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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2010 > October > 07
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Governor candidates Strickland, Kasich hold final debate before election
By Lynn Hulsey and Laura Bischoff
Staff writers
TOLEDO - In debating Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland on Thursday Republican candidate for governor John Kasich dusted off one of Ronald Reagan’s signature phrases, “Are we better off today than we were four years ago?”
In Strickland’s view, the state has turned a corner, no thanks to Republicans like Kasich and Wall Street “shenanigans.”
“The freefall has been stopped,” said Strickland. “All you and your friends want to do is say ’ no no.’”
Strickland argued that the worst of the economic pain was caused by Kasich’s fellow Republicans, including former President George W. Bush.
“You are like a broken record. You’ve got to get off of that,” said Kasich, a former U.S. Congressman and Lehman Brothers managing director.
The two men faced off in their final debate, a matchup sponsored by the Dayton Daily News and other members of the Ohio Newspaper Organization.
Kasich accused Strickland of raising taxes.
Strickland said the decision by him and the Ohio Legislature to delay a tax cut was not a tax increase, but was a way to patch an $851 million budget hole. Strickland said Kasich would instead have cut funding for Ohio’s schools and colleges.
Strickland said Kaisch’s call for eliminating Ohio’s income tax, which makes up about 46 percent of tax revenues is irresponsible. He said it will lead to state funding cuts that will drive costs to the local communities and cause property taxes to increase.
“I think my opponent has an extreme philosophy that is devoid of common sense,” Strickland said after the debate.
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TweetFirst Lady to join President Obama for Ohio campaign events
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will make their first joint appearance of the mid-term campaign in the Cleveland-area on Oct. 17 for a fundraiser for Gov. Ted Strickland and then go to Columbus later in the day for a rally, Democrats said on Thursday.
The fundraiser will be in Chagrin Falls at the home of David and Carol Carr, Strickland’s campaign said.
The site of the Columbus rally has not been announced.
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TweetOhio voters sour on economy, Kasich slightly ahead, poll shows
In the homestretch of the election season, Ohioans are still sour on the economy with 90 percent saying the recession has yet to end in the Buckeye state and nearly two-thirds saying that they don’t believe the job situation will improve in the next six months, according to a new poll released Thursday.
Against that backdrop, 46 percent of likely voters indicated they’ll vote for Republican John Kasich for governor and 42 percent said they’ll back incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland.
Only 5 percent of voters are still undecided on whom they want for governor. The race is so close that third party candidates could impact the outcome. Four percent of likely voters plan to cast their ballot for Green Party candidate Dennis Spisak and 2 percent back Libertarian Party candidate Ken Matesz, according to the poll by Suffolk University.
Suffolk also found that Democrat Lee Fisher trails Republican Rob Portman by 10 points in the race for U.S. Senate.
The Suffolk poll asked likely voters about down-ticket races too. It found the following:
Attorney General: former U.S. Senator Mike DeWine, a Republican, leads incumbent Democrat Richard Cordray 44 percent to 38 percent. Thirteen percent are undecided.
Secretary of State: Franklin County Democrat Maryellen O’Shaughnessy leads Republican state Sen. Jon Husted of Kettering 40 percent to 33 percent with another 23 percent of voters undecided.
Treasurer: Incumbent Democrat Kevin Boyce leads state Rep. Josh Mandel 37 percent to 34 percent with another 24 percent of voters undecided.
Auditor: Democrat David Pepper of Hamilton County leads Republican Dave Yost of Delaware County 33 percent to 29 percent with another 32 percent of voters undecided.
The poll, which was conducted Oct. 4 through 6, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 points.
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TweetKasich hires actor to play worker in ad
The guy in front of the camera in Republican John Kasich’s latest campaign ad looks the part of working man, complete with a burly build, plaid flannel shirt and white hard hat.
But he doesn’t just look the part, he plays it.
The Kasich campaign hired actor to star in the 30-second commercial that blames Gov. Ted Strickland for Ohio losing 400,000 jobs since the Democrat took office.
“Re-elect Ted Strickland? Are you kidding me?” the actor says with contempt.
The Ohio Democratic Party and United Steelworkers are saying that the Kasich camp had to pay an actor to criticize Strickland because they couldn’t find a real worker to do so. Using a paid actor - who they identified as Chip Redden - is disingenuous and deceptive, they charge.
Kasich told The (Toledo) Blade editorial board this week, “No, I don’t think it’s deceptive. I think the ad’s fine. How many actors do they put on their ads?”
None, according to Strickland campaign spokeswoman Allison Kolodziej.
The Democrats are going all out to draw attention to the fact that Kasich hired an actor to play a worker. The Democrats held a press conference with the United Steelworkers, demanded that the ad be removed from the airways, researched Redden’s acting career, and issued a one-minute video of Redden’s paid work spliced together.
Kasich campaign spokesman Rob Nichols said the ad has nearly run its course and will come out of the rotation soon. The Democrats are just attacking the messenger, rather than the message, he said.
“The obviously don’t care for that message: 400,000 jobs lost, blown hole in the budget and raised taxes on Ohioans during a recession,” Nichols said.
Click here to see the ad. And click here to see the Democrat’s montage of Redden’s work.
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