Cross Posted from Nixguy.com

A group of high-powered Republicans led by the son of a former Ohio attorney general threw their support to Democrat governor candidate Ted Strickland on Tuesday, choosing him over his GOP rival, Ken Blackwell.”I’m an Ohioan first, and Ohio has some serious challenges going forward. We need strong, new leadership to overcome the problems the state faces,”…

Sure, but Strickland? Come on Rocky, what’s the real reason?

Columbus attorney Charles “Rocky” Saxbe said. “The next governor must unite, inspire and motivate all the people of the state in order to accomplish the task before us.”

Strickland will unite, inspire, and motivate?

Pardon me, just a sec…

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Seriously Rocky, what’s the real reason?

Saxbe, whose father William Saxbe served nine years as attorney general, was joined at the launch of Republicans for Strickland by former Ohio State University board chairman Dan Slane, a Columbus businessman, and former Mason Mayor Betty Davis, once a member of the state Republican central committee.

I can’t speak for Dan Slane, but Betty Davis being part of this confirms something I’ve thought in my head about a lot of our local Warren County Republicans. If they weren’t Republican we wouldn’t vote for them here, therefore they are. How “Republican” is Betty Davis? Apparently, not very.

The three said a Strickland administration would be better equipped to solve Ohio’s economic problems, more bipartisan, and more tolerant than one led by Blackwell, the secretary of state who beat Attorney General Jim Petro, the favorite of establishment Republicans, in the primary.

Davis said Strickland, who represents a rural U.S. House district in southeast Ohio, demonstrated a willingness to work with his constituents in her Republican-leaning county, though 71 percent of them voted against him. She said she often talks to local Republicans who tell her they plan to support Strickland on Nov. 7.

We need to do a heck of a better job sounding out local politicians. 71% of Davis’s city can’t stand Strickland. What you also probably don’t remember about Davis is that she was beaten by Blackwell’s running mate Tom Raga in 2000 for State Rep. Good thing too apparently, her career with the Republican Party is now dead, dead, dead, now that she has revealed herself as a liberal Republican. See below.

“I think the party, in and of itself, has some divisiveness in it today,” Davis said. “I’m not so sure we don’t need to get back to a moderation level.”

Well there’s a resolute statement!

The three join other significant Republicans - including OSU senior vice president Curt Steiner, a chief of staff to then-Gov. George Voinovich; and Turnpike Director Gary Suhadolnik, a former GOP legislator - who have made public statements against Blackwell’s candidacy and proposals.

Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said many of Blackwell’s detractors are benefiting from a bloated government bureaucracy that Blackwell intends to shrink if elected. Saxbe’s law firm, for example, had the lucrative job of representing Ohio in its $1 billion tobacco settlement. Slane’s firm managed the state’s emergency radio conversion, one of the costliest public contracts in state history.

Follow the money? Could it be that simple? Probably.

“Ted Strickland needs to back up what he’s talking about. He talks about Republican excess, yet he embraces individuals who have made a good deal of money through their political connections with Republicans. So, it’s all right when they support him?” LoParo said.

Exactly. Ted Strickland doesn’t get to go both ways on this. Strickland has denounced “Pay to Play” but is now playing with the payers. His response?

“That’s an example of the name-calling attitude and divisive approach that we want to avoid,” Strickland said.

BWAHAHAHAHA! This guy is such a lightweight it’s almost embarrassing.

Saxbe, a well respected attorney for GOP causes who once ran for attorney general, made no apologies for the work he has done for the state, which has included representing Blackwell’s office. He said he is still a loyal Republican and will support other GOP candidates this year at the national, state and local levels - just not Blackwell. Saxbe’s father supports his decision to cross party lines, the son said.

Let your dad speak for himself Rocky, you’ve just outed yourself.

Saxbe said he disagrees with Blackwell’s staunch positions on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage, but that his decision was most heavily influenced by Blackwell’s championing of a government-limiting Tax & Expenditure Limitation Amendment.

So Rocky Saxbe is Pro-life, Pro-Gay marriage and Pro-tax and spending. I think he needs to have a moment with himself and decide which party he really belongs to. Oh and someone also should tell him that Strickland is anti-gay marriage. Supposedly, or maybe Rocky knows something about that we don’t.

