Ohio GOP shuts door on Kasich power grab

[InkAddict]

Gov. John Kasich’s effort to wrest control of the Ohio Republican Party was dealt a setback yesterday when the party’s central committee approved two resolutions that effectively bolster Kevin DeWine’s hold on the party chairmanship.

Meeting at a North Side banquet hall, the 66-member central committee, the party’s governing body, heatedly debated and then enacted a rule change that tipped the scales for DeWine in an internecine battle with Kasich for supremacy in the party that dominates state government.

Committee members lamented being caught up in a power struggle during a presidential-election year, fretting that it could get in the way of their mission to defeat President Barack Obama.

Pat Flanagan, a longtime central committee member from Dayton, said the fight between the Kasich and DeWine forces “breaks my heart,” adding, “We have one job this year, and it’s not to fight among ourselves. It’s to get rid of Mr. Obama. ... If we don’t beat Obama, everybody here should resign.”


http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/02/04/ohio-gop-shuts-door-on-kasich-power-grab.html

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Wow, those nasty cannibals chewing off each others legs - I prefer --

Oh, and awaiting those letters of resignation, boys....LOL.

[liberal N proud]

1. The GOP is really obsessed with beating Obama

And for all the wrong reasons.

[KBloom]

2. Shame

Hope DeWine wins, the Party, Republican or Democratic, shouldn't be subordinate to any candidate or officeholder

[WCGreen]

3. Well, it' really a fight between Mike Dewine's faction of the party and Kasich supporters.

Mike DeWine is Kevin's father...

DeWine has people who have been loyal to him for decades, Kasich is basically a stranger to Ohio who had the good fortune to be tied into national money and running in a terrible year for democrats.

[rexcat]

4. I might disagree with you on Kasich being a stranger to Ohio...

Kasick grew up near Pittsburgh, PA but attended OSU and graduated there in 1974 with a BA degree in political science. In 1978, Kasich was elected to the Ohio Senate, representing the 15th district. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Ohio’s 12 congressional district from 1983 to 2001. In 2001, Kasich joined Lehman Brother’s investment banking division in Columbus as a managing director.

[WCGreen]

5. Compared to DeWine....

Well, the name has been ont he Statewide ticket almost continuously since the 1980'as while Kasich was a relatively obscure Congress person to anyone outside of Columbus.

DeWine has a statewide operation while Kasich had to guild his.

I was comparing the depth of the DeWine family to John Kasich.

He also didn't think he could win the new consolidated congressional seat drawn after the 2000 redistriticitng. He also tried to run for President in 1996 getting absolutly nowhere even as a favorite son.

The state is much bigger, contrary to popular belief, than the intersection of I-71 mad I-70.

[rexcat]

6. You said Kasick was a stranger to Ohio...

and that is not the case. I took your quote to be literal.

I was familiar with Kasick when he was a congresscritter. He also has a Democratic background (parents were Dems) and he can connect with people but that does not make him a nice person in the world of politics. He was somewhat tainted by the Abramoff scandal but they could not pin anything on him. He also saw an opportunity to make a lot of money with Lehman Brothers.

I do understand that there are a lot of people who do not pay attention to politics outside their immediate realm in this state but don't count me as one of them. I live in SW Ohio so I do realize that the state is much larger than the intersection of I-71 and I-70 and I can say without hesitation that I live in one of the worst places for a liberal Democrat to live in this @#%& state. On top of everything else Ohio has 5 distinct political regions with their own flavors. That is why it is a swing state.

As far as DeWine goes he does have name recognition but so did Taft and look where that got the state! Despite the fact that Kasick did not have "family name" recognition it did not stop him from becoming governor.

[WCGreen]

8. Strickland was a horrible candiate who insprired absolutly no real support in North East Ohio...

[rexcat]

9. I thought we were discussing the Dewine...

family politcal empire and Kasich. You said that Kasich was "stranger to Ohio." I was just reponding to your poor choice of wording. Your response, "Strickland was a horrible candiate.." is off topic and has nothing to do with what was previously stated in this thread (i.e, Dewine political empire and Kasich being a "stranger to Ohio&quot .

