The Athens News reports on longtime tax-paying Columbus-resident Ted Strickland's visit to southern Ohio:

Fresh from his landslide victory in the governor's race, southern Ohio homeboy Ted Strickland paid a celebration call on some faithful backers in Jackson County Sunday.

He used the occasion to issue both his heartfelt thanks and some dire warnings that a tougher challenge still lies ahead.

"Ohio's in trouble right now," the Democratic governor-elect told a gathering of about 100 party regulars and candidates at a potluck dinner in Jackson. "The situation is incredibly serious."

Strickland left a secure seat representing Ohio's 6th U.S. House District to run against Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell for governor. He suggested Sunday that years of GOP mismanagement and corruption in Ohio have left many state agencies in terrible shape, financially and otherwise.

"We've got people looking very, very closely at every agency of state government, to find out exactly what it is that we're inheriting," he told the crowd. "We want the people of Ohio to know what we're walking into."

He added that projections for levels of state tax revenue in the near future aren't encouraging, and promised that while the going may get tough for his administration, he will be honest with the public about problems the state is facing and choices that need to be made.

Translation of that last paragraph: Ted Strickland will raise your taxes.

And Ted Strickland admits to receiving a vote that he shouldn't be so proud of:

Strickland joked obliquely about the fact that Blackwell apparently frightened off even some in his own party, with his fervent embrace of the religious right and his eagerness to slash state taxes. He met recently with outgoing Gov. Taft, he recalled, mentioning with a grin that "I've got no doubt in my mind that Bob Taft voted for me."

Of course Bob Taft voted for Ted Strickland! Ted offered the best hope to carry on the Taft legacy, which consists the socialist Third Frontier program, higher taxes, opposing gun rights, and general incompetence. Taft may be term-limited, but Strickland will ensure his negative impact on the Buckeye State will last for many years to come.