Ohio Democrats Hope to Cement 2006 Gains

[DeepModem Mom]

WP/AP: Ohio Dems Hope to Cement 2006 Gains
By DAVID ESPO
The Associated Press
Saturday, November 3, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The way Democrats figure it, they borrowed about 500,000 voters in bellwether Ohio last year and ended more than a decade of statewide political frustration. Now they seek a more durable relationship in time for the 2008 presidential election. Their salesman of choice? That would be Gov. Ted Strickland, off to a fast start as the state's first Democratic chief executive in 16 years, and the face of an attempt to remake the party in his own soothing, centrist image.

As governor, he said in an interview in his statehouse office, "we've tried to avoid being overly partisan." As party builder, he said he wants to focus on "what I call the kitchen table issues ... the basic issues that are important to a family's quality of life."

Strickland's first budget passed with only one dissenting vote in the Republican-controlled legislature. It included a property tax cut for seniors and the disabled as well as more money for higher education. It also provided health insurance for children living in families with up to about $62,000 in income -- a bipartisan accomplishment that stands in contrast to the veto struggle now unfolding in Washington over the same issue.

No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio, and President Bush sealed his second term with a statewide victory of 118,601 votes. Two years later, an estimated 563,000 Ohioans who supported Bush backed Strickland for governor, and 442,000 of the president's voters helped Sherrod Brown topple Republican Sen. Mike DeWine.

Already, the party has sent out thousands of pieces of mail bearing Strickand's picture, urging likely Democratic voters to seek absentee ballots for 2007 municipal elections. Mail will go out to the presumed Bush-Strickland voters over the winter, a reminder to them, party officials say, that they sought change at the polls and got it....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/03/AR2007110300427.html?hpid%3Dsec-politics&sub=AR

[riqster]

1. Ted's smart

...he has to deal with a still-solid Reep establishment in a purple state, he can't ram through anything too far left. He's made the Reeps look like whiny little assholes more than once, and they have noticed.

Making Dems look good is a key part of the battle here, and he's doing it very well.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for an Ohio view, rigster! nt