By: Jon Morrow - - Ohio Comes First Contributor
The announcement of Josh Mandel dropping out of the Senate race sent speculation running through the Ohio GOP establishment and the possibility of musical chairs being played. To me, this conjecture of the establishment trying to move a candidate in one race to another at this late date is pretty incredulous, but shows how problematic the thinking still is within the Ohio GOP.
We need more businessmen in Government and less lawyers and politicians.
Many have speculated that due to Josh Mandel jumping out of the U.S. Senate race that John Kasich or Pat Tiberi might take that challenge on. They have responded to say that they will not be jumping into the race.
My bet is that no one substantive will jump into the U.S. Senate race for fear of not getting the 1,000 vetted signatures needed by the February filing deadline. The other names mentioned like Jim Renacci or Jim Jordan might have jumped into the race if Josh had made the announcement earlier, but at this late date, it seems to be unlikely.
While Josh jumping out of the U.S. Senate race was the right thing to do, family first is my motto, there is rumor that Josh might not be totally out of politics for the near future. There has been some speculation that a Lt. Governor’s job might be a good fit for Josh. The Lt, Governor’s job is not that demanding and would not require Josh to leave Ohio. He would bring a lot of name recognition and money to any gubernatorial candidate.
One might naturally assume that Josh may team up with Mary Taylor as her Lt. Governor. That would potential set him up to run for Governor in the future and potentially use that as a stepping stone to the White House. Doing nothing, does not seem likely for Josh.
Though, I like the other rumor of Mary Taylor possibly recruiting Ken Blackwell to her campaign as a Lt. Governor. I believe that would be two firsts if they won, the first woman Governor and first black Lt. Governor. But, Ken has not been in the headlines for a long while and it is debatable as to if he could bring the political fire he once did.
My money is on Jim Renacci solely because he seems to be the best candidate for the job. He is best suited to understand the machinations on intricacies of industry that translate into providing a pro-growth atmosphere. DeWine does not have that experience and from all accounts seems to be hated in many places in Ohio for his terrible job as Attorney General. While I like Mary Taylor, the times I have seen her talk, I have been left with that she is a politician and approaches problems from a political bent and not from a free market stratagem.
Jim Renacci is not perfect, he has not voted the way I would have voted on many issues....but I like that he is sick of Washington D.C. and believe in strong state governments.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the people advising either the Gibbons or Renacci team to “not be more specific and detailed on what they intend to do” when they are elected is a tremendous mistake. If you look at candidates as products that you are advertising, Gibbons and Renacci are Ferraris being advertised like a pair of run of the mill Chevy Cavaliers. I have personally spoken to both candidates and they are both exceptionally great candidates but when you look at their web presence online, they appear to be just like any other candidate. The same anemic 10-12 issues that every Republican running has on their website. Nothing new to get people really excited about their campaign.
I predict a very close race if Gibbons and Renacci keep the same type of web presence and I predict a huge win if their marketing consultants allow them to differentiate themselves to standout from the crowd and engender passion for their campaigns.
The Ohio electorate is so desperate for good candidates that they are no longer single issue voters. Many will over look minor disagreements. Look at Donald trump. I do not know one person that does not disagree with him on something. Then look at how Trump won. It was not by making pale pastel statements it was by making bold statements. He did not say “I support border security” he said “We are going to build a border wall whether they like it or not!”
Gibbon’s and Renacci’s websites and online media presence needs to be more bold to resonate with Ohioans. If they make changes now they should have an easy win. If they wait, or do nothing different, the races will be much closer than what they need to be.
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