Toll of Polls on Obama, Strickland show national, Ohio rating slides

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Candidate Barack Obama speaks to Ohio voters in Westervile
outside Columbus in 2008. (Photo/John Michael Spinelli

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Polls out Wednesday show President Barack Obama, who clinched his win of the White House last year when he carried Ohio, and Buckeye State Gov. Ted Strickland, who was elected to the top spot along with other Democrats who took back state offices in 2006, the popularity they once enjoyed has been short lived, as polling numbers released by both Quinnipiac University and Rasmussen Reports show.

Quinnipiac Poll shows cracks in Obama armor widening

The Quinnipiac Poll shows Obama has fallen in popularity with voters nationwide from a high of 59 percent in June to 46 percent today. The number of Americans who now disapproving of his job performance is 44 percent, two percent below those giving him a thumbs up, which it self is two percent below the 48 percent in November who were on his side.

Obama still has three more years to turn voters around enough to win a second term. The same is not true for Ohio Gov. Strickland, who is already gearing up for the bruising battle he'll have to wage with his endorsed GOP-rival, John Kasich.

Rasmussen report a cause for worry for Strickland

The numbers for that match-up contained in a poll released by Rasmussen Reports, show Strickland (pictured here at this year's Ohio State Fair), who won 61 percent of the vote in 2006 but who has struggled with a state on the rocks from a combination of revenue shortfalls, is now nine percent behind Kasich, whose campaign slogan is he is a "new way and a new day."

Leading up to their reporting, Rasmussen paints a partial picture of the state of the state in Ohio. Unemployment is at 10.5 percent, a budget hole of nearly $900 looms as Strickland and Senate Republicans Roman wrestle on how to close it and thousands of manufacturing and construction jobs continue to disappear each month.

With sentiment against deficit spending, and incumbents like Obama and Strickland who have few viable options to turn things around, as the former Congressman said he would do in 2006, and who say without government spending the abyss they say they see in the rear view mirrors would have swallowed them alive, the electoral climate for a candidate like Strickland could be very bad for his political health.

For Strickland, Rasmussen says he wins support from just 69 percent of the state’s Democratic voters and trails by 25 percentage points among voters not affiliated with either major party.

Adding to Strickland’s woes, they note, is a very public disagreement with the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus.

The Rasmussen Poll shows Strickland attracting only 71 percent (71%) of the black vote, and reports that only 13 percent (13%) of African-American voters say they will vote against the governor. Fifteen percent remain undecided in the poll. The polling group that poll watchers say leans more right than others, says it's likely that the Democratic candidate (Strickland) will "eventually win much better support from the black community statewide."

Forty-eight percent (48%) of all voters in the state still approve of the way Strickland is handling his job, while 50% disapprove. Those figures include 11% who Strongly Approve and 24% who Strongly Disapprove.

Obama's job approval rating continues to slide and it's evident the deterioration stems from voter unhappiness over domestic policy matters," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. He says that while the decline in Obama's overall approval in the last month has been small, with the exception of independent voters, who went from three points negative to 14 points. "If the trend continues, it won't be long before he (Obama) could be in the unenviable position of having more Americans disapprove than approve of his job performance."

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Ohio Gov. Strickland, rail bosses should read, heed Gravy Train report by public integrity group

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- When President Barack Obama announced earlier this year that he thought America should be able to build high speed trains like other transportation savvy countries have done, the frenzy to grab some of the $8 billion in federal stimulus funding he offered has created its own job market, one full of hungry lobbyists, new lobbying groups, vested interest consultants and planners who don't want to miss this funding train, even if the slow train to the past they're backing doesn't actually leave a station for years or maybe even decades to come.

Asking the question that begs asking, Matthew Lewis, writing for The Center for Public Integrity (CPI), posits that Washington's newest gravy train has already created nearly 1,800 interest groups who "want something" from a new transportation bill whose price tag of $50 billion is so awesome that while it presents a feeding opportunity for backers of status quo transportation, it may turn out that the rising tide of anti-debt sentiment may wash it away until another day and price point can be reached.

