October 19, 2006
Blackwell in Cleveland
I went up to hear Ken Blackwell at the campaign event in Cleveland last night, and got a chance to hear Dennis Prager and Hugh Hewitt as part of the bargain. I have been in the Blackwell camp since he threw his hat in the ring, but I came away from his talk last night even more impressed with the man. We were hearing what I assume to be his standard stump speech, which has several specific proposals, but is also laced with folksy humor, and conveys a real sense of the people and events that shaped his value system.
If there was an overriding theme of the talk, it was that Blackwell is far better suited to be the CEO of a major public enterprise with 56,000 employees and a budget in the billions of dollars than is his opponent. And this is not only because he has the experience in large city and state government that his opponent lacks, but also that he knows what kinds of policies are needed to bring jobs and economic vitality back to Ohio. He touted his endorsement Wednesday by the Ohio Manufacturers Association, and stressed his tax-cutting proposals as the recipe for bringing jobs to the state.
Blackwell made the very cogent observation that if Ohio voters are repelled by the track record of incumbent Governor Taft, because of his track record of raising taxes and presiding over soaring spending, then Ted Strickland is hardly the "anti-Taft", he is very nearly his mirror image. It is Blackwell, not Strickland who stands for substantive change in this state. Strickland has stated that no tax cuts are necessary in the state which has the nation's fourth highest rate of taxation. Strickland says he would have vetoed the tort reform legislation which sought to at least partially remedy the conditions that have been driving companies and talent out of Ohio.
Blackwell made sure his audience knew that a bipartisan rating service ranked Ted Strickland 402nd out of the 435 Congressmen in terms of their effectiveness as legislators, and that in a debate, Strickland could not name a single company that had located in his district through his efforts. Small wonder, since Rep. Strickland doesn't even live in his own district, which has the second highest unemployment rate of any district in the nation, leading one to assume that job creation might have been a priority for the Congressman.
Blackwell could have campaigned on his resume and his specific platform alone and had my vote. But he is a dynamic speaker and comes across as passionate about public service and confident in his own ability to lead people and to get things done. And of course that's why Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager flew in (gratis) from L.A. to stump for him. They believe that he is the kind of special politician who doesn't come around very often. I'm inclined to agree.
Blackwell seemed genuinely optimistic in spite of polls showing him trailing Strickland by a significant margin. As OpinionJournal.com editorialized this morning, it appears he could the right candidate, in the wrong year. That is, the year when Ohioans are dead set on punishing the Republicans for Bob Taft.
Blackwell was asked about the breaking story of the past few days involving a former aide to Strickland who had prior convictions for indecent exposure. Blackwell has been slammed in the media and the left blogosphere for "gutter politics" and desperation tactics for raising questions, via this issue, about Strickland's own sexuality (which Blackwell has never done.)
Blackwell responded that the issue is not a personal one at all, but rather one of Strickland's judgment and his honesty, as well as his competence to administer a bureaucracy of 56,000 employees, when he proved incompetent at doing routine due diligence for a staff of three. By the way, this issue came up only in the question and answer segment at the end of the evening, and was not a part of Blackwell's presentation in any way. I have read a little background on the story (there's more than you could ever care to know here) and from what I have seen so far, there's not a lot of "there" there.
Yes, it appears Strickland was less than forthright about his knowledge of this guy's background, and was, at the very least uninterested in asking anyone but the aide himself if the stories of his criminal background were true, (the aide denied it.) And yes, the trip to Italy by Strickland and the aide after the campaign is enough to raise some eyebrows. But this kind of story, scraping at the bottom of the scum bucket, especially if it becomes central to the campaign, is exactly the type of thing that disgusts so many people about politics. And besides, it's a Democratic specialty. I can't believe the Blackwell campaign is well-served by giving the issue any more oxygen.
Ken Blackwell is the more capable and experienced candidate. His formula for turning around Ohio's fortunes is a superior plan to Strickland's soporific message. And if it's the anti-Taft Ohioans want, Ted Strickland isn't their man. I'll be working in the next couple of weeks with the Blackwell campaign to try to help communicate that message to Ohio voters.
Related: The Blackwell Blog (edited by rising conservative star Matt Naugle)
Posted by dan at October 19, 2006 5:53 PM