weak incumbent Rep. Bill Johnson in OH-6. After all, if Lou Gentile doesn't run, the ODP needs a candidate there. That district is completely engulfed in Appalachia anyways, and Strickland would rather represent just Appalachia than the whole state of Ohio. He has the energy still to make a last run for something, though he's running for the wrong office.

As for the political issues - One might be more electable than the other if for no other reason having the best name recognition and most cash, but only one is a solid progressive in this Democratic primary while the other is a Blue Dog type of Democrat. One is 30 years old and is the party's future, the other is 73 years old and is the party's past. In an electorate made up of young, liberal urban voters and minorities, Ohio Democrats would much rather prefer a candidate like P.G. Sittenfeld.

- On income inequality, Sittenfeld is a strong believer that the rich should pay more to relieve burdens on the poor and middle class. Strickland, as governor, instead of line-item vetoing it signed off on the Taft-income tax cuts that benefited the wealthy.

- On student loan debt and college affordability, P.G. has an initiative he proposed to City Council (and wants to propose in the Senate) that would significantly reduce interest rates and save 9,000,000 students thousands of dollars. What has Strickland done? After slashing state funding for public universities, several universities in Ohio raised their tuition costs even higher.

- On gun control, Sittenfeld believes in comprehensive gun control reform. As governor, Strickland signed a modern-day Stand Your Ground law, supports conceal carry and has an A rating from the NRA.

- On clean energy and the environment, P.G. and the City Council voted to dump Duke Energy and invest in renewable energy for their city. Strickland's record on it is backing the construction of coal-powered plants in southeast Ohio, despite the EPAs objections due to the high sulfur-dioxide pollution in several counties.

- On job creation, Sittenfeld and the City Council passed a budget last year that prevented the city's police and firefighters from being laid off. Strickland, while governor laid off over 5,000 state employees who depended on those jobs. Job growth has also increased substantially in Cincinnati FWIW.

- On education, P.G. as Chair of the Education and Entrepreneurship Committee has worked to turn non-active schools at night into social hubs/community centers for the public, is working on providing more Wifi access to schools, and has openly criticized the state government for the cuts they've made to school districts. Strickland? He tried to balance a budget deficit by cutting state aid from schools and libraries that needed it.

- On equal rights, Cincinnati has gained a rating by the HRC as one of the most LGBT-friendly cities for passing on the City Council equal benefits for city employees, overturning an anti-LGBT discrimination law and are combating bullying and suicide deaths in schools. Strickland, two years after Jennifer Garrison prevented the passing of an anti-bullying bill based off of sexual orientation, helped Garrison become Ohio House Majority Leader. P.G. is also pro-choice and has been vocal against the state government's attacks on reproductive and voting rights. Strickland on the other hand while in Congress, had a moderately pro-life voting record.

One of the many reasons Democrats did so bad in 2014 was because there were Democratic candidates out there running to the right of Republicans on some of these issues like Alison Lundergan Grimes and Natalie Tennant. Strickland just might try to do that as well depending on how this campaign goes.

Now the records - When you look at Strickland, you immediately think of 400,000 jobs lost. Republicans will use that, but they'll also attack him on the credit downgrades, his record of working for George Soros, his record with the Midwest Gateway Partners lobbying firm, having spent more time in DC than in Ohio, and other things that are already in Portman's online attack ads against Strickland. With the amount of money being spent by the GOP, they will be effective and will gain memorable, negative reactions from Ohioans of the past whether they're true or not.

It is worth noting to, that in this 3-man race so far, P.G. Sittenfeld is the only DC outsider. He's never been a Washington politician, and is an Ohioan first. The Ohio GOP has failed to find anything on him. The best they've been able to do so far is try comparing him to Ed FitzGerald, and it won't work. P.G. would not run for statewide office knowing full well that he has major baggage that could be leaked by the media after seeing that's how Fitzy crashed.

Point is, 2016 is going to be a good year for Democrats and voters will turnout no matter what. But we need a candidate who works best for this political climate and connects well in crowds and on social media with the Ohio voters.

[LeBron]

I'm also sick and tired of hearing how Sittenfeld would be a weak nominee because of "mah City Council." That's your only defense you guys have on him for why he would suck. Compare the pros and cons of him as Democratic nominee, and the pros outweigh the cons.