Lewis and CPI found that more than 50 public and private groups explicitly lobbied on high-speed rail policy last quarter, a three-fold increase from a year ago. Even that number, he says, fails to capture dozens of other "actors likely lobbying on high-speed rail that keep their specific lobbying targets as vague as Washington does its spending plans."

Making his case for too many projects chasing to few funds, Lewis reminds his readers that at least 34 states including Ohio submitted proposals valued at $57 billion chasing an initial $8 billion allocation. First round funding announcements are expected this winter or no later than spring, according to a rail expert at Parsons Brinckerhoff Ohio hired to help with $564 million quick-start plan submitted to the FRA in early October.

The 3-C Corridor plan, so called because it links Ohio's three major cities -- Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland -- may get off to a slow start despite the hoopla rail chiefs and their boosters are drumming up because, as a peripheral line to the Midwestern Hub system, other projects in other states are more important, at least during the first round of HSR funding.

With California and Florida asking for more than half the $8 billion, Ohio will be lucky to receive the $564 million it asked for. And even if it does, the little matter of maybe another $200 million more for Positive Train Control technology has to be dealt with, because when sharing a freight rail track, accidents do happen, as the fatal crash in Los Angeles showed the world. And Mr. Pasterak, the consultant from PB hired by Ohio rail bosses, said PST and its costs were not a part of the state's quick start proposal.

Notwithstanding what can only be viewed as an intentional oversight -- freight companies, who are mandated by the FRA to must have PST installed by the end of 2015 are looking to passenger rail systems like the 3-C to pay for it -- deliver of train sets anytime soon -- as soon as Gov. Strickland told Bloomberg TV last week, which is by 2011 -- could also throw the project off track.

Ohio rail chiefs have bet the passenger train ranch on taking delivery of train sets from a failed Colorado railroad car company, whose buyers of distressed companies want to move to a suburb of Columbus if millions in state and federal funding arrive to build a new facility on brownfield land that doesn't have a rail spur running to it. Some watchers have questioned why state forces are lining up behind this land when other, better venues exist in other parts of the state.

Should the 3-C line lumber forward, its conventional train technology -- despite using a dual mode diesel engine -- will still produce a train whose average speed will be a turtle-paced 39 mph, a speed maybe not to different from the speed of the first train to run the 3-C route in 1852, two years after trains were introduced in the Buckeye State. The 3-C corridor, which hasn't seen a passenger train run it since 1972, is about 255 miles in length.

Buckeye rail bosses have beat the drum for this slow, expensive train, that even if its built, based on its projected schedule of runs, will strand riders starting in Cincinnati or Cleveland in another city, mostly likely Columbus, it's too slow to do a roundtrip in the same day. State rail bosses and their consultants admit that a full-route one-way journey will take about six and one-half hours.

Good trip to download War and Peace to your Kindle.

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Economic recovery in Ohio to take years, demand action by politicians, OSU report says

December 4, 12:32 PMColumbus Government ExaminerJohn Michael Spinelli

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---

Related Articles

• OSU Growth and Change Report
• Ohio stories on people, politics and government

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Recessions from a generation ago are very different from today's Great Recession, so say a trio of researchers from The Ohio State University, who opined in their report on growth and change in Ohio that inaction by state leaders like Gov. Ted Strickland and lawmakers will only prolong what they predict is already shaping up to be a long jobless recovery.

Ohio families and communities will be further strained as the state tries to recover some of its manufacturing might lost since the 1970s, which has resulted in whole industries either never returning to their original levels of employment activity or being permanently destroyed.

If the recent past is our guide, Mark Partridge, Swank Professor of Rural-Urban Policy in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, who led the study with his two other co-authors, Xuetao Huang and Tripti Uprety, said the future economic recovery will be quite feeble, with very slow job creation. Partridge and company concluded that "this drawn out 'jobless' recovery will strain Ohioans and the communities they live in."

