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Ryan Leaves Door Open to Challenge Kasich
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, isn't ruling out a run for governor in 2014 now that his friend Ted Strickland has bowed out of a potential rematch against Gov. John Kasich.
Kasich won narrowly in 2010.
Following the announcement Tuesday, distributed through the Ohio Democratic Part, that Strickland will not run for governor, Wiley Runnestrand, campaign manager for Tim Ryan for Congress, released a statement that said the congressman "will decide in the near future which path he will pursue to best serve the people of his community, state and country." The statement ended by calling yesterday a time "to honor the great service" of Strickland and his wife, Frances.
In a separate statement released concurrently by his congressional office, Ryan said that Strickland is “well known” around Ohio “for his deep concern and understanding for the challenges faced by Ohio’s poor and working-class families.” Those traits, as well as his "clear vision" for the state and "steady hand in tumultuous times," would have served him well in the upcoming gubernatorial contest, "but I know too that [Strickland] will find a way to put his considerable talents to work helping his fellow citizens," Ryan said.
Ryan and Strickland served together in the U.S. House of Representatives four years before Strickland took office as governor in 2007. Ryan represented the former 17th District, Strickland the neighboring 6th. Mentioned as a potential running mate for Strickland in the 2006 and 2010 gubernatorial races, Ryan had indicated he would not run against Kasich if his friend and former colleague chose to enter the 2014 race.
A national co-chairman of President Obama's re-election campaign last year, Strickland delivered a prime-time address during the Democratic National Convention in 2012, praising the Obama-backed auto rescue and blasting Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who "never saw the point of building something when he could profit from tearing it down," he said.
"If Mitt Romney was Santa Claus, he would fire the reindeer and outsource the elves,” Strickland quipped during the speech.
Ryan, beginning his sixth term in the House, again sits on the influential Appropriations Committee. In December, when that appointment was announced, he told reporters that his return to Appropriations likely would mean he would not run for governor, but Tuesday's statement leaves that door open.
Strickland characterized his decision as "very difficult. …
"I look back proudly on my time as Ohio's 68th governor – and am proud of my administration's efforts to guide our state through the greatest national economic crisis since the Great Depression," he said. "With the help of President Obama, who provided the funds necessary to keep Ohio and all of America from slipping into another Great Depression, we were able to preserve the social safety net, make important investments in education, and position Ohio's economy for the recovery that started in February 2010."
Most significant with regard to jobs, Strickland said, Ohio led in investments into sources of alternative energy and "went to bat for the automobile industry," working closely with the president on "the rescue plan that has been so pivotal in Ohio's economic recovery."
Strickland did not explain his decision but said he and his wife, Frances, would continue to be "politically active private citizens" and stand with working men and women "to build a stronger Ohio" and to fight "anti-worker and anti-middle-class legislation."
With the field now wide open, "Strong Democratic officeholders that are prepared to hold this administration accountable for its anti-worker, anti-woman agenda that has unfairly skyrocketed local taxes can begin earnestly exploring why only 36% of Ohioans believe [Kasich] deserves to be re-elected," said the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, Chris Redfern.
Redfern's statement referred to a Quinnipiac University poll released last month. While the poll shows Kasich with a 42%-35% job approval, the first time since his inauguration that registered voters gave him a higher approval than disapproval rating, the same poll showed, 43% to 36%, that voters don’t believe the governor deserves a second.
Despite Ohio's improving economy and declining unemployment rate, Kasich is seen as vulnerable in part because of his backing of legislation in 2011 that aimed to curtail the collective bargaining rights for public employees. The legislation, Senate Bill 5, was overturned by a wide margin that year in a statewide referendum. It energized Democrats and the labor movement, and provided momentum during the 2012 presidential race in Ohio.
Days after the 2012 general election, the Ohio Democratic Party printed signs bearing the slogan, "Kasich … You're Next."
Aside from Ryan, other potential Democratic challengers to Kasich include Cuyahoga County Executive Ed Fitzgerald and Richard Cordray, director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a former Ohio treasurer and attorney general.
All three face recognition challenges. When asked if their opinion was favorable, unfavorable or whether they hadn't heard enough about them, 84% said they hadn’t heard enough about Fitzgerald, while 74% said the same about Ryan and 70% about Cordray.
Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett warned Tuesday that whoever decides to challenge Kasich's record on job growth should think twice. “Ohio has made giant leaps in progress in two short years under John Kasich and it will be hard for any Democrat to argue why he shouldn’t continue to create jobs for hard-working Ohio families and put Ohio back on the right track,” he said.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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