^^ I don't think there is animosity, but people will be skeptical of corruption. (The state is fine with NEO libs. See: Brown, Sherrod)

 

Kasich is vulnerable (but not a pushover) to anyone but a complete lemon. The Dems put up a complete lemon.

Kasich's biggest advantage is a compliant media that looks only at politics and not at policy -- never really examines just what Kasich is doing, and how he is a top-down, shoot-from-the-hip, I-already-know-all-the-answers guy who is contemptuous of the people in state agencies, much less the working people of Ohio.

I take that back. His two equally huge assets are a compliant media and an utterly inept state Democratic chair.

^I agree, but Fitzgerald lost this election.  He was just a bad candidate from the beginning and couldn't get the support needed to pose a real threat to Kasich.  Kasich also did a good job changing his image after the SB5 fiasco.  He fought his own party on a number of issues and made himself look like the reasonable one in the room (compared to the state Republicans).  He's a seasoned politician and he did what he needed to do to put himself in a position to win.

 

He's done a better job than I expected.  Indeed he came in with low expectations.  I'm convinced that if Strickland had distanced himself from Obama he would have won, some may recall I said that during 2010.

 

Fitzgerald is a far worse candidate than Strickland for numerous reasons.

I'm half expecting FitzGerald to grow a reflective, Al Gore type beard and take some time off to reconsider his direction in life.

 

Worst. Candidacy. Ever.

Surf, for the win.

I'm convinced that if Strickland had distanced himself from Obama he would have won, some may recall I said that during 2010.

 

Perhaps.... but only because it was a mid-term.  You do remember that Obama won Ohio twice?  Some may recall that you said that wasn't going to happen during the 2012 election ;)  Remember all those friends of yours who voted for Obama but would never 'make the same mistake twice' :)

I'm half expecting FitzGerald to grow a reflective, Al Gore type beard and take some time off to reconsider his direction in life.

 

Worst. Candidacy. Ever.

 

Ken Blackwell was pretty terrible, too.

 

It would be nice if we didn't have a gerrymandered, extremist state congress that didn't make Kasich look like a moderate on a few rare but high-profile occasions. With any luck the Democrats may win one or two of the down-ballot state executive elections and challenge Kasich on some issues.

I'm half expecting FitzGerald to grow a reflective, Al Gore type beard and take some time off to reconsider his direction in life.

 

Worst. Candidacy. Ever.

 

Ken Blackwell was pretty terrible, too.

 

It would be nice if we didn't have a gerrymandered, extremist state congress that didn't make Kasich look like a moderate on a few rare but high-profile occasions. With any luck the Democrats may win one or two of the down-ballot state executive elections and challenge Kasich on some issues.

 

Rhodes in '86 was probably the worst.  Almost any other Republican would have beaten Celeste. 

I take that back. His two equally huge assets are a compliant media and an utterly inept state Democratic chair.

 

The real issue is the ineptness of the ODP. They have no idea how to run a competent campaign. Things aren't much better at the county level either. Sherrod Brown has the benefit of the national DNC behind him. The statewide Dems are relying on an incompetent group who can't raise money and are lousy coordinators. The whole ODP needs to be scrubbed. 2006 was a unique situation with a well experienced group at the top of the ticket. That masked the defenencies of the party.

 

It would probably be helpful if both the state and county parties stopped endorsing people pre-primary. I've never understood that and it is a waste of party resources. I know someone above used Michigan as an example of a blue state but at the statewide level, it's all GOP. Jennifer Granholm is the only Dem to be elected for a state office since the 90s. None of their candidates have won anything else in a supposed blue state. The state House has also been solidly GOP for most of this time period. The MDP tries to placate their bases by putting Union and minority backed people on their tickets often over better financially backed candidates or ones that have been actively campaigning for months. I see the same in Ohio. Endorsing candidates is a terrible idea especially with the party's track record. Save the resources and let the voters decide and then maybe the Dems would field better tickets.

I take that back. His two equally huge assets are a compliant media and an utterly inept state Democratic chair.

 

The real issue is the ineptness of the ODP. They have no idea how to run a competent campaign. Things aren't much better at the county level either. Sherrod Brown has the benefit of the national DNC behind him. The statewide Dems are relying on an incompetent group who can't raise money and are lousy coordinators. The whole ODP needs to be scrubbed. 2006 was a unique situation with a well experienced group at the top of the ticket. That masked the defenencies of the party.

 

It would probably be helpful if both the state and county parties stopped endorsing people pre-primary. I've never understood that and it is a waste of party resources. I know someone above used Michigan as an example of a blue state but at the statewide level, it's all GOP. Jennifer Granholm is the only Dem to be elected for a state office since the 90s. None of their candidates have won anything else in a supposed blue state. The state House has also been solidly GOP for most of this time period. The MDP tries to placate their bases by putting Union and minority backed people on their tickets often over better financially backed candidates or ones that have been actively campaigning for months. I see the same in Ohio. Endorsing candidates is a terrible idea especially with the party's track record. Save the resources and let the voters decide and then maybe the Dems would field better tickets.

 

Turner was almost as bad a choice as Fitzgerald, though the latter got more publicity because he is at the top of the ticket and his transgressions more titillating.  How do you nominate someone who has joked about election fraud knowing she was being recorded as chief elections officer, especially with your party's reputation in this regard?  I know she didn't mean to advocate it, but one does not, as a rule, joke about things one takes very seriously.

Just because you take Bigfoot and Unicorns seriously, shouldn't mean I'm not allowed to joke about it...... even if I am a politician.