Previous job losses could cushion more job losses

The trio said it took 46 months for the nation to recovery from the last recession in 2001 but said Ohio's total employment never did recover. They said the damage to Ohio's manufacturing sector and the families and communities that once relied so heavily on it will have less adverse impacts now because, since 1970, the sector has been in serious decline.

Ironically, they say Ohio is much better placed to prosper in the long-run if it is able to make fundamental changes to enhance its economic potential. They warn, however, that wholesale change will require that the state let go of its traditional litany of excuses for its relative poor economic performance. Contrary to some who argue that the decline of the Detroit Three auto producers has particularly hurt Ohio over the last 40 years, the researchers show that Ohio’s so-called exposure to the auto sector is "simply not large enough to explain its poor performance."

Their research showed that Ohio’s recovery pattern tends to be more severe in downturn, and job growth tends to lag the nation in recovery. They caution that while Ohio’s job declines are still less than that in 1981-82, the labor market may need longer than 1981-82 to recover. The implications for Ohio’s businesses and governments is that it "may take many years for tax revenue to recover and for businesses to regain a good footing. "Many families will face prolonged challenges, which will spread to our broader communities," they wrote, adding, "Clearly, in going forward, Ohioans should plan on continued belt tightening."

The good, bad and ugly of "creative destruction"

The good news about the bad news about the painful loss of manufacturing jobs is that it's almost over because Ohio has lost so many manufacturing jobs that there really are not that many more to lose. "Even if Ohio were to lose every remaining manufacturing job (which it will not), there will be fewer lost jobs in manufacturing than what has occurred since the early 1970s. The upside of losing so many jobs manufacturing jobs previously is that Ohio "will be less sensitive to economic downturns than in the past due to the cyclical nature of manufacturing."

They say “creative destruction,” where the loss of declining industries frees up resources (labor and capital alike) to be employed in expanding and emerging industries by shifting resources to producing products that have higher returns increases living standards, is alive and well in Ohio.

Based on their results showing many lost jobs in Ohio will not return, their painful but sobering conclusion is that it may take many years for the "economy to return to something resembling widespread prosperity." For Ohio this means families and communities will continue to face numerous challenges for many years into the future.

As for government, they predict all levels of Ohio government "will have difficult times in balancing their budget, with resulting implications for important social services, education, and infrastructure provision." Moreover, continued shortfalls in education and infrastructure provision could "further impair future economic growth."

With manufacturing being one-third of what it was in the early 1970s, the bitter good news for Ohio is that the state may be breaking out of a pattern where its downturns are more severe than the country as a whole and its recoveries are sluggish.

Two cups of hope

The authors offer up one more cup of hope and caution for residents and political leaders. They opine that Ohio employers likely overreacted during the peak of the crisis during the winter of 2009 by laying off too many workers. Due to this overreaction, they say employers may have to re-hire workers faster to meet growing demand. But if recent trends continue, they warn again, Ohio’s labor market will be very sluggish for many years in the future.

For political leaders, they say it would be "an even bigger shame if the economic downturn further distracts Ohio’s politicians and leaders from making favorable structural changes that could avert many of these problems in the future."

The cost of inaction is that this long painful process will be followed by more painful restructuring. Happy holidays!

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Ohio 6th among states in fallen soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan

December 2, 2:11 AMColumbus Government ExaminerJohn Michael Spinelli

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The gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery are
graced by U.S. flags each Memorial Day
(Photo/Wikipedia).

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- While West Point cadets listened with rapt attention Tuesday evening to President Barack Obama as he outlined his plan to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan as the key element in his way forward there and in Pakistan, let us not forget that 208 Ohioans have already died serving their country in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and that that number may rise in the months and years to come.

Ohio 6th among states in faces of the fallen

Ohio, still the 7th largest state in the nation, ranks 6th among states in the number of its citizens who have given their life to serve their country in a time of war. Statistics compiled on the faces of the fallen by the Washington Post show California leading all states with 554 deaths, followed by Texas with 463, Florida with 242 and Pennsylvania and New York with 233.

