National Democrats pull more money out of Ohio's U.S. Senate race

[TexasTowelie]

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Senate Democrats' campaign wing has canceled an additional two weeks of TV ads on behalf of Ted Strickland this month, giving further evidence that national Democrats are giving up on his campaign's chances.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's decision to scrap an ad buy of approximately $1.5 million, first reported by the Washington Post, comes after the group canceled $500,000 worth of ads in Ohio between Sept. 13 and Sept. 22. That decision sparked additional ad cancellations by the pro-Portman Koch brothers network, as well as Senate Majority PAC, the Senate Democrats' main super PAC.

Strickland, a former Ohio governor, has trailed Republican incumbent Rob Portman in recent polls and in fundraising. The cancellation means Strickland will now have even less help fighting back on the airwaves against Portman, who (with groups that support him) has spent tens of millions of dollars on a massive, months-long advertising offensive.

The DSCC also completely canceled a planned $5 million ad buy in support of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, who is facing a weaker GOP opponent than expected, the Post reported. The cancellations free up a total of about $6.5 million for national Democrats to help their candidates in more competitive states such as North Carolina and Missouri.

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/09/national_democrats_pull_more_m.html

[riversedge]

1. I have not followed Strickland. Does he really have such a bad record?--as the Republicans

say??



from the OP:
...............A DSCC spokeswoman didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment Friday afternoon.

Strickland campaign spokesman David Bergstein maintained confidence about the race, noting the Columbus Democrat's three-week-old TV ad campaign and Democrats' ground game around the state.

"There's still a lot of race left to run, and there's no one who knows Ohio better or is a stronger grassroots campaigner than Ted Strickland," Bergstein said in a statement.

Portman campaign spokeswoman Michawn Rich said the DSCC's move shows that "After spending $20 million attempting to cover up his record, even Democrats are resigned to the fact that Ted has the worst record of any Senate candidate in America."

[CincyDem]

2. No...but he's got a bad "optical" record.

Ted was in the wrong place at the wrong time and, as a result, he's superficially responsible for a lot of bad chit that happened in Ohio and it's crippling him.

He was in office as governor in 2008. Ohio lost a ton of jobs (325k?) and he completely depleted the budget rainy day fund...something like 300 million (but don't quote me on that).

Remember 2008? wasn't raining...it was a f'ing monsoon. So using the rainy day fund to support the state in tough times (as it was intended) shouldn't be a negative but that's how it's been framed up. And those jobs were leaving no matter who was governor.

Add to that, he's a relatively low key campaigner who, at 75, "feels" a lot more than 15 years older than Portman. If elected, Strickland would immediately be in the oldest 10% of the senate and likely be a single term senator.

He's personally a very good guy and his principles/policies are what we need in the senate. But Portman is important to Koch's. It's no coincidence that the first 2016 general dollars they spent were on his behalf. Talk around town (probably like many towns and their "favorite son&quot is that Portman already on the short list for 2020.

Strickland is just many in the long line of unelectable Ohio Dem candidates who have "done their time" and are now being rewarded with state party support - at the expense of winning. Ohio would be blue in a lot of offices if not for the fundamental ineptitude (and inbreeding) of the state party. It's a club and gaining entry is a long long (long) process of demonstrating loyalty - not electability.

[liberal N proud]

3. Here was my take on this last week...

Last edited Sun Sep 4, 2016, 09:39 AM - Edit history (1)

Strickland should never have been the candidate for this race

He has way too much baggage and the Kochs, NRA and a few other organizations have attacked him right and left.

Ted Strickland was a victim of the Bush Recession, his term as governor was in the middle of it and the states deficit and job losses mounted. Those have all been used against him in non-stop adds none of which mention that this all took place while the bush economy was destroying the country.

I will vote for Ted Strickland and campaign for him, but the right has made it a priority to make sure Portman can keep working for his corporate overlords.

__________________________________________

Today, I am concerned about the affect on Hillary this will cause.

[CincyDem]

4. Hey...I said that first. Or should I say "GMTA". :-)

We're working for him here too but it is very much an uphill battle. People around Cincy just "like" Portman. They don't know chit about his policies but, ya know...he's a good guy.

The thing I run into it that Portman's getting a lot of kudos from independents and some Dems who lean independent because of the shift on gender rights. People remember that he came out in favor of gay rights...they forget it was after his son came out. Story around town is that his wife, who is in her own right a force to be reckoned with, explained the facts of life to him and made it clear that he could be a married "flip-flopper" on the issue or a single homophobic senator. He choose wisely.

Response to Strickland is just blah and folks look at him as a personification of a system crash for which he was not responsible.

What I'd like to see is a change at the core of the Ohio Dem Party. David Pepper is a local neighborhood kid. Father was a beloved CEO at P&G, mother is a pretty tireless advocate, fighters, and contributor to a lot of great local social causes. That said, I don't think he's got the background, the demeanor, or the backbone to move this party out of their "more of the same" approach.

When the party picked Lee Fisher over Jennifer Brunner to go up against Kasich, it was a disaster and anyone who ever spent time in a meeting with Fisher knew it. Everyone, that is, expect Chris Redfern and the Ohio Dem Party who threw their support behind Fisher because "he has been a long time Democrat who has served well". Brunner, on the other hand, was responsible for ensuring that Ohio voting laws were inclusionary and upheld at the county level during 2008 and 2012. Given the choice between loyalty and effect...the part chose loyalty. Kasich won (creating a platform that in any other year might have propelled him into the national race) and Redfern resigned (appropriately).

Strickland is going to be Pepper's Fisher. I believe Ohio is fundamentally a blue state at heart but virtually every state level official is red due to the ineptitude of the state party. It's not just weak - it's inept.

Anyway, just wanted to harass you. Have a great day.