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Ohio Governor Race 2010

November 3, 2010 by · Comments Off on Ohio Governor Race 2010 

Ohio Governor Race 2010, Former Republican Congressman John Kasich, who promised a “new way and a new day” of a state in crisis, took office as Ohio Governor Ted Strickland Democratic incumbent Tuesday night to complete a clean sweep of state offices for Republican Party.

Kasich appeared on Fox News – his former employer – this morning before heading to his supporters in Columbus.

“We had the president here 12 times, had the vice president, and still won,” Kasich told Fox News, referring to President Barack Obama and Joe Biden vice campaign for Strickland. “We will make Ohio great again.

Kasich, along with his family and his partner Mary Taylor, came to speak to his supporters shortly after 1 am, smiling broadly and waving to friends in the crowd.

“You know what?”He shouted to the crowd.” I’ll be governor of Ohio.”

Kasich said that “we have taken a step forward tonight to put Ohioans to work. We took a step forward for the reduction of government. … This night of Ohio has stated that our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. ”

During the last weeks of the campaign, Kasich made with a theme of “hope against fear,”and carried forward in his victory speech.

“A lot of fear has extended to this state,”Kasich said.” I have always believed that hope overcomes fear and went here tonight. ”

“I think the residents of Ohio, said tonight that we can do better, we want to do better. You have a moment in time to do great things … Let’s raise the bar and become a shining example to the rest of the country .

The 58-year-old Republican from the Columbus suburb of Westerville – which will become the 63rd governor of Ohio in January – won by a narrow margin, but it was enough to destroy the democratic hopes of clinging to any vestige of power in the legislature Ohio State.

Kasich had 49 percent of the vote to 47 percent of Strickland, and the rest going to minor party candidates.

This was enough for Ohio Republicans forget the avalanche that swept Democrat Strickland in office four years ago, and a reminder of how quickly political fortunes can change.

To Kasich, the victory revived a political career put on hold for 10 years when he decided not to run for reelection to the central Ohio district Congress he held for 18 years, rising to the powerful post of chairman of House Budget Committee.

He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, a grim, under-funded campaign that went out early – despite the election to the governorship of a major state like Ohio might rekindle his ambition to be on the national list.

Will, somehow, a rarity in Ohio politics – a governor who was not born in the state, the first since Mike LaSalle Democrat for over 50 years. Kasich was raised in blue-collar town of McKees Rocks, Pa., and came to Columbus as a student at Ohio State University.

For Strickland, the loss means the end of an unlikely career of 30 years in politics: A Methodist minister and prison psychologist who grew up in the wretched village of Duck Run, Scioto County and came from a black neighborhood south Ohio Congressional governship win four years ago.

Strickland declined to a ballroom at the Hyatt Regency ballroom at around 12:30 am this morning to concede defeat, saying the fans who remained in the room that he “never forgot me work for you, not Wall Street. … or narrow special interests. ”

“Let me say loud and clear,”Strickland said.” I think in Ohio. I think he fought a pretty good fight. ”

Strickland loss was the final straw in a disastrous night for Democrats in Ohio – which was losing control of the Ohio House and see their candidates down to defeat in all statewide offices.

He came into office as the state was about to plunge, along with the rest of the nation into a deep and sustained recession that left him in the lurch of double-digit unemployment and declining state revenues.

There was much riding on the outcome, not only for residents of Ohio, but for the man in the White House and both political parties.

It is clear that Obama was the race for governor of Ohio as a firewall against what almost certainly would be a bad night for him and Democrats in general.

The president made no fewer than a dozen trips to Ohio since becoming president, most of them with Strickland at her side, leading Kasich to describe his Democratic opponent in campaign speeches as “Obama twice.”

Obama wanted to have a Democratic governor in Columbus, along with a strong state party organization for the 2012 presidential election.

More than any governor race in recent years, this contest was a blame game, filled with accusations about the sorry state of the economy of Ohio, the evaporation of state revenue, and nearly 400,000 jobs lost since Strickland became governor in January 2007.

To Kasich and his Republican allies, the argument was simple: Strickland was in charge, Strickland was the culprit. The biggest threat came from the Republican Governors Association, led by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

The RGA spent millions on TV ads for 30 seconds with actors representing Ohioans worried, frustrated by the history of Strickland and fearful of losing their jobs. “Strickland did not get the job done,”was the motto of all the RGA ads.

Strickland was a more abstract argument to voters in Ohio, that it was the effects of a global recession that has beaten Ohio even more difficult if it had not been on the job.

The Democratic governor pointed to trade policies of the Bush administration and deregulation of the financial industry as the source of problems based on Ohio.

That gave an opportunity for one of the main themes of his campaign, Kasich, for eight years, Columbus general manager of Lehman Brothers, the bankrupt Wall Street firm to share the blame for the misery of Ohio.

A steady stream of TV ads was Strickland’s campaign and its Democratic allies painting Kasich as Wall Street insiders who ran the risk of the pensions of thousands of Ohioans when he tried to organize a meeting between officials of state fund pension and investment banks Lehman Brothers.

Kasich scoffed at the attacks, saying he had no more to do with the operation of the bankrupt Wall Street firm “of a Chevy dealership in Zanesville runs General Motors.”

Republicans also gained control of the Ohio House and all statewide offices. Republicans retain control of the Senate.

The 58-year-old Kasich Strickland defeated the attacks by the loss of 400,000 jobs. The Democratic governor said the national economic factors and declining unemployment, without success.

The new governor will help you take redistricting in the key state.

The fight hurts both Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, who led the administration of the first efforts at job creation. Fisher lost his bid for U.S. Senate Tuesday.

Strickland fought Kasich attacks on his record as managing director of Lehman Brothers, the investment bank no. He pledged to bring more business-minded approach to the state’s economy.

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