"I do not make this decision lightly," President Obama said in a solemn but determined manner. He said he opposed the war in Iraq precisely because he believes the U.S. "must exercise restraint in the use of military force, and always consider the long-term consequences of our actions."

Among Ohio's many cities, the largest number (13) of the 208 fallen soldiers to date called Cincinnati and Columbus home, while nine hailed from Cleveland and five from Canton.

President Obama said he understands the toll the nation's two wars have taken on America's families. "As President, I have signed a letter of condolence to the family of each American who gives their life in these wars. I have read the letters from the parents and spouses of those who deployed. I visited our courageous wounded warriors at Walter Reed. I've traveled to Dover to meet the flag-draped caskets of 18 Americans returning home to their final resting place. I see firsthand the terrible wages of war. If I did not think that the security of the United States and the safety of the American people were at stake in Afghanistan, I would gladly order every single one of our troops home tomorrow."

No doubt many of the family and friends of Ohio's 208 fallen soldiers would rather have their loved ones back in their homes and hearts than have a letter of condolence from America's Commander in Chief extolling their dedication and courage.

Ohio senators Voinovich and Brown comment on Obama's plan

U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, said, “Our strategic plan must include all instruments of American power — humanitarian, diplomatic and military. Military force alone cannot do it all in Afghanistan, but we can help create a secure environment in which the Afghan people can work to achieve a stable government and viable economy.”

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said that while he was encouraged that the president laid out clear goals and a responsible timeline for completion, “I remain skeptical about a commitment of 30,000 of our service men and women. I do not want a long commitment of troops in the region and I am concerned with the dramatic costs to human life and to military families.”

Let us all hope and pray that the way forward is kinder to Ohio servicemen than the way to this day has been.

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Ohio's faces of the fallen

Obama remarks on way forward

GOP lawmakers give Gov. Strickland a choice: Cut a deal with us or cut education funding

December 1, 4:02 PMColumbus Government ExaminerJohn Michael Spinelli

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William G. Batchelder, House
Minority Leader (Photo/Ohio House)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Republican president of the Ohio Senate, who said yesterday that he needs more convincing by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and allied Democrats on details related to renewal of a popular technology fund before he can endorse it to voters, was joined Tuesday by House Republican Leader William Batchelder of Medina, who said he also needs more time to learn whether a plan being proposed by House Democrats to renew the Third Frontier diverges significantly from past practices in a way that could further hurt the state's debt position or its credit rating.

Batchelder, Harris, GOP allies try to corner Strickland on budet fix

“It has come to our attention that for more than half a year the House Democrats have been drafting, working and reworking with their possible contributors on an arbitrary rewrite of the Third Frontier program," Batchelder (R-69th) said in prepared remarks.

Batchelder, a long-time fiscal conservative who returned to the House in 2007 after previously logging 30 years there and who could easily culminate his political career by becoming the next House Speaker if Republicans take back next year the few seats they lost in 2008, complained of the sparse time he and his caucus were given to fathom the ramifications of the bill before it comes to a vote.

He said Republicans are "uncertain of the details within the Democrat proposal, since we have not received it" and commented that the skeleton outline minority party members received "differs significantly from the original Third Frontier proposal," a high-tech funding initiative created by former two-term Gov. Bob Taft.

Batchelder, whose conspicuous eyeglasses are as much a part of his distinctive style as rock 'n roll legend Buddy Holley's black rimmed glasses were to him, said the original proposal for the Third Frontier program was a $1.6 billion dollar investment over 10 years with an average of $160 million per year and several sources of funding including a $500 million bond issuance, tobacco settlement money, General Revenue Fund (GRF) and excess liquor profits.

He said the current proposal calls for twice the bonds in half the time. He noted that $1 billion over five years produces an average cost of $200 million per year. "This is a departure from the original balanced proposal that bears further scrutiny," Batchelder said.

