Onto swingy Ohio
We're adding coverage of US Senate and gubernatorial elections one state at a time. Today: Ohio.
OK, so I haven't nearly finished catching up on the last few days' stories on the existing races I'm blogging about, but I promised to introduce Ohio at the start of the week and I haven't yet, so it's time I did.
Despite the competitive nature of the state, along with its size, the line-up of candidates for both the gubernatorial and US Senate elections is relatively straightforward.
Let's start with the race for the Governor's mansion in which there is an incumbent running - Democrat Ted Strickland, who won his first term in the Democratic tidal wave that was the 2006 midterms. It looks like he's running again and is unlikely to face a primary opponent, so the action on 4 May is going to be on the Republican side. Here, there is a clear front-runner in the form of former US Rep. John Kasich, with businessman and preacher Todd Kritzwiser hoping to come at Kasich from the right. Kasich is the only one of the two to feature in early polling where, despite poor name recognition, he fares well against Strickland, suggesting that the incumbent Governor may be vulnerable.
With Republican George Voinovich retiring, the US Senate seat up for grabs in 2010 is open. Each of the main parties has two candidates declared so far. Defending the seat for the Republicans is likely to be former OMB Director, former US Trade Rep, and former US Rep. Rob Portman, who has the backing of the Republican establishment at state and national level. Hoping to upset Portman is Cleveland car dealer Tom Ganley. It's a somewhat more evenly matched contest on the Democratic side, with secretary of state Jennifer Brunner facing lieutenant governor Lee Fisher. Fisher has the endorsement of Governor Strickland as well as US Rep. Tom Ryan (who had been considered a possible Senate candidate himself until he decided against it), but he does not have a convincing lead over Brunner in early polls, and both Democrats are only narrowly behind Portman.
That's Ohio in a nutshell. Tomorrow (or, at least, next time I blog): Nebraska.
OK, so I haven't nearly finished catching up on the last few days' stories on the existing races I'm blogging about, but I promised to introduce Ohio at the start of the week and I haven't yet, so it's time I did.
Despite the competitive nature of the state, along with its size, the line-up of candidates for both the gubernatorial and US Senate elections is relatively straightforward.
Let's start with the race for the Governor's mansion in which there is an incumbent running - Democrat Ted Strickland, who won his first term in the Democratic tidal wave that was the 2006 midterms. It looks like he's running again and is unlikely to face a primary opponent, so the action on 4 May is going to be on the Republican side. Here, there is a clear front-runner in the form of former US Rep. John Kasich, with businessman and preacher Todd Kritzwiser hoping to come at Kasich from the right. Kasich is the only one of the two to feature in early polling where, despite poor name recognition, he fares well against Strickland, suggesting that the incumbent Governor may be vulnerable.
With Republican George Voinovich retiring, the US Senate seat up for grabs in 2010 is open. Each of the main parties has two candidates declared so far. Defending the seat for the Republicans is likely to be former OMB Director, former US Trade Rep, and former US Rep. Rob Portman, who has the backing of the Republican establishment at state and national level. Hoping to upset Portman is Cleveland car dealer Tom Ganley. It's a somewhat more evenly matched contest on the Democratic side, with secretary of state Jennifer Brunner facing lieutenant governor Lee Fisher. Fisher has the endorsement of Governor Strickland as well as US Rep. Tom Ryan (who had been considered a possible Senate candidate himself until he decided against it), but he does not have a convincing lead over Brunner in early polls, and both Democrats are only narrowly behind Portman.
That's Ohio in a nutshell. Tomorrow (or, at least, next time I blog): Nebraska.
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