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COLUMBUS — — Politically speaking, the good times should roll for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland come January.

Strickland will be the first Democratic governor since Mike DiSalle back in 1962 to serve in the Statehouse with a Democratic president in the White House. For Strickland, it's Barack Obama; for DiSalle, it was John F. Kennedy.

Also, Democrats will control both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate and for the first time since 1994 the Ohio House, with Republicans still leading the state Senate.

Not since 1949, when Frank Lausche was governor and Harry Truman was president and Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the legislature have Democrats held more top power posts in Columbus and Washington.

But in the be-careful-what-you-wish-for category, this means Strickland will be expected to deliver in what many call the toughest times since the Great Depression.

Unemployment stands at 7.2 percent, the highest since December 1992. The state has lost 203,800 jobs since President George W. Bush took office in January 2001, including 39,000 since Strickland became governor in January 2007 with his promise to "Turn Around Ohio."

"We are facing right now the most challenging economic circumstances this country has had to deal with since before I was born," said Strickland, 67, who was born in 1941. The job won't be easy, he said.

"Do you think having a Democratic president and Democratic House here in the state will make your job easier?" Strickland asked. "Anyone who understands what we are facing would not use easy as a description of what's going to happen. We are in very serious circumstances."

Kevin DeWine, deputy chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, already is looking ahead to the 2010 governor's race and isn't sympathetic.

"Look, for the past two years Ted Strickland has gotten by, by trying to blame George Bush for everything," said DeWine, a state representative from Fairborn. "The next two years he's going to have a Democrat (Ohio) House, he's going to have a Democrat president, a Democrat U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

"And so Ted Strickland's going to wear the jacket for Ohio's economy. Ted Strickland's going to wear the jacket for whether or not he fixes school funding."

Strickland's not ready to wear the jacket by himself.

"It's taken eight long years to get into this mess," the governor said. "If my Republican friends think Barack Obama is going to be able to straighten things out in a few months, they're being unfair to him."

There are factors such as the continuing decline of the domestic auto industry that are outside government's control, he said. He has joined other auto-state governors in asking Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for federal help for the industry.

DeWine is focused on Strickland, who's expected to run for re-election in two years, not Obama.

"Look, we have the highest unemployment rate we've seen in the state in nearly 20 years. He can't blame George Bush for this anymore. He's going to have to take some responsibility for it," said DeWine.

Both Strickland and DeWine are right about who'll be held accountable, said political scientist Nancy Martorano. For a while, Democrats can still blame Bush, Martorano said.

"If things don't get better, the Democrats are going to take the brunt of the blame," she added.

One escape valve for Strickland is continued GOP control of the Ohio Senate, she said.

"The Senate is still Republican. He'll still be able to scapegoat a little bit," she said.

However, voters liked the way Strickland cooperated with the legislature when Republicans controlled both houses and don't want that to change, she said.

Strickland said he's looking for solutions, not scapegoats. He wants more help from Washington when Obama takes office and even during a lame-duck session this year with Bush still around.

The help should include outright federal grants to keep state budgets balanced, help with Medicaid and extended unemployment benefits and an economic stimulus plan to create jobs.

Also, a President Obama probably will back the expansion of the children's health insurance program that Bush has rejected, said Strickland.

Having a Democratic president doesn't guarantee Strickland's re-election. Even with JFK in the White House, DiSalle was defeated for re-election in 1962 after Republicans bashed him as "tax-hike Mike."

Strickland so far has resisted raising taxes and said he's ready for whatever happens.

"I will be judged based on what I do with the circumstances I face and with the resources I have and that's as it ought to be," he said. "I will be happy for the people of Ohio to look at what I've done and decide if I'm worthy of a second term if I choose to run."