“I thought it was an ill-conceived concept for dealing wtih expenditures and taxes,” he said. “It would have destroyed local government and had a disastrous effect on state government, and demonstrated a lack of appreciation for the needs of local government. It was a choice for a sound bite-type solution over a practical and responsible approach to dealing with the tax and spending issues that the state has.”

And this is where I think Blackwell screwed up strategically. Blackwell took the issue off the table in April but the people who oppose him were never going to come around and be friends. You have to choose the ground on which to fight and I have always thought that TEL was excellent ground.

Blackwell, who backed off the unpopular proposal in a compromise with the Legislature, is “the purest form of Republican,” LoParo said, and mainstream Republican voters throughout the state will support him.

“I don’t think very many Republicans will come out and vote for Ted Strickland because he doesn’t share their values,” LoParo said.

Plus he’s a frakking lightweight… But I guess that kind of name-calling would be “divisive”. Heh.

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett joined the Blackwell campaign in denouncing the Republicans for Strickland effort, accusing Saxbe and Slane of a “history of playing both sides.”

“If a handful of Republicans want to embrace Strickland’s empty rhetoric, out-of-touch values and unimpressive record of higher taxes, that’s entirely their choice,” Bennett

From Openers

Sen. George Voinovich is making people nervous again with his talk of raising taxes to pay for the war in Iraq. He mentioned it briefly Monday at Cleveland's Windows on the River, where he was helping raise money to buy phone cards for soldiers, and he said it again this morning at a Senate hearing on homeland security.

This isn't the first time it's come up. Voinovich spokesman Chris Paulitz cautions that the junior Republican senator from Ohio isn't calling for a specific tax hike. Rather, Voinovich is concerned about spending outpacing tax revenues, which is why he opposed permanently repealing the estate tax -- even though he doesn't like that tax. Likewise, Voinovich has been far more cautious this year about backing tax cuts he once embraced.

Hate to be his spokesman and try to defend this.

From the Enquirer

One of the early "cattle calls" for Republicans who want to follow President Bush into the White House is apparently being hosted by Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell.

A steady stream of early contenders for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination have been popping in and out of Ohio during the gubernatorial campaign to have their pictures taken with Ken Blackwell.

Many in the party (including Blackwell) believe he will achieve celebrity status in the GOP if elected the first Republican African-American governor since Reconstruction.

And those same Republicans believe a Gov. Blackwell might even make a credible running mate for one of them. Blackwell has said nothing to dissuade such talk.

Another reason why Petro should have ran on the unity ticket. He'd be governor in 2008.

From the enquirer

An early income tax cut and tougher immigration laws were proposed Tuesday by House Republicans who said those were the top concerns they were hearing when campaigning.

The House Ways and Means Committee voted 17-1 to speed up the five-year, 21 percent income tax cut so it's completed in four years.

If the measure is passed by the full legislature this year, Ohio taxpayers would owe $192 million less on April 15 of next year.

Democrats immediately labeled the surprise tax cut proposed by the GOP-controlled General Assembly an election-year gimmick.

But most voted for it anyway.

Keep up the good work. Who cares if it's a gimmick if it's the right thing to do, then do it! Lower taxes.

Victory for Chaffee is a Victory for the RINOs

From The Hill:

Centrist Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) withstood a heated primary challenge on Tuesday from conservative Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey, winning 54 percent to 46 percent thanks to record turnout spurred by a national party-led get out the vote effort.

Chafee's win was in part due to the support of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the White House despite a track record of bucking his party and President Bush. The more than 63,000 voters who turned out trumped the prior record of 45,000.

Laffey was backed by the conservative Club for Growth and made a name for himself as a brash and energetic campaigner who surprised many by making it a race against Chafee, the son of the late Sen. John Chafee (R-R.I.) who took his father's seat in 1999. The NRSC indicated last week that it wouldn't support Laffey if he won the primary, citing polls showed Laffey 30 points behind Whitehouse in the general election. Chafee has polled neck and neck with the Democrat.

The Rhode Island Senate primary captured the most attention this week after the NRSC hammered Laffey with millions of dollars of negative ads. Laffey's loss is a defeat for the Club for Growth, which backed his candidacy and had won a victory last month when it helped defeat incumbent GOP Rep. Joe Schwarz (
Mich.).

"Chafee's independent, honest leadership drove historic turnout and clearly shows he's in a great position to win in November," said Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the NRSC.

Not surprisingly, Democrats read the tea leaves differently.

"When Chafee can barely win his own primary, you know he'll have trouble in the general election," said Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.