Ohio 2010

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The buzz I'm hearing is that Portman actually wants to go to the Senate.  Of course that plan hinges on Voinovich retiring which is looking less likely at the moment given his prominent position as one of the leading voices for the US Automaker bailout.  I think Voinovich is trying to use the auto bailout as a way to boost his approval ratings since recent polls have shown him running behind several potential Democratic challengers.

Kasich is definitely on the hunt for the governor's office and he'll probably get the GOP nomination if Portman doesn't have the opportunity to go for the Senate.  If their is a primary between these two then I would expect Strickland to get re-elected but it won't be the landslide 2006 was.

Kevin DeWine recently tried to commit political suicide by pissing off the party base when he essentially blamed the religious right for Republican defeats only a few days after the election.  The fallout from this hasn't looked pretty and I doubt he'll be nominated for any statewide office in the near future and even if on some off chance he is nominated I doubt he'll be able to turnout enough Republicans to win.  The DeWine name wasn't so lucky in 2006 and I doubt it would do any better in 2010.

[Padfoot]

The buzz I'm hearing is that Portman actually wants to go to the Senate. 

Too bad he won't run against Voinivich.

We'll the hope is that Voinovich will retire since his current numbers are suck.  Then Portman can swing in to save the day.  Plus, Voinovich will be 74 in 2010 so there's legitimate speculation that he'll retire simply because of his age.

Thanks for the info! I was thinking Mike Dewine, though...

Mike DeWine isn't being discussed at all and I don't think he even wants to run.