Can newly-elected Ted Strickland help the Democratic presidential candidate carry Ohio in 2008? It's a fair question, and Reid Wilson from the RealClearPolitics blog seems to think the answer is yes.

By far the most common criticism was that I had omitted the most obvious choice: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. The newly-elected governor and former long-time congressman was subjected to the veep treatment by Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray in the Washington Post a few weeks ago, and would be a big help for any Democrat hoping to win Ohio.

...

-- Finally, Strickland is arguably the most popular Democrat in Ohio, save perhaps John Glenn. Ohio is perhaps the most important state, electorally, to a presidential contest. With an historically weak Democratic Party that is only now rebuilding itself, state Democrats need someone at the top. With Strickland's solid presence, the party can work to regain seats in the legislature and take out several Republican members of Congress it has targeted in recent years. In the long run, Strickland as Governor does more for the Democratic Party than Strickland as Vice President.

Ted Strickland is a good match for Ohio. Inoffensive and kind of bland. Just like the state. But could he help carry Ohio? Maybe, but there's a big risk. The truth is that Strickland is still very much untested in a big heavy statewide campaign. In 2006 he ran against the Republican establishment and painted his opponent Ken Blackwell as part of it. Blackwell let him. As the former Governor Taft had a 15% popularity rating, it was a walk in.

A friend was back from Ohio yesterday, and I've been thinking about what role the Buckeye State barometer will mean for national politics these days.

So far, the most notable Ohioan out there in the presidential race is anti-war Democratic gadfly Dennis Kucinich. He shows us that the Midwest maligned by Easterners like myself actually has a liberal side. I guess the 2004 presidential election proved this: Even though Dubya won the state, John Kerry did well in urban areas. So, if even the Midwest is trending left, that's a good sign for Democrats.

Yet while liberal Ohioans like Kucinich, new Sen. Sherrod Brown, and new Gov. Ted Strickland are enjoying rising fortunes, though, don't expect the religious right in the state to roll over. After all, powerful Pentecostal pastor Rod Parsley, of the World Harvest Church outside Columbus, has come out with a new book, "Culturally Incorrect," which is on the best-seller list of the newspaper he loves to hate, the New York Times.

There's been a little kerfuffle today in Ohio when our new governor up and decides that Bush's plan to resettle some 7,000 Iraq refugees is not welcome.

"I think Ohio and Ohioans have contributed a lot to Iraq in terms of blood, sweat and too many tears," Strickland said. "I am sympathetic to the plight of the innocent Iraqi people who have fled that country. However, I would not want to ask Ohioans to accept a greater burden than they already have borne for the Bush administration's failed policies."

The U.S. has a responsibility to help Iraqis who face danger in their own country for helping Americans topple Saddam Hussein's government, said Abid Al-Marayati, a professor of government at the University of Toledo who left Iraq in 1958.

"It's not a question of whether we should accept them or not. These people served the U.S. forces," Al-Marayati said. "I think for our country, we could absorb that (number of refugees) quite easily."

The statement in the first paragraph is very odd coming from a Democrat whose campaign rhetoric all throughout the campaign season was about helping the downtrodden. Apparently that only works if the downtrodden are currently citizens of Ohio. Everyone else can get lost, even if you have helped the US in the war on terror.

This statement is raising eyebrows on normally friendly territory.

Buckeyestateblog:

Not sure what to think, so... I'm reserving judgement on this one until the Governor has a chance to more fully respond to the issue. (And I'm certain he'll have that chance).

Governor Taft, not content with a 17% Approval rating, and being shown the door out of the statehouse. Gets another slap in the face. The first override of a governor since 1975:

Gov. Bob Taft today vetoed a concealed-carry gun bill that would have overturned local bans on assault weapons, including one in Cincinnati.

The Ohio House then easily overrode the veto today, 71 to 21. The House needed 60 votes to override.

A total of 19 votes are needed for the Senate to override. The Senate reconvenes on Tuesday.

This marks the first time the House has voted to override a Taft veto. The governor has vetoed just two other bills in his eight years in office.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. James Aslanides, a Republican from Coshocton, said his legislation is as grassroots as legislation comes and has the support of law enforcement.

Apparently it's not enough that he has turned the state of Ohio blue singlehandedly. He has to continue to alienate key constituencies of normally GOP voters. Maybe he's going for an under 10% approval rating?

