Ohio Senator Writes Off 'Stumbling' FitzGerald Campaign For Governor

[brooklynite]

Source: WBNS-TV

COLUMBUS, Ohio - In his most frank assessment of Ed FitzGerald to date, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown calls him a "stumbling" candidate for governor, while not denying that leadership changes may happen within the state Democratic Party following the November election.

"Of course I'm disappointed with the top of the ticket," Brown told WBNS-10TV. "I think this state is not going in the right direction. We have a legislature that is so out of touch with the concerns of the state."

With just over two weeks to go until the election, major polls have shown Republican Gov. John Kasich running ahead of FitzGerald by double digits after a series of self-inflicted blunders.

...snip...

While dismissing FitzGerald, Brown says the four other lower-ticket Democratic candidates still have a chance to pull off upset wins, although polls show the Republican incumbents maintaining an edge.

Read more: http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2014/10/16/columbus-ohio-ohio-senator-writes-off-stumbling-fitzgerald-campaign-for-governor.html

---

Sadly, this is a race that never jelled. I'm surprised ODP had such a hard time finding a good candidate.

[peace13]

1. We are in some serious trouble here.

Our currant Governor has looted the state. Nothing has gone untouched. Fracking is thriving, the State alcohol proceeds have been hijacked to a private company that the Governor sits on the board of and defies being audited. The schools are in disarray and pretty much every State agency took cuts when this guy came to office. Our SOS has been actively working to suppress voters. Legislation to help clean up the toxic algae on Lake Erie was dismantled the minute this teabagger come into office.

I am kind of sorry to read Brown's words. Brown is a good guy but I don't think he should throw in the towel before the tally. I think he is trying to distance himself and the others from the race.

As far as vetting the Dem candidate goes, if I remember correctly ,I believe they hired that out! Boom goes the dynamite!

[No Vested Interest]

3. I couldn't agree with you more.

Sadly, this is not likely to be the year to change governors, though I will still vote for FitzGerald.
Let's try to get some of those other Dem candidates over the hump.

I especially like Connie Pillich, running for State Treasurer against Josh Mandel, a self-promoting con man from day one.
Connie Pillach has a very resume, and gave up a state rep. position to run, so it would be a pity for her not to win.

Would also like to see David Pepper win against Mike DeWine. He's worked hard for Dems in SW Ohio, against a strong Republican machine.

[FarPoint]

4. I'm voting for Fitzgerald.

I'm in for a straight Democratic ticket.

[peace13]

8. I will too...

It is impossible to think of the next four years. What is left of the state to be stolen? Time will tell.

[greatlaurel]

10. Not much is going to be left.

Just look at what is going at Ohio University. The President and Board of Trustees are declaring as "surplus" leased commercial properties that bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars of income per year to the university. These leased properties are being leased by such commercial entities as Walmart, Lowe's and Kroger's. This is a huge stretch of commercial properties.

http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-43395-east-state-sell-off.html

This has to be some sort of scam to do a bargain sell-off of these incredibly valuable resources to some cronies of the Board of Trustees or GOP crooks.

[Botany]

7. + 1

Kasich and company are running a scam w/profits from State Liquor sales that
would make Bernie Madoff blush

[No Vested Interest]

2. The ODP frequently has a problem finding a good candidate.

Last edited Thu Oct 16, 2014, 06:19 PM - Edit history (1)

In 2010 they ran Lee Fisher against Rob Portman.
Portman was beatable, but not by Lee Fisher, an uninspired and uninspiring candidate.

Sorry to say, but these candidates from Cleveland - no experience or name-recognition outside that area- don't fare well in the rest of the state.

Ted Strickland was from SE Ohio, as well as being a Congressman and caught the imagination of enough Ohioans to win the governorship. Sadly, now he's past his prime and wouldn't do as well in any subsequent elections.

Congressman Tim Ryan has enough charisma to do well statewide, but he's either waiting for better timing or wants to stay in Washington. I can't fault him for his own reasons, about which he knows better than I.

[rexcat]

12. I would say the leadership of the Ohio Democratic Party...

and that would be Chris Redfern as our fearless leader, is the issue. It is time for new leadership and Chris needs to go. It would also appear that the party needs a big boost in quality candidates. There have been too many disappointing candidates over the years.

