GOP Tries Different Direction In Ohio16

[ccharles000]

After a devastating loss last year in Ohio’s 16th district, Republicans in Washington, D.C., and Ohio are promoting a different kind of candidate as they try to unseat freshman Rep. John Boccieri in a historically GOP-leaning area in and around Canton.

They are turning to Jim Renacci, a businessman and former small-city mayor who is emphasizing his business background and a platform of fiscal conservatism and tax reductions.

Republicans are hoping for a better performance from Renacci next year than from their 2008 nominee, Kirk Schuring, a veteran state legislator who lost to Democrat Boccieri by 10 points — even though Republican John McCain narrowly carried the district in the 2008 presidential balloting, Schuring had a political base in populous Stark County, and most of the state Senate district Boccieri then represented, including his hometown at the time, lay outside the 16th Congressional District.

During an interview Wednesday at the National Republican Congressional Committee, Renacci said that “people are unhappy in the 16th district right now” and “clearly want someone who has a business background and someone who can show that they’ve made a payroll and they’ve gotten up in the morning and said, ‘How do I make sure that my employees are taken care of and their health benefits are taken care of?’”

“With that kind of background, I think it will be a different race,” said Renacci, whose business interests have included owning and operating nursing homes and running an arena football team.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000003233755

[CitizenLeft]

1. I just want to thank you for posting articles like this.

Even though I rarely comment on those local news threads, your hard work is appreciated. Thank you!