The Democrats here aren't being stupid either. They're voting for the concealed weapons law, saying, "See, we're on your side rural voters!".

It should be noted that incoming Democratic governor Ted Strickland, and incoming Dem AG Marc Dann are both pro-gun, and their GOP opponents were anti-gun.

Scuttlebutt around Ohio has it that DeWine is going to settle back for a couple of years and prepare to challenge Ted Strickland for governor of Ohio in 2010. Publicly, DeWine is only saying that he's considering a teaching career, but you don't kill off an old politician that easily. He's going to try for something. But what? Governor is out, Voinovich will run again for his seat in 2010. A congressional district is a step down for a senator, so that leaves the governorship in 2010.

The rumors of this are filling the Ohio GOP rank and file with dismay. While DeWine was a two-term US Senator, he also lost to an all-out liberal in what is widely regarded as a terrible campaign. The campaign was slow, it went negative clumsily and not on the strongest issues, and we often got the sense that DeWine never really took the campaign seriously. Certainly he never really made the case to vote for him. He made the case that the other guy was worse. Well, now we have the other guy.

But here's the real reason the ranks are saying "no DeWine". he completely flipped the counties in SE Ohio over to the other side. What was that about?

The race between Senator Mike DeWine and Senator Sherrod Brown is neck and neck. From the perspective of a gun owner the race is lose-lose and there is no lesser of two evils. It is important to note that the Brady Campaign has endorsed Senator Mike DeWine for re-election.

Oh.

Excellent Analysis by fellow Cincinnatian Adam Schaeffer.

Steele has run a strong campaign that puts him right behind Cardin in the polls. He will earn a sizeable share of the black vote - over 30% is quite possible - and benefit by a low turnout from black Democratic voters. Cardin must have a large and lopsidedly Democratic turnout from black voters, who make up almost 30% of the population.

I think that's right on, and I'm sure that he is also right about Blackwell...

Blackwell has largely run as the Republican establishment's candidate, mellowing his criticism and going along to get along as he did not do in the primary. "Run to the center," his advisors surely whispered. But the center of the Ohio Republican Party is a swampy lowland infested with tax-hikers and outright criminals. Ohio voters need proof of character in that word's most basic sense - a test through trial. Blackwell has not taken the risks or stoked the controversy needed to prove to a cynical electorate that he is a principled Republican. It's a very difficult task to accomplish, but there was a way for Blackwell to prove his bona fides to a skeptical public.

A sharp break with the Party, a strong denunciation of its corruption, and a call for reform would have earned Blackwell badly needed credibility and earned media. After all, the media love Republican in-fighting and candidates who criticize the Party (this year even more than most). No reporter could resist covering it - it's too delicious. And Blackwell's background supports the frame . . . he was not the Party choice, and he is a principled conservative.

It would have been an interesting thing to campaign that way, and inherently risky, but ultimately I believe that would be a clearer path to victory.

First, the Cincinnati Enquirer sensationalizes Ken Blackwell's attacks and focuses almost exclusively on the Ted Strickland as gay theme, ignoring what Blackwell really said during the last debate. For the record, the Blackwell campaign was focused on the issues.

The very next day, front page news: "Strickland Is Not Gay." Yeah, thanks for clearing that up Howard. But you're asking the wrong questions.

Thursday the Enquirer lambastes Blackwell for distributing the Cunningham-Hannity transcript. Included in the story are the juicy details of course. Plus they race around to collect quotes only from other GOP candidates.

Friday the Enquirer once again hands the megaphone to Cunningham and Strickland spokesman calls it "outrageous"

Now, Today, the Enquirer castigates Blackwell for a muddy campaign.

In 2004 I was amazed at the self-delusion of the lefties who kept insisting that Kerry would win Ohio when fact after fact showed the opposite. I started my blog in early September of 2004 and finding out the real story of the Ohio ground game quickly became a major focus.

After that election I promised myself that I would never be that self-deluded. So when I look at the numbers and all the facts on the ground, I say realistically, that Strickland is going to be the next governor. I don't like to say it of course, but the polls, the energy that I see all points in the same direction. If you ask me to take my best shot, that's what it's going to be. If you're conservative, I don't want you waking up on Wednesday morning suprised and shocked as the lefties were in 2004.

That being said, I honestly believe there's a couple of wild cards in play that give Blackwell a real chance.