Will He or Won't He Run? Not Even Ryan Knows
BOARDMAN, Ohio -- “I’m thinking in the next few days I’ll have something for you,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, when asked Monday afternoon if he’s going to run for governor
“Do you want to give us a hint?” a reporter followed up.
“No,” Ryan replied.
With that short exchange -- news cameras rolling before the start of today’s forum on shale development at Mr. Anthony’s -- the seven-term Democratic congressman again left the question hanging.
As 2013 began, Ryan said a decision would be forthcoming in January.
Today, it’s “the next few days.”
Does Ryan himself know what he’s going to do? It would appear not.
Difficult political calculations must be made; much risk must be taken should he decide to challenge Republican Gov. John Kasich in 2014. His essentially safe seat in Congress would be gone with no guarantee of winning a new job.
Can he raise the millions of dollars he would need to defeat Kasich, an astute and articulate politician who can match Ryan in charisma -- and beat him in the folksy language department? There’s also the huge disadvantage in terms name recognition factor. Ryan is not well known outside northeast Ohio.
Then again, who thought a 28-year-old Tim Ryan would succeed Jim Traficant in Congress? His political instincts are excellent.
Now, having gained a seat on the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, would his running for governor shut off the spigot of government money for the Mahoning Valley? What about a costly primary challenge?
On Monday Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald announced he's forming an exploratory committee to run for governor. Also said to be considering a challenge to Kasich is Richard Cordray, Ohio's former treasurer and attorney general, who could again fail to win U.S. Senate confirmation as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The day after President Obama’s Youngstown shout-out during his State of the Union Address, again watching the cut-aways to Ryan’s smiling face on the video replay, I considered writing a column predicting Ryan would run against Kasich.
Today I’m not sure.
Just like Ryan.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The author, Andrea Wood, is publisher of The Business Journal.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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