Tuesday, January 27, 2009

2010 Senate Picks - 8 people to watch for

With the sad news that Voinovich will retire being released, I thought that it would be interesting to talk briefly about eight candidates - four from each party - that might be running to take his seat in 2010. I will not be talking about their chances against each other, just how I perceive their overall chances.
ALSO, Mr. Portman, please stop with the insane ads.




Republicans

Rob Portman
Rob is the primary Republican candidate and the probable front runner. He has some quality experience and has a good position on some issues. His biggest problem is his role in the budget office, which might harm him in our failing economy. I expect him to be the candidate for the R. Party.

Kenneth Blackwell
I really do not like Mr. Blackwell but I expect him to run again for public office. Why not run for senate? He will be able to become the only black in the senate (I assume Burris will not be elected). I assume that Blackwell will do as badly as he did in the 2006 Governor elections, so I think he can be ignored.

Kevin DeWine
Now, don't get me wrong, but I really liked Mike. Sure, he was the wrong party, but he voted with his morals all of the time and definitely broke party lines often. Hopefully, Kevin will be doing the same thing. That said, I would like Kevin simply because he is trying to shape up the GOP and make it modern (you know, also back to its roots) and this could make him a good leader. The GOP establishment will probably shoot him down even though he would be a long-time server due to this.

Jim Petro
Sure, he lost a bid to Blackwell (ick) to become Governor but this might be due to crossing lines to pick a losing candidate (many dems. voted Blackwell in the primaries). I think that Petro is kinda a black-horse candidate, somebody to shake up the primary and drive interest into the Rep. side. Frankly, of all of the candidates, Petro has the best credentials.

Overall, I believe that it will be Portman for the Republican side, but really hope that it would be DeWine.


Democrats

Peter Lawson Jones
I really know nothing about this dude, but he probably is a good pick. If Ben at Keeler Political Report is talking about him then I know that he will be running and a strong candidate. Ben, can you fill this in for me? Oh, he also is black (see Blackwell).

Jennifer Brunner
I hope that she does not run, but I am sure that she will be. Brunner is not a good leader and should not be running for anything in 2010. She cost the state millions in changing voting and lead people to distrust stuff that actually works. Hopefully she will not run

Lee Fisher
Lee would be a good candidate for the office as he has experience and would have the drive needed to win. He has worked with both sides of the issues and is a damn-good candidate. I hope that he runs.

Mary Jo Kilroy
Yeah, I went there... I brought out a black-horse candidate for the Democrats too. Kilroy has a good history and has great experience backing her. I would not be surprised if she ran in the primary and placed second (under Fisher). Hopefully she does run

Overall I think that Fisher will be winning the primary and running in the 2010 Senate election. Unless Strickland runs (odd, i know), this is almost 100%

7 comments:

Ben said...

It is going to be Portman.

Yes, PLJ is black. He is one of three county commissioners in Cuyahoga County. He has had his eye on this seat for some time, before Obama won, and before Voinovich made his announcement. He is the least likely of any potential Dem candidates to pull out of a primary for party unity.

Kilroy - that is a long shot..

I think Brunner will run, but that is just a guess based on nothing.

Ben said...

should be "It is going to be Portman for the GOP."

Peter said...

Kilroy just barely won her house seat in the past election, so i see her as likely being pressured to stay and hold onto the seat in the 2010 elections, as there is no likely successor. She is going to have to work hard any ways to get reelected (remember that she needed absentee ballots to win) so she will likely stay. Unless of course she thinks she has a choice of up or out, that she won't likely win reelection in the district.

Whalertly said...

Ben
-I personally think that it will be Portman V. Jones. Portman is almost 100%. I think that Brunner will run and that she will shoot herself in her foot (and hopefully be done with politics)
Kilroy is the long shot for a reason

Whalertly said...

Peter
except our state will still be running on a dem. wave

Kadim said...

Funny that you assume that Burris won't be re-elected. I think by 2010 Burris should have an easy re-election.

It's interesting that you mention Kenny Blackwell. It looks like he's not in a good position to win RNC chair. The fact that he was interested in RNC chair (plus his involvement in the Buckeye Institution) implies to me that he's more interested in policy and getting things done in the background than being the candidate in front.

I like DeWine as well. I think he might stick to a smaller office however.

I have enormous respect for Jennifer Brunner. I think she made some amazing decisions 90% of the time, and let me down the other 10%. (Obviously this is a place where we disagree. But I think she's right about the voting equipment, and we'll be forced to get rid of it no matter what the Dispatch thinks.)

I know she's dropping interest for Senate. I don't see that happening though. I have a feeling she'll be more up to defending her record again for a second term at SOS.

Oddly, Lee Fisher has never really impressed me and I understand he's not easy to deal with. Having said that, I think he's going to be the Senate candidate.

Whalertly said...

"Funny that you assume that Burris won't be re-elected. I think by 2010 Burris should have an easy re-election."
--The guy doesn't want the seat in 2010. Additionally, how can you think that he will get elected when he was shot down the last two times he tried anything?--

"It's interesting that you mention Kenny Blackwell. It looks like he's not in a good position to win RNC chair. The fact that he was interested in RNC chair (plus his involvement in the Buckeye Institution) implies to me that he's more interested in policy and getting things done in the background than being the candidate in front."
--When he was beaten he mentioned coming back to politics. I think he will be running in 2010 because he does want the power, and he wants to mess with the country. That said, he also does like being behind the scenes, but only because they are giving him power there--

"I like DeWine as well. I think he might stick to a smaller office however."
--why, the time is perfect for him to show up and run--

"I have enormous respect for Jennifer Brunner. I think she made some amazing decisions 90% of the time, and let me down the other 10%. (Obviously this is a place where we disagree. But I think she's right about the voting equipment, and we'll be forced to get rid of it no matter what the Dispatch thinks.)"
--What did she do well? Also, what issues do you have with the machines?--

"I know she's dropping interest for Senate. I don't see that happening though. I have a feeling she'll be more up to defending her record again for a second term at SOS."
--She will not win SoS again, that is pretty obvious. Her best bet it to run for the Senate and get support behind her--

"Oddly, Lee Fisher has never really impressed me and I understand he's not easy to deal with. Having said that, I think he's going to be the Senate candidate."
--what doesn't impress you? So what if he is hard to work with?--

Redirect

You will be redirected shortly to our new website. If you are not redirected within 5 seconds please CLICK HERE!

Copyright Notice

(C) All articles, postings, images, etc. on this site are protected by relevant copyright law, unless otherwise specified. To use any original material in totality please ask for author permission.

(C) 2009, all rights reserved by whalertly.blogspot.com, Robert M. Barga, and all contributing authors.