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ShareAs Other Dems Run From Obama, Strickland Embraces Him
As Other Dems Run From Obama, Strickland Embraces Him
When President Obama came to the Cleveland area on Wednesday to tout a new set of economic proposals, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland did not think twice about appearing at the event, even as other Democrats locked in tight races have sought to distance themselves physically from the president.
"It was a no-brainer for me," Strickland said in an interview with RealClearPolitics on Thursday. "I have a fairly good memory, and I can remember the state of the economy when the president took office. We were in an economic free fall which many feared, including me, that we were heading toward some economic Armageddon, and I think we were, if it had not been for the strong action from our Democratic friends in the Congress and the president."
Strickland is running for a second term as governor and finds himself trailing in recent polls to his Republican opponent, former Congressman John Kasich.
The Democratic incumbent is known as a middle-of-the-road governor, but the toughest hurdle for Strickland to overcome might be Ohio's unemployment rate, which stood at 10.3 percent in June.
But Strickland is banking on his ability to pull off the difficult feat of convincing voters that the economic situation in Ohio, and indeed in the country as a whole, is on the upswing.
"The free fall has been stopped," he said. "At least in Ohio, we've seen some signs of economy recovery."
Strickland has appeared with Obama nine of the 10 times the president has traveled to Ohio while in office, and Obama is scheduled to make yet another visit to the state for an organizing rally on Oct. 17.
While other Democratic candidates have expressed reservations about the president's new $50 billion transit revitalization plan, and Republicans see another opening to paint their rivals as big spenders, Strickland embraced it on Thursday without equivocation.
"I'm hugely in favor of the infrastructure piece," he said. "I've been hoping that the Congress would go to work and pass a very robust transportation bill but they've yet to do that. But I think it's necessary and essential, so obviously I support the $50 billion infrastructure piece. Quite frankly, I wish it was larger than that."
In addition to the president's repeated visits, Vice President Biden has traveled to Ohio four times this year and will appear at a Dayton fundraiser for Strickland on Sept. 20. RealClearPolitics has learned that the vice president will make a separate appearance in Akron on Strickland's behalf on that date.
"I think it's important for me and for other Democrats to remind the voting public about how bad things were, and why they were bad, and who was responsible for them being so bad," Strickland said.
Of course, the Strickland campaign is well aware of the perils of associating itself so closely with a president whose job approval rating among Ohio independent voters stood at 40 percent in a late June Quinnipiac poll.
But Strickland recognizes that he will be tied to the White House no matter what, and the thinking in his campaign is that it would create more of a story if he were to conspicuously back away from Obama.
Ohio Democrats hope that Strickland can effectively capitalize on the positives that Obama brings to the table, in terms of fundraising and energizing the base, while finding a way to mitigate the negatives.
Strickland, who lost a congressional reelection race during the Republican wave in 1994, says that he learned from that experience about the importance of getting out on the road early and often and has been engaged with voters around the state "almost every day" since he's been in office.
"I think the Democrats have had a little more time during this election cycle than they had in ‘94 to deal with the Republican challenge," Strickland said. "It's been obvious for some time now that this would be a challenging election year for Democrats, and I think perhaps we are better prepared in terms of having done the fundraising that's needed to carry out a robust campaign, at least that's true in my case, and I think it's true of many of the congressional folks."
Though cash on hand numbers have not been updated since June, Strickland enjoyed a $2 million advantage over Kasich at that point, and the Democrat's campaign says it has conserved its resources for the final push.
Kasich aired his first television advertisement on July 27, while Strickland waited until Aug. 24 to go up on TV. The Republican and Democratic Governors Associations have both been on the air in Ohio since May.
Strickland, who hails from rural southeast Ohio and has received the NRA's endorsement, has competed vigorously in Republican-leaning districts, in addition to his big-city bases. His campaign has mounted a statewide radio buy targeting rural markets, which touts his culturally conservative bona fides and hits Kasich on free trade issues.
On the campaign trail, Strickland has occasionally talked about the months he spent as a child living in a henhouse after his family's home burned down and has used his biography to contrast himself with Kasich, who was the son of a mailman but spent most of the last decade as a Lehman Brothers banker.
Though reserved and methodical in the RealClearPolitics interview, Strickland demonstrated a penchant to be perhaps a little too "fired up and ready to go" at a recent AFL-CIO Labor Day rally.
Seen in a video of the Labor Day event that was circulated by the Republican Governors Association, Strickland appeared on stage with his tie loosened and shirt sleeves rolled up and seemed to get carried away in his rhetoric.
"The Republican Party has been overtaken by the zealots, by the extremists, by the radicals, by the reckless, and they don't seem to like Ohio very much, and, quite frankly, they act as if they don't like America very much," Strickland yells to the crowd.
The incident prompted Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine to call on Strickland to issue a public apology, but in the interview with RealClearPolitics, the governor did not back down from his comments.
"I don't remember verbatim what I said, but I believe I followed saying that by indicating why I said that, that they are starting to question some of the most basic parts of our history," Strickland said. "Some are questioning the constitutionality, for example, of Social Security. In regard to not liking Ohio very much, John Kasich has for the last several weeks or months been saying things about Ohio that are absolutely not true."
Strickland added that he wasn't questioning the patriotism of Kasich or any other Republican.
"I was questioning their liking Ohio and America in terms of how we have developed as a nation and as a state, and I think that's true," he said. "And I do think that the Republican Party has largely been overtaken by zealots."
Strickland and Kasich will square off in two televised debates, the first of which will take place in Columbus on Tuesday.
In Strickland's debate preparations, Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern has played the role of Kasich.
"I'm tempted to say to you what I said to Chris, but it's a joke, and I'm afraid you wouldn't take it as such," Strickland said. "I told Chris I wanted someone who had many of Mr. Kasich's characteristics to be my debate partner."
Strickland added that Redfern and Kasich are both "very witty, bright, glib, and I think they both have a tendency to be a little overstated in how they express their opinions."
On the day of the first debate, former President Clinton will host fundraisers and public rallies on Strickland's behalf in Columbus and Cleveland.
"He joined me on a conference call with some of his supporters and donors, asking them to consider being helpful to me," Strickland said of the former president. "Any time I need to communicate with him, I can, and he's always incredibly supportive of me, as he has been, since the time he first ran for president."
Strickland endorsed Hillary Clinton early in her 2008 presidential run, and Clinton went on to defeat Obama in Ohio's Democratic primary.
Asked whether he might have a future in national office himself, Strickland, whose name was floated as a possible running mate for Obama in 2008, laughed and repeated the word "no," six times.
"I think I'm a good governor," Strickland said. "I care about my state, I take my responsibilities seriously, and I hope to remain Ohio's governor for the next four years. If I do that, I think I will not likely run for any other office thereafter. I have no aspirations like that. In fact, I've never had aspirations like."
Those hopes for remaining in office now rest to a large extent on whether his decision to align himself closely to Obama, a big gamble by any measure, ends up paying surprising dividends.
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