Dispatch: "Republican governor candidate Blackwell is well-known, but Democratic foe Strickland is not"

The underclassmen at the The Dispatch look forward to the would-be gubernatorial debates if for no other reason, so that Ohians can be introduced to the reclusive stealth candidate, Ted Strickland. In case you didn't know-- and most voters don't-- there was a Democrat primary in May, too, and some guy named Ted Strickland won.

It appears that Strickland's and the ODP's innovative strategy for winning in Nov. is to avoid any publicity about himself or his "campaign". Apparently, he is desperate to try and skate through to Nov. without upsetting the following perception (from the editorial):

"Strickland, a Congress member whose district hugs the Ohio River, is considered a moderate Democrat, but his views aren’t widely known across the state."

Apparently, what makes TS "moderate" is that he is against infanticide (at least late-term), admits to a religion, and recognizes that the 2nd Amendment exists-- a pretty low standard to be sure, but that does place him in the extreme rightwing of the Democrat party (lifetime ratings from the American Conservative Union of 18 and Americans for Democratic Action of 88). If only TS can avoid public appearances, statements, and campaigning for 4 more months he may actually win! The difficult job ahead for the Republicans, Blackwell, and the Media is to drag Strickland out of his cave and force him to say something relevant to the electoral process. Once this occurs-- if possible-- the electorate may get a chance to evaluate "that Democrat guy, What'shisname, who wants to be governor".

So far the Dems have done a good job of hiding the inconsequential backbencher, Strickland, from scrutiny; and defining Blackwell as a flip-flopper, which is worse than the extremist that they had intended (which no one believed anyway). Of course, KB handed them their flip-flop issue that they plan to ride to Nov. and has stayed on defense (weakly) since the primary.

Until the Blackwell campaign overcomes their self-inflicted debacle by going on offense to force Strickland into the public eye, I don't foresee the polls changing. Right now, TS has no reason to come out of his hole. There's still time to regain the momentum if KB is willing to give a full accounting of the real reasons he killed TEL, and to try to convince conservatives that his rationale was not just sound but critical-- I personally don't think he can, or will. Otherwise, he is going to end up playing defense 'til Nov. and TS will skate into the governor's office without anyone knowing anything about him, which is their grand strategy: Vote Strickland! He's not as out of touch with reality as the rest of the party.