With Mandel Gone, Which Republican Dares Take On Sherrod Brown For Senate?

The nicest thing Ohio's two-term, senior senator in Washington, Senator Sherrod Brown, has to say about his one-time political rival is that he wishes "Josh, Ilana and their family the best of health. We hope for Ilana's full and speedy recovery."

Those few kind words came Friday from Brown's campaign in response to news that Ohio State Republican Treasurer Josh Mandel is bowing out of his second try to unseat Brown due to his wife's health. The former Marine, now term limited, lost handily to Brown in 2012, when the former congressman and two-term secretary of state won a second six-year term in the U.S. Senate. 

With the GOP candidate long thought to win the right to take on Brown again, Mandel's sudden exit opens up the seat to other Republicans, like Mike Gibbons, a little known acolyte of President Donald Trump who has already received the endorsement of the Franklin County Republican Party. Other possible candidates include Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, Congressman Jim Renacci, and even out-going Gov. John Kasich. The Kasich-Taylor ticket won back-to-back victories in 2010 and in 2014.

With Kasich headed off Ohio's political radar screen, and maybe into the political graveyard at the end of this year, the chance to run against Brown in Ohio is his for the asking. Instead of going into a three-year hibernation to wait for 2020 to roll around, when many think the 65-year old might try a third run at the White House, Kasich could dump his unfulfilled dreams since 2000 of being president.

Based on how Kasich's second try turned out in 2016, when he lost 49 states and won just one, Ohio, the establishment-lane leader might want to trade down to U.S Senator now that Mandel is out. Politico reports that Kasich isn't interested in the opportunity, even though it's ripe for him. Kasich, a former Fox News show host and Lehman Brothers banker, could show he still has political capital.

If he ran and beat Brown, he'd earn hero medals, national attention, and a following he could use to run for president again. If Kasich could pull off this election trick in his home state, Sen. Kasich could run for POTUS from cover, in two years in 2020, then again in his last year of 2024 if he fails in 2020. 

Kasich continually rubs people the wrong way, and Republicans in Ohio or Washington have cooled on him since he's become a Trump critic. But discounting his anti-Trump attitude, Kasich could muscle his way into the race if he wants to. Seen by some as yesterday's news, despite his many appearances on national political talk shows where he reliably thumps Trump, Kasich may foreclose on his political future if he passes on the opportunity to show what he's always talking about: bringing people together to solve common problems.

His favorite talking point, one he writes about in his latest book "Two Paths: America Divided or United, could lose its punch if Republicans' lose this seat and potential control of the Senate this year. 

Jim Renacci is independently wealthy and might find switching seats from a crowded GOP field for Ohio governor to the virtually open field Ohio senator. The lead team of Mike DeWine, Ohio's outgoing attorney general, and Jon Husted, Ohio's outgoing secretary of state, is likely too much for Renacci for many reasons. Republicans want to keep the governorship in against a field of Democrats that has yet to shake out.

Mary Taylor also might want to challenge Sen. Brown, since she hasn't buddied up with another viable candidate, and is likely to get routed in the GOP primary this spring.

Kasich, a former 18-year congressman, has already made it clear he wants another bite at the White House apple. He's all but confirmed that, saying he'll keep his voice in the mix even if he's not holding a public position. Kasich's problem comes in running on his record since 2010. That record is full of poor performance holes Brown would nail the former Catholic boy to a political cross of his own creation. 

For students who study Kasich, he's at his best when the deck is stacked in his favor. But his deck isn't as stacked as it once was. Poor job performance, billion-dollar budget shortfalls and signing 20 anti-women bills in to law is rich soil to plow for Brown, who will be forced to change his one-note tune on Kasich, who he's praised for accepting expanded Medicaid then defending it as his Republican brothers tried to blow it up. 

Brown was gearing up for another expensive and even nastier race against Mandel, who lost despite six years ago after $40 million was spent to take the gravely-voiced liberal lion. Many pundits saw the match-up this year as a race for Mandel to settle a score.

Now that Mandel has bailed out, Kasich could decided to not get beat up by passing on the chance to take on an energized, experienced, working-class populist Democrat like Brown, whose agenda favors Trump's forgotten man crowd.

Republicans could toss Taylor or Renacci or even recently retired Congressman Pat Tiberi into the shark tank with Brown. Gibbons, the only Republican in the race so far, could easily peters out as many expect he would, given his lack of name recognition and political inexperience.