Batchelder said that to fully expose all ramifications of this critical proposal as it stands today, he and his caucus need more time to study and consult with bond counsel. Echoing a talking point from comments Senate President Bill Harris made yesterday that included concern for Ohio's debt payment burden and appetite by voters to take on yet more debt, Batchelder said he is "committed to protecting Ohio’s bond rating" and expressed worry about Ohio's credit rating taking another hit due to an unbalanced budget he laid squarely at the feet of Strickland, and by extension, his Democratic allies in the legislature.

He said that as soon as "the majority party provides us with the details of their proposal," he and his GOP caucus will "work across party lines just as we did with the extension of COBRA benefits in the transportation budget earlier this General Assembly.”

As Batchelder joins Harris in a political pincer movement against Strickland and colleagues, it came as no surprise that two Republican State Senators, Tom Niehaus of New Richmond and Bill Seitz of Green Township, told the Cincinnati Enquirer in an editorial board meeting Monday that Gov. Strickland can "either cut a deal with Ohio Senate Republicans to fill an $851 million budget hole in December or risk having to slash public education funding in a year when he is running for re-election."

Seitz, Niehaus give Strickland a Hobson's Choice: Cut a deal with us or cut education funding

To fill this yawning budget hole, Strickland wants to suspend the final year of a five-year cut in personal income taxes, a choice supported by his Democratic allies in the legislature and by an odd-couple assortment of business groups who normally follow the lead of GOP-centric interests.

Seitz and Niehaus told Enquirer staff that they are willing to give Strickland two-thirds of the tax-cut freeze he and supports have chosen as the best of a bad set of choices to fix this budget hole.

"We offered this as an alternative, expecting a discussion and instead it produced a hissy fit on the part of the governor,'' said Seitz, who is known for his rapier wit and ability to translate a complex issue into layman's language. "The governor said it would be his plan or nothing."

But the big problem Seitz and Niehaus have is that their own plan lacks enough support from their own majority caucus (21-12) to pass. For it to pass, all 12 Democrats would have to vote for it and that is beyond even fantasy.

The standoff between Strickland and legislative Republicans cannot last forever, for various reasons. One of those reasons, as articulated by Seitz and Niehaus, is that after Dec. 31, Strickland's tax cut plan turns into a pumpkin again, as it will be impossible under state law for Strickland to delay the scheduled income tax break. Then, the two said, Strickland would likely have to cut state funding for public education by 10 to 15 percent.

"I think we will come to an agreement, because (Strickland) doesn't want to have to do a 10 percent cut to schools when he's trying to run for re-election as the 'education governor,''' Seitz told the Enquirer editorial board.

For his part, a spokeswoman for Strickland told Howard Wilkinson that "the governor's door is open to any reasonable and realistic proposal.'' But for what Seitz and Niehaus are proposing, the word from Strickland is that it "does not qualify" because it "spends money we do not have".

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Ohio ranks 7th in bankruptcy filings up 34 percent over last fiscal year, court records show

November 25, 9:10 PMColumbus Government ExaminerJohn Michael Spinelli

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Bankruptcy Filings per 1,000 Population, State and Territories, Fiscal 2009
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Courts on the number of bankruptcy filings over the last federal fiscal year show Ohio ranked 7th highest, a sign that more trouble and heartache are headed toward the Buckeye State, where unemployment has hit 10.5 percent, manufacturing jobs continue to go poof every month and where the social safety net once backstopped by steadfast state dollars is now frayed from declining state revenues.

Total bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts for fiscal year 2009 -- for October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009 -- totaled 1,402,816, up 34.5 percent over the 1,042,993 filings reported for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2008, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

In FY 2009, filings rose for all bankruptcy Chapters:

• Chapter 7 filings in FY 2009 totaled 989,227, up 45 percent from the 679,982 Chapter 7 filings in FY 2008.
• Chapter 11 filings rose 68 percent, increasing from 8,799 in FY 2008 to 14,745 in FY 2009.
• Chapter 13 filings rose 13 percent, from 353,828 in FY 2008 to 398,210 in FY 2009.
• Chapter 12 is designed to meet the needs of financially distressed family farmers.

