Ohio Governor, Mr. Consensus, Makes Inroads: GOP to Dem conversion rate in state is "staggering"

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Mr. Consensus Makes Inroads
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007; Page A15

....At a moment of festering polarization in national politics, Strickland is Mr. Consensus. He doesn't hide his progressive views -- he calls himself "pro-choice, pro-labor and pro-universal health care" -- and yet just about everyone thinks of this ordained Methodist minister as a moderate because he spends a lot of time in places where Democrats don't dare venture, offering soothing sentiments you're unlikely to run into on talk radio or the Internet....

***

Strickland's political skill only partly explains Ohio's political transformation. A state that voted narrowly for President Bush in 2000 and 2004 not only elected Strickland as governor in 2006 but also sent Sherrod Brown, an economic populist with a far-more liberal public profile, to the U.S. Senate.

The conversion rate among Ohio voters in just two years was staggering. According to exit polling, 30 percent of Ohioans who voted for Bush in 2004 voted for Strickland in 2006; 20 percent of Bush's 2004 voters supported Brown.

Why the big change? Scandals involving former governor Robert Taft and former representative Bob Ney made even loyal Republicans squeamish. Strickland won a fifth of self-identified Republicans and a quarter of conservatives, while holding on to more than 90 percent of liberals and Democrats, and roughly 70 percent of moderates and independents. If national Democrats reached such numbers in 2008, they'd win the presidency decisively.

The new economy has hit Ohio hard. Industrial cities such as Youngstown and Cleveland have suffered under the lash of globalization. Brown's tough stand against free trade appealed in a place where the loss of well-paying blue-collar jobs makes the promise of a flat, highly competitive world fall very flat indeed....

Substantively, Strickland says the economy matters most, although he has been a strong opponent of the Iraq war from the beginning....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/23/AR2007072301361.html?nav=hcmodule

[yardwork]

1. Ohio went to Kerry in 2004. The election was stolen.

[partylessinOhio]

3. You can bet on that! Likely that both Gore and Kerry won Ohio.

But we only counted certain Repug votes and ignored certain Democrat votes.

Then someone put Stickland up for governor for some reason instead of a better and well known person.

Strickland was a nothing candidate who came out of nowhere. He sat in the House unknown to the general Ohio voter and had did nothing remarkable. I knew he would be a disappointment and I refused to vote for him, went for the outstanding Independent candidate instead.

Strickland has already cut my Homestead Exemption. I am on a limited income and cannot afford to pay more tax on a house that is in need of repairs that I can't pay for. He is not a Democrat IMO.

Ministers don't belong in politics. I shudder to think what other damage he will before we can be rid of him.

:thumbsdown:

[dsc]

4. yeah lets keep ministers out of politics

Martin Luther King was just dreadful and as for Father Drynan beyond belief bad. How dare those ministers ruin the nation?

[msongs]

6. martin luther king JR did not run for elective office. not a politician nt

[dsc]

7. He was deeply involved in politics

about as deeply as possible without being elected.

[FredStembottom]

2. K&R

Wow! Even Republicans can feel shame?.....and repent!?!?!:wow:

[rhombus]

5. Good. We need to win Ohio and maybe Florida

Ohio is more likely.