The debate left the Courier with a bad taste in their mouth.
We’ve been following Ken Blackwell’s career for years. Our file on him is more than an inch thick. We’ve talked with him personally and come away impressed with his intelligence and commitment to change — both of which are much needed in this state.But while Blackwell may still get some of our individual votes, he’s lost our endorsement, for whatever it’s worth. His total nastiness at the Monday debate with his opponent, Democrat Ted Strickland, has proven that he’s really not the kind of man we need as our next governor….
But Blackwell still had some good ideas — a state health insurance plan modeled on the one Massachusetts just adopted; a flatter state tax with fewer brackets; leasing the turnpike to promote economic development. It’s a shame that these will likely be abandoned now, particularly since Strickland’s proposals don’t even come close to what Ohio needs. But in order to get his policies passed, Blackwell would need to have both a decent working relationship with the Legislature and enough influence with Ohio voters to convince legislators to take a chance. He decisively blew both of those Monday night.
Their take on Strickland is worse.
Strickland is not much of a candidate. In Congress he’s voted as a liberal most of the time, heavy on spending and taxation. He has few ideas, and some of the few he has presented have been analyzed as unworkable. He has no daring, no noticeable personality or charisma. But he’s a nice man who works well with others — and that’s the main reason why Blackwell is losing this race.
With Governor Strickland, we’ll likely have another Bob Taft or worse — but with Ken Blackwell we could easily have four years of gridlock, with little or nothing getting done. It’s a poor choice, and one that we’ll have to let local voters make without any recommendations from us.
It is this opinion that probably marks the attitude around the state except for the core. When Blackwell is a dynamic speaker and has tremendous ideas his handlers around him often lack the ‘good’ advice he needed. Since the primary he didn’t run the campaign quite the same way… or so it seemed.
But they nail the real problem. Strickland isn’t much of a candidate. It would be a shame to vote for Strickland as a reactionary vote. I have thought and continue to say that Strickland will result in a Taft like administration. Let me say it now… even worse than Taft if that could be possible. So if you are leaning because of Taft… don’t vote for Strickland. You will only get more of the same.