[Marthe48]

5. voting for Fitzgerald

He is young, has a chance to grow. I wish my nephew would run some day

[Botany]

6. The ODP is the limp groom on the wedding night

n/t

[No Vested Interest]

13. Sounds as though you're saying the ODP is impotent. nt

[Corey_Baker08]

9. As A Ohio Resident I Agree With Senator Brown's Assessment

While I am not sure how Fitzgerald became the our party's nominee, from the very start it was found out the Ed Fitzgerald's, whom I do have alot of respect for, pick for Lt Governor had alot of skeletons in his closet and if I remember correctly had not paid taxes in over 10 years...After this incident he was taken off of the ticket and replaced with a very respected statewide Democrat Sharon Neuhardt, who would have probably been a better candidate for Governor than Fitzgerald seeing as the way his campaign is and has been run....

I will give credit to Ed Fitzgerald though, it seems no one else wanted to step up and he was the eventual nominee. Also I find it hard to fault the national Democratic Party for the failures in this race because my Dad and I donated over $200 to attend a fundraiser in which President Bill Clinton was the keynote speaker back in June, oddly enough though Hillary Clinton was at the event in secret, I happened to be walking to my car and saw her getting off of the bus, I went over and got a picture with her, yet she asked that it not be mentioned she was at the event, and sure enough no one knew about it, and if I hadnt caught a glimpse of her and yelled Secretary Clinton can I please get a picture, IDK if anyone attending would have known about it....Yet there was a group there named Ready For Hillary! and they were giving out signs, bumperstickers etc....

The best person that the Democratic Party of Ohio could have nominated to beat Kasich in my opinion is Former Governor Ted Strickland who had great approval ratings across the state and party lines until he was defeated in his bid for re-election during the 2010 Ohio Gubernatorial elections which was a very close race...

I am now more vested in the Ohio Secretary of State's race, as well as the Ohio Attorney General's election in which we have a better chance of winning than the Governor's race...

Its unfortunate but I do look forward to a shakeup in the ODP leadership pending the results of the 2014 election...

My 2nd choice for the Ohio Democratic Party's nominee for Governor would have been Mayor Mike Coleman of Columbus who ran and was defeated by Ted Strickland in the 2006 Dem Primary, yet still a very promising candidate for Ohio and for the Democratic Party. Unfortunately Gov Strickland chose Lee Fisher as his running mate, who in 2010, backed out of running for re-election with Gov Strickland to run for US Senate.

[greatlaurel]

11. It is beyond baffling how the Democratic Party in Ohio picks such weak candidates for decades.

Ted Strickland was a great candidate and then promptly appointed the massively corrupt Eric Fingerhut to the Board of Regents, who proceeded to loot the public universities, tech schools and primary and secondary schools for his corporate pals. The tens of millions of dollars wasted in the forced conversion of the public universities and tech schools from a quarter system to a semester system ripped off taxpayers and college students alike. This increased the costs of going to school while limiting the choices of classes and reduced the actual class time for students. For example, Ohio University operated on a quarter system with 3 quarters per year. Each quarter was 10 weeks of class time plus a week for final exams. The students got 30 weeks of class time per year. Under the semester system the actual class time has been reduced to 14 weeks per semester, so with only 2 semesters per year the students only get 28 weeks of class time. As as added bonus the students get to pay much higher tuitions for semesters. The impact on the 2 year tech colleges has been devastating, all the tech schools dropped enrollment dramatically and are all struggling to recover. It shows that Mr. Fingerhut had no clue what he was doing.

The actions of Mr. Fingerhut dealt a severe blow to Strickland's reelection hopes. The anointing by the party elites of Mr. Fisher for the senate race soured a lot of people in 2010, as well. Now I want to make it clear that Mr. Fisher was a fabulous Attorney General for the state of Ohio. He ran a clean ship and the attorneys he hired were some of the best I ever worked with out of that office. Unfortunately, he should have stayed as AG and let someone else run against the corrupt puppet Portman.

The people running the Democratic Party in Ohio are corrupt and stupid. Ohioans deserve better. The only reason the GOP gets elected here is because the state party refuses to clean up the corruption.

The other problem is Strickland and FitzGerald actually tried to clean up some of the corruption in the Democratic Party in Cuyahoga County (for non Ohioans Cuyahoga County is the county where Cleveland is located and is notoriously corrupt with lots of organized crime issues). A lot of the dirty politics in both Strickland's and FitzGerald's losses are paybacks from the corrupt party bosses.

[No Vested Interest]

14. With deep respect for Ted Strickland, my opinion is that at 73 he is no longer a good

electoral candidate.
I say that as one who is several years older than Gov. Strickland.
I would say that about any candidate for office.
The energy, the mental acuity is just not sustainable over a two-, four-, six-year period. Sorry.