Ohio Media Challenged As Gov Race Gets Interesting

For a couple decades now, Ohio Democrats have been the loyal but usually losing party when it comes to statewide elections.

Ohio Statehouse in Columbus

Will that history play out again this year, when Gov. John Kasich wanders off the political radar screen after two terms to some unknown media gig, where his voice will be mostly muted as Republicans seeking to replace him are confronted with defending his terrible record while Democrats attack it as woefully poor?

In the crowded field among Democrats and the less crowded field among Republicans, Ohio media will have to figure out how they cover the candidates. Will media treat DeWine as the inevitable and entitled winner? Will it treat Cordray as "Obama's boy," thereby poking Trump voters who turned out to beat Hillary Clinton by almost five-hundred thousand votes in 2016? Will it treat Kucinich as a sideshow "menace," based on long-ago history as Mayor of Cleveland when he took on the powers that be and got sent packing?

Ohio Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine is seen by some as the likely nominee, made more likely by his union with Secretary of State Jon Husted. The new DeWine-Husted ticket faces a primary, and while Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, who will bear all the burdens of her boss Kasich with little of her own accomplishments to crow about, the odds are very long she can beat DeWine-Husted. DeWine would cap his long history in Ohio by being crowned the Buckeye State's next governor.

For Democrats, their race is full of contenders, with the most recent addition of Dennis Kucinich spicing up an otherwise unspicy race. Former Attorney General Richard Cordray, former President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, went to Washington because he lost a close race for Ohio AG to DeWine. His time in Washington will give him a leg-up on his little known Democratic challengers, and more money to wage his race.

Kucinich adds some charisma where none existed before, on either side. Like DeWine teaming up with Husted, Cordray has done the same with former Rep. Betty Sutton as his running mate. Kucinich is a two-time presidential candidate who until recently could be seen on Fox News as a commentator. With the exception of Sen. Sherrod Brown, Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill was the only other Democratic statewide officeholder. O’Neill likely can't raise any significant funds, as may be the case with the other Democrats in the race: Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni and former state Rep. Connie Pillich.

Political watchers are betting the race comes down to DeWine vs. Cordray. It would represent a rematch of their 2010 battle for attorney general, when DeWine, who lost to Brown in 2006, defeated then-incumbent Cordray by about one percentage point.

It will be interesting to watch how Ohio mainstream media treats DeWine, Cordray or Kucinich. It's now news that DeWine starts with good polling numbers given how long his name has been associated with Buckeye politics. Because of his long history, the University of Virginia's Center for Politics gives DeWine a small general election edge.

In a report on races for governor this year, Sabato's Crystal Ball says this about Democrats netting new seats:

"To really have a strong year, Democrats need to win some of the bigger states, and several major states with Republican governors should be very competitive: Florida, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio all qualify. Democrats realistically have only one big-state governorship that might be tricky to defend, Pennsylvania."