Sittenfeld already has some mid-scale state party endorsements, and has plenty of outside help from advisers who worked for Hillary and Obama to fundraise with him. He can raise money, contrary to belief (and already has at least $500,000 on hand). He's ran incredibly strong campaigns and this is just a sample of the awesome ads he can put together. Look him up on Youtube for some of his speeches, and you can easily tell he's an electrifying speaker. He loves social media - he grew up on it, and he knows how to get donors, knows which issues he should tackle (for example, he's focusing heavily on college affordability and raising the minimum wage), and he is the kind of candidate young voters would come out to vote for as his name recognition progresses. It would be hard for him to get elected against a man like Portman, but not impossible.

Chairman Pepper has a new initiative to try and get more fresh and progressive faces elected to local and statewide office, and Strickland gets in the way of that.

Instead of a primary fight, we need to be uniting as a party in a time of recovery and use all resources to go into defeating Portman. If Strickland demands to run though, then bring it on.

[socaldem]

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!

[LeBron]

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 and Independents.

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.

[free my dawg]

jesus christ

[badgate]

jesus christ

I regret starting this thread for the monster I have created.

[Vosem]

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).

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

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).

Sittenfeld would have put a scare into Portman, but I honestly don't see any realistic scenario in which Portman doesn't get a 4+ point win against Sittenfeld. City Council ---> Senate is a HUGE leap, and if Sittenfeld won, the story would probably be less about him, and more about the reverse 2014 from sea to shining sea.

That being said, the people who think Sittenfeld would lose like Fisher did (yes, people have actually suggested that) need to give up that theory. Sittenfeld's not some terrible candidate, he just doesn't have the strength, donors, or name recongition of Strickland. Furthermore, Strickland's record is known, Sittenfeld is an unknown entity who may have some unknown skeletons in his closet. That being said, we can be pretty confident that Sittenfeld doesn't have a fitzgerald-esque embarrassment hiding somewhere, as he's probably smart enough that he wouldn't just 'run and hope nobody notices' like Fitzgerald did. Add in presidential turnout, and Sittenfeld probably has a realistic floor of ~44% and a realistic ceiling of ~47.5%.

[Vosem]

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.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

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.

Perdue & Johnson - Self-Funders
All Three - The PERFECT political environment. Lee ran at the point when the tea party was at its peak in terms of strength, and all three chose HUGE republican wave years as the year they would run.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

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.

Ignoring seat warmers, the winner is 78 year-old Frank Lautenberg. He was already a Senator, but had previously retired.

As for current Senators, Agnus King and Dan Coats (previous Senator) were slightly older than Ed Markey.

Strom Thurmond managed to be a 100 year-old Senator, and actually retired rather than dying in office.

[free my dawg]

We aren't saying Sittenfeld is a bad candidate. We're saying that it's not his time yet.

Now if a GOPer takes two terms and it's 2022, that's an entirely different story. But unless 2016 is a big wave, I don't see it.

[RogueBeaver]

Sittenfeld says he's still all in.

[Vega]

Sittenfeld says he's still all in.

He must be craving a good primary spanking.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

This race isnt gonna make or break the senate for Dems anyways. In case Dems target of IL, WI, Pa, NH, CO and NV falls through, this will be consequential then. 

But, this race tilts GOP until there is more polling on this race.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Sittenfeld says he's still all in.

If he wants to blow his political career on a suicide run, that's his business.  Doesn't really matter though, Strickland will crush Sittenfield without even acknowledging him and Sittenfield's fundraising will dry up now that Strickland is running.

[IceSpear]

If Sittenfeld's goal is just to run a positive campaign and get name recognition for a future run, then fair enough. If he actually thinks he can win? Well...bless his heart.

[Senate Minority Leader Lord Voldemort]

Couldn't find these numbers already posted in this thread, but PPP has Strickland and Portman tied up at 45-45 with 10% undecided.

[moderatevoter]

Couldn't find these numbers already posted in this thread, but PPP has Strickland and Portman tied up at 45-45 with 10% undecided.

Interesting to compare Strickland's numbers and Sittenfeld's. Considering this poll was conducted for the Ohio Democrats, I think this is their way of telling Sittenfeld to get out of their way.

[Vega]

Will Sittenfeld have to resign from his council seat?