I disagree that Strickland was a horrible candidate. The election was close but the economy, of which Strickland had nothing to do, was the difference in the election. A lot of what Strickland was dealt in 2008-09 was out of his control and the Ohio Senate was in republican control at the time. With the perspective of a year in office for Kasich, Strickland is the better person and according to the polls there is a lot of voter remorse over the 2009 election. Anyone who knew of Kasich’s background could have figured out what he was going to do once he became into office. He was batshit crazy when he was a US Congressman and he contiunes in that tradition today. THe Democrats who didn't vote in the 2009 general election fucked this state over by allowing Kasich to win and by your admission that Strickland did nt inspire real support in NE Ohio I can only come to the conclusion from your comment that the NE Ohio Dems are responsible for Kasich's win in 2009. Thanks for hurting Ohio.

So again what is your point other than trying to muddy the waters?

[WCGreen]

10. Actually it was the 2010 election...

But I wont nit pick.

You are from SW Ohio where Kasich is well known since his major media outlet was Columbus.

He was hardly covered at all by the Northern meida which is where I lived.

I also know that the Democrat up here in Cleveland did not want Strickland but the Ohio Democratic party in 2006 thought that he was the only candidate on the democratic side who could win in November.

I do know that a whole lot of people who are active in the Democratic Party here in Cleveland wanted no part of Strickland.

How do I know? Beause I was the treasurer of the party in the 90's and even though I am not in the loop due mainly to illness, I have a lot of contact with the people who still run the show.

Kasich was not well known here in Cuyahoga County but Strickland did not endear himself nor did he focus on democratic vote rich Cuyahoga County.

It all builds, nothing can be looked at in a vacuum. Strickland won Cuyahoga by only 102,000 votes, not enough to off set the republican vote in the other areas of the state.

In 2006, Strickland won the vote in Cuyahoga with a 220,000. That is one of the main reasons he lost in 2010.

[rexcat]

11. And it has always been the opinion of Democrats in NE Ohio...

that they rule the Democratic Party in Ohio and their opinion is the only one that counts. That is how it is preceived here in SW Ohio. If the NE Ohio Dems didn't like Strickland then where was the candidate that they wanted to support and why didn't that person win the primary? As I remember it was state representative Bryan Flannery from NE Ohio and Strickland won the nomination by 79%, so much for a quality candidate at the time from NE Ohio.

You are somewhat correct that Kasich is well know (and you used the present tense) since he is our current governor but most SW Ohioans really did not know Kasich that well prior to the 2008 gubernatorial race. The republican leadership knew him but not the general population and that probably goes for the entire state as well. He was, in no measure, on the radar screen with the news outlets here in SW Ohio until he announced his run for the 2008 gubernatorial race.

As far as Kasich being well known because of the media outlets in Columbus having any impact on SW Ohio I would have to say you don't really know what you are talking about. Having traveled this state extensively the media outlets in Columbus have little or no influence on the media outlets in SW Ohio. The tone and flavor of the news in the Columbus area is totally different from SW Ohio. I see this state to be 6 distinct areas (Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron/Canton, and rural Ohio) with little overlap. When I am in Cleveland the tenor of the new on TV is totally different from the news in Columbus and different from the news in Cleveland. The news outlets in SE Ohio cover Northern Ky and SE IN so there is a different mix.

The only reason Kasich came to light with me was the Abramoff and Noe scandals. If you were not aware of Kasich early on then you were not paying attention.

[FarPoint]

7. I think Kevin is a cousin

to Mike...

Yea...he is actually a second cousin...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_DeWine

snip>

Kevin DeWine is Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, serving since January 2009. Previously, he was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives.

DeWine graduated from Fairborn High School in 1986, received his Bachelor of Science degree in business from the University of Dayton in 1990, and earned an MBA from Wright State University[1] in 1996. The DeWine family resides in Fairborn, Ohio. Before holding public office, Kevin was a regional development manager for the Dayton Power and Light Company. He is the second cousin of R. Michael DeWine, a former U.S. Senator from Ohio.[2]