In FY 2009, Chapter 12 filings totaled 487, up 47 percent from the 332 Chapter 12 filings in FY 2008.

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Ohio's growing homeless population could be state's 7th largest city

November 25, 4:47 PMColumbus Government ExaminerJohn Michael Spinelli

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Thanksgiving family gathering (Photo/John Michael Spinelli)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- With Thanksgiving day upon us, a day that celebrates the bounty of the harvest and the community's collective gratitude for it, there is a growing number of Ohioans who will not enjoy the happiness of having family and friends gathered together under a cozy roof to enjoy it all.

Sadly, if the current number of homeless people in Ohio lived in one place, it would represent Ohio's 7th largest city, sandwiched in between Dayton and Parma. .

As economic conditions in Ohio continue to deteriorate, evidenced by an unemployment rate of 10.5 percent, continuing problems with home foreclosures as poverty rises, the population ages and more people going hungry, the grab by some state legislators of $30 million from the state's Housing Trust Fund to partially fill a nearly $900 million budget hole is way out of bounds, according to the leader-in-chief of Ohio's leading homeless and low-income housing advocacy group, the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO).

If you're homeless, you need all the help you can get, which is why Bill Faith, Executive Director of COHHIO, believes the no-bid contract of about $76,000 awarded to a Louisiana firm to keep track of them all is important, as it continues administration of a statewide Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) that will better direct help to these people.

Faith, in an email exchange with this Examiner, said the additional federal stimulus dollars flowing to Ohio for homelessness prevention warrants changes in the HMIS system to incorporate the organizations providing those services across the state into the existing system is a good thing. Bowman Systems, LLC, of Shreveport, Louisiana, designed the original system for the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD). The contract, already in progress, will be approved retroactively at the November 30th meeting of the Controlling Board.

COHHIO, which has provided a voice for the underrepresented for more than 30 years, has as its noble, humanitarian mission the ending homelessness and the promotion of affordable housing. While achieving its dual mission is still over the distant horizon, Faith said his group will continue to be involved in a range of housing assistance services in Ohio, including homeless prevention, emergency shelters, transitional housing and permanent affordable housing with linkages to supportive services. He said COHHIO assists hundreds of housing organizations and homeless service providers in Ohio through public policy advocacy, training and technical assistance, research and public education.

While state funds will flow to a non-Ohio company, Faith says local communities are required to have a Homeless MIS system in place in order to qualify for ongoing support for homelessness funding from HUD. ODOD administers the homeless and housing money for the state and it also applies for homeless funding from HUD for the smallest 80 counties in the state – therefore necessitating the need for an HMIS system for all of those counties. Last year HUD provided about $10 million for homeless programs in those 80 counties, Faith said, noting that Ohio's eight largest counties apply directly to HUD and must also comply with the HMIS requirement.

"We work closely on all of this stuff with ODOD and have done so for many years," said Faith, who clarified that even though Ohio has its own agency dedicated to jobs and family services, it has never administered any of funding for homeless or housing projects in the state. "I guess that is similar to the separation of responsibilities between HHS and HUD at the federal level," he surmised.

Faith estimated that "there is probably in the ballpark of 150,000 Ohioans who will be homeless at some point this year and no doubt the requests for services is growing in these tough times."

He said the stimulus money in the homeless arena is for homelessness prevention or emergency rent assistance to help people avoid eviction or to help housing costs in order to leave emergency shelters. Despite the passage of the stimulus package earlier in the year, Faith said the funding has just recently started to flow and is expected to last two to three years.

"I don’t know what happens if the funding stops flowing – I guess more people will be evicted and others will be stuck in shelters longer," he said of what happens when one-time funds for homelessness, like those for other uses, dries up.

