Ohio Dems are out of touch and I'm not sure why. There were better choices.
Jennifer Brunner, the former Secretary of State who cleaned up a lot of Ohio's voting rights issues going into the 2008 and 20012 elections (and has now been replaced by a R asshat who is rolling ALL of them back). No question she was the best choice vs. Kasich but Lee Fisher, then Lt Gov most known for falling asleep during afternoon meetings, was picked because...wait for it...he was "next in line". That decision gave us Kasich (since Fisher didn't campaign during siesta time...lol), poising him for national visibility. He's already polishing his message for 2020 as the "last electable republican" willing to stand up to Donald Trump.
PG Sittenfeld ran in the primary vs. Strickland. Young, smart guy who, in the words of many local dem officials, was trying to "jump the line" going from a Cincinnati city council to the senate in one election. His baggage: 1) he's got degrees from Princeton and London School of Economics, although it's hard to make that a negative vs. Portman's Dartmouth degree; and his age (31) that would make him the youngest member of the current congress, stealing that title from the forward thinking Tom Cotton who we could be dealing with for 40 years if Arkansas gets its way.
David Pepper runs the Ohio Dem party. He's a good guy with a multi-generational family tradition of active participation in democratic causes in SW Ohio. His baggage - he's never won an election. He was a city council member here in Cincinnati who got elected in 2001 who came in first in a "top 7 get the job" election but he's never won anything head to head.
In the end, it seems to me that Ohio Dems are overly committed to process and orderly lines of succession vs. actually winning. I love me some Ted Strickland personally but for most voters in Ohio, it's going to like voting for chunky old dad or grampa vs. Portman who still looks like he's out running marathons. (Doesn't hurt that Portman had full grey hair in his 30s so he looks like he's never aging). This was a year to move young and Ohio Dems missed the boat (again).
Also - watch Portman for 2020. I don't think it's a coincidence that the first ads nationwide that the Kochs ran were in Ohio support him. Kasich will have the baggage of "failing" in 2016 and my money, Rob Portman will be in the sweetspot for 2020...assuming he's running from a Senate seat.
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