OH: DeWine has a primary opponent.

[Moooooo]

DeWine to be challenged by former AK Steel president.

Former AK Steel Corp. president John Hritz plans to challenge U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, for the Senate seat he has held for a decade.

Hritz said he has formed an exploratory committee to look into the feasibility of running against DeWine for the Republican nomination in May 2006 primary election.

Hritz resigned as AK Steel president in Sept. 2003. He resigned by mutual agreement with the Middletown, Ohio-based steelmaker's board of directors, though he went on to sue the company seeking payment for his retirement and severance packages. Hritz and the company settled the lawsuit in March 2004.

AK Steel (NYSE:AKS) lost $502.4 million on $4.2 billion in revenue in 2002, Hritz's last full year as president. The company lost $560.4 million of $4 billion in revenue the year he left.

Hritz is now president and CEO of Nashville-based Sentrinex Ltd., a firm that helps corporations develop safety measures.

Hritz promised to be a more conservative alternative to DeWine.

"The United States, like Ohio, needs leaders who share the same concerns and values as their constituents," Hritz said in the release.

AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products as well as carbon and stainless tubular steel products for the automotive, appliance, construction and manufacturing markets.

AK Steel employs about 1,800 at its works in Butler, Pa.

[Joe Republic]

No chance.

[CARLHAYDEN]

A yellow dog could probably get about 40% of the primary vote against dewiner.

It remains to be seen of Hritz will do as good as a yellow dog.

[© tweed]

Too bad there's no kind of general election opponent we can field against him.  He's pretty vulnerable, so it's a shame the best we can do is Sherrod Brown.

[TheresNoMoney]

Tim Ryan is going to announce just before Labor Day weekend (that's what I'm betting on at least).

[Giant Saguaro]

He won't work. The more I read, the more I thought, nope, nope, that will disqualify him, he's screwed there, and so on. Especially since Ohio is not in a real CEO friendly type mood right now, so to speak.

Dewine just better hope he faces Brown, IMO. For whatever reasons Dewine has strayed pretty far off course. Ryan would likely beat him, at least this year.

[TheresNoMoney]

Sherrod Brown has already announced he won't run. See my thread.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Too bad there's no kind of general election opponent we can field against him.  He's pretty vulnerable, so it's a shame the best we can do is Sherrod Brown.

Ryan will kick his @$$.

Nobody that I know of likes the $#!^

[Ben.]

 

Too bad there's no kind of general election opponent we can field against him.  He's pretty vulnerable, so it's a shame the best we can do is Sherrod Brown.

Ryan will kick his @$$.

Nobody that I know of likes the $#!^

Ditto... any word yet on Ryan's intentions? The NRA's positive noises about him have to have improved the chance of him running (?) But has there been any comment from “Team Ryan” ?

Sadly if it’s not Ryan then the best we’ll be able to do is Hackett who's too risky, and while he’d be an excellent running mate for Strickland is IMHO way too risky a candidate to put up for a state-wide race on his own, he would however be a better candidate than Brown.

Boss - Brown’s said he won’t run, a very good thing as Brown’s voting record would have allowed the GOP to tear him apart. Ryan’s voting record makes him an eminently credible candidate and means that unlike some more inconsistent Dems his criticisms of the administrations have and will continue to really hit home.   

[Jake]

I would definantly support Ryan over DeWine. He'd be a much better Senator for Ohio.

[minionofmidas]

IIRC Tim Ryan's a former Traficant staffer who in the first post-redistricting primary beat incumbent Tom Sawyer with his disgraced ex-boss's backing, then moved far enough away from him to get Traficant to enter the race from jail as an independent, but won anyways (ie, despite the split dem vote). Shrewd cat that, obviously.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

IIRC Tim Ryan's a former Traficant staffer who in the first post-redistricting primary beat incumbent Tom Sawyer with his disgraced ex-boss's backing, then moved far enough away from him to get Traficant to enter the race from jail as an independent, but won anyways (ie, despite the split dem vote). Shrewd cat that, obviously.

That's the one

[Virginian87]

My guess is that Ohioans may not warm up to a big-business leader against DeWine.  DeWine wins the primary, and if Ryan runs then I believe he will lose the election, barring some major scandal or turn of events.

[CARLHAYDEN]

While I agree that the primary opponent DeWiner has attracted so far is of a low caliber, and DeWiner would probably win a primary election against that candidate, several things need to be understood.

First, many Republicans in Ohio are really angry at the gang of three, and would vote even for an arrogant, incompetent big business type against DeWiner as a protest vote.

Second, Ryan is the type of Democrat that moderates like and conservatives can tolerate.

Third, so many people in Ohio want to get rid of the gang of three (not only Republicans) that they will vote for any reasonable alternative.

Right now the question is whether DeWiner will attract serious primary competition (I've heard a credible rumor that one of the two major Republican candidates to suceed Taft may decide to go after DeWiner instead).

[minionofmidas]

Why do you call him DeWiner? Just curious.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Why do you call him DeWiner? Just curious.

Do you remember his pathetic performance during the Bolton nomination?

He really made a fool of himself, and may have put the final nail in his coffin (he had been building it slowly for a long time).

He not merely an arrogant slimebag with delusions of grandeur, he's pathetic.

[minionofmidas]

Why, did he whine or what? I'm just not getting the pun here.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Yes he did.

His peformance was pathetic.

[TheresNoMoney]

Ditto... any word yet on Ryan's intentions? The NRA's positive noises about him have to have improved the chance of him running (?) But has there been any comment from “Team Ryan” ?

Ryan said that he would decide by Labor Day. The fact that he hasn't announced yet leads me to believe that he's going to run.

Both parties generally want their candidates ready for Labor Day weekend. If top-notch candidates haven't announced by now (McCaskill and Ryan) I would bet that both are running. If they weren't, they would likely announce it to give their parties time to find another candidate.

[Democratic Hawk]

Yes he did.

His peformance was pathetic.

DeWine as well? I thought it was George Voinovich putting on the waterworks over Bolton

Dave

[Ben.]

Ditto... any word yet on Ryan's intentions? The NRA's positive noises about him have to have improved the chance of him running (?) But has there been any comment from “Team Ryan” ?

Ryan said that he would decide by Labor Day. The fact that he hasn't announced yet leads me to believe that he's going to run.

Both parties generally want their candidates ready for Labor Day weekend. If top-notch candidates haven't announced by now (McCaskill and Ryan) I would bet that both are running. If they weren't, they would likely announce it to give their parties time to find another candidate.

I sure hope your right

[RJ]

Yes he did.

His peformance was pathetic.

DeWine as well? I thought it was George Voinovich putting on the waterworks over Bolton

Dave

I'm pretty sure Hawk is right. It was Voinovich. I'm not sure whether or not Dewine spoke on the Bolton thing, but I know Voinovich was about to start Ballin' when he was speaking. Good thing that happened after his reelection last year.

As far as Hritz goes, that's exactly what Ohio needs. A man in charge of a company that lost over 500 million in his final two years.