Follow me on Twitter @ohionewsbureau. Read more stories on people, politics and government in Ohio here.

Ohio Senators Brown, Voinovich split votes on historic health care reform bill

November 21, 10:30 PMColumbus Government ExaminerJohn Michael Spinelli

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Ohio's Democratic Junior US Senator Sherrod Brown
(Photo/John Michael Spinelli)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Everyone agrees that history was made Saturday evening when the US Senate voted on the controversial health care reform bill, but for Ohio senators Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and George Voinovich, a Republican, their votes came down to doing what hasn't been done since the days of Harry Truman or to saving future generations for having done so.

Reports from the AP said the spectator galleries were full and that applause broke out briefly when the vote was announced. Keeping with the heated tone of the debate over the months, published reports noted that Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Republicans of trying to stifle a historic debate the nation needed.

"Imagine if, instead of debating whether to abolish slavery, instead of debating whether giving women and minorities the right to vote, those who disagreed had muted discussion and killed any vote," Reid said, according to the AP.

Likewise, the AP said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Minority Leader, said the vote was anything but procedural, and casted it as a "referendum on the bill itself," which he said would "raise taxes, cut Medicare and create a 'massive and unsustainable debt.,'" themes that would be echoed by Sen. Voinovich.

In the 60-39 vote, Brown, the junior senator elected in 2006, said the vote to open debate on health reform brings the nation "one step closer to making insurance more affordable for millions of Americans."

For Voinovich, who did not vote, the proposed bill "cuts Medicare, raises taxes, increases premiums, hurts states and threatens the health choices that millions currently enjoy," according to a statement posted on his office Web site that added, "This is not reform, and it is not what the American people are asking for. That is why I cannot support Sen. Reid’s health care bill and will not support the vote on the motion to proceed to the bill."

Ohio's Republican Senior Sen.
George Voinovich (Photo/Voinovich
Senate Web site)

But for Brown, who has expressed confidence over the weeks that the bill would indeed include a public option for a government run health exchange that will provide competition to private health insurers, the bill was historic for many reasons. "Passing health insurance reform means that Americans won’t lose health coverage if they change or lose their jobs," he said in a statement on his office Web site. "It means an end to insurance industry practices that limit medical care or charge higher rates to women or individuals with pre-existing medical conditions. We’re one step closer to lowering costs for small businesses and middle class families,”

With the news this week that Ohio's unemployment rate rose to 10.5 percent, Voinovich, known as a deficit hawk but who voted for the tax cuts and war spending of the Bush Administration, said the new health care legislation should first do no harm to the economy. "Sen. Reid’s bill is full of budget gimmicks and will cost Americans $2.5 trillion over the next decade, ignoring the fact that we cannot even take care of our current obligations," he said. "The bill will also raise taxes on Americans by half a trillion dollars while cutting Medicare by nearly the same amount – hurting our nation’s seniors. And, CBO says this bill will increase federal health costs, not lower them like health care reform was supposed to achieve."

Brown sees matters differently. “When it comes to health care, the cost of inaction is too high. This bill will cut our nation’s deficit by $130 billion in the first ten years and will preserve Medicare. It will help keep the insurance industry honest and drive down premiums by injecting competition through a strong public option."

Brown hopes Republicans will choose to be part of the solution. "We have an opportunity to invest in the economic security of American households and the economic competitiveness of American businesses, all while lowering costs and reducing the deficit," Brown argues. "Americans deserve more affordable and dependable health insurance, and tonight’s vote permits us to move forward toward that goal.”

In addition to expressing concerns for the additional financial burdens he says the bill will bring to Americans, Voinovich noted another reason for opposing the bill. "Additionally, I cannot support Sen. Reid’s proposal because I believe any health reform bill must protect all human life from conception to natural death and am adamantly against allowing federal funding for abortions.”

Follow me on Twitter @ohionewsbureau. Read more stories on people, politics and government in Ohio here.