Governor Ted Strickland replaces Senator (Ret) John Glenn as Dems go-to guy for campaigning

[liberalnurse]

http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/oh/story/opinions/columns/2007/11/11/ddn111107hershey.html


COLUMBUS — Maybe John Glenn can get some rest next year.

Glenn, a fit 86, certainly deserves it.

He was a Marine pilot in two wars, the first American to orbit the earth, served four terms in the U.S. Senate and returned to space a second time as a senior citizen. For the past decade or so, he's also been the Ohio Democrats' only real go-to guy when candidates needed help on the campaign trail, including John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race. But as last week's election results demonstrated, that's changed — not that any Democratic candidate in his or her right mind would ever tell Glenn to stay at home.

Ohio has a popular Democratic governor. Ted Strickland, with his 69 percent approval rating in the latest Ohio Poll, was all over the place during the off-year elections. He helped Democrats win in places such as Canton where Republicans have held the mayor's office for 16 years.

Strickland's Friday endorsement of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for the Democratic
nomination for president shows that he's not slowing down. He was scheduled to be in Iowa Saturday with Clinton at the state's Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner.

Kevin DeWine, deputy chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, has noticed.

"He was on TV or on a direct mail piece for every candidate around the state. I don't think in my relative short time in ... politics that I've seen a governor as political as this one was in this election," DeWine said....DeWine didn't necessarily mean this in a complimentary way.
"He seemed to have spent as much time filming TV ads over the last few months as he was tending to official state business," said DeWine. Strickland brushed off DeWine's comments. "Kevin, Kevin, Kevin," Strickland said. "Sometimes what Kevin says is amusing. I think anyone who pays attention to my schedule of activities understands that I work very hard, and it just seems like he's looking for something to criticize."