OH-Sen 2022: So you’re telling me there’s a chance

[Meatball Ron]

Not sure what to make of this. On the one hand, this seat moves from unwinnable to winnable in a perfect storm, but on the other hand, most Republicans are a downgrade from Portman.

When has Portman ever voted with Dems on anything of significance?

That's kinda missing the point.  DiFi never breaks with Schumer on floor votes, for example, but her seniority and stature moderates the entire Democratic caucus towards her position.  Portman was in a similar position.  Replacing him with Renacci, Gonzalez or (God forbid) Jim Jordan is definitely a downgrade for Democrats and moderate centrists of either party.   

I follow the logic, but I think this is just in your head. No reason to believe Portman's "seniority and stature" has done anything to moderate the GOP Senate kkkaucus

[Meatball Ron]

Not sure what to make of this. On the one hand, this seat moves from unwinnable to winnable in a perfect storm, but on the other hand, most Republicans are a downgrade from Portman.

When has Portman ever voted with Dems on anything of significance?

That's kinda missing the point.  DiFi never breaks with Schumer on floor votes, for example, but her seniority and stature moderates the entire Democratic caucus towards her position.  Portman was in a similar position.  Replacing him with Renacci, Gonzalez or (God forbid) Jim Jordan is definitely a downgrade for Democrats and moderate centrists of either party.   

I follow the logic, but I think this is just in your head. No reason to believe Portman's "seniority and stature" has done anything to moderate the GOP Senate kkkaucus

He is a whole 2% of it, is a former top-level Bush admin official, and Ohio is a pretty darned important state for GOP fundraising

Okay, those are all reasons why Portman should be influential in the caucus, but what evidence do you have that his temperament or supposed moderate / bipartisan stances have actually influenced the behavior or actions of that caucus? Not like it stopped them from trying to repeal ACA, ramming through ACB, etc. I am open to being wrong here, I just don't see any sort of reason to believe this is true even though hypothetically it could/should be true.

[Meatball Ron]

LOTS of candidates looking at this race.

The most likely Republican candidates seem to be:

* Jon Husted, Lieutenant Governor and former Secretary of State
* Jim Jordan, Congressman and founding Freedom Caucus member
* Josh Mandel, former Treasurer of State and Senate candidate (2012)

Other potential candidates:

* Bill Johnson, Congressman
* Frank LaRose, Secretary of State and former State Senator
* Jim Renacci, former Congressman and Senate candidate (2018)
* Steve Stivers, Congressman and former NRCC Chair
* Mary Taylor, former Lieutenant Governor and Auditor of State
* Jane Timken, Chair of the Ohio Republican Party
* J.D. Vance, venture capitalist and author of Hillbilly Elegy
* Brad Wenstrup, Congressman
* Dave Yost, Attorney General and former Auditor of State

Not Mandel, I don't think. He lost one race, exited another, and seems to have deleted all of his social media accounts along with some other sketchy issues.

[Meatball Ron]

LeBron wouldn't win either, the racists in Appalachia and the rurals would not vote for a black man from Cleveland

Ehhhh, lots of racist whites worship black athletes (as long as they don't speak out on racial justice issues a la Kaepernick).

[Meatball Ron]

https://twitter.com/HenryJGomez/status/1371489486438342662?s=19

Good to see horrible people standing with other horrible people

[Meatball Ron]

I would ask "with Acton now out of the race what is Olawakandi's next obsession going to be?" And it appears to be the whole "Desantis only barely beat an 'afro-Socialist'" thing.

I have always said there can be split voting and I also said it can be a 3-5 pt PVI victory, D's need to do marginally better than 3 in order to keep House and Jackson and Ryan are Great candidates

D's netting WI, PA, OH, NC and winning KS, AZ and FL Gov races.

Split races DeWine, Ryan, FL Rubio/CRIST, WARNOCK/Kemp, NH Hassan/Ayotte for Gov

I've noticed you always capitalize WARNOCK like that. Why? Just curious.

[Meatball Ron]

Atlas needs to see polls of Ohio, like the ones where Biden was beating Trump in this state which had a 7 point error from its polling average.

And let me guess, this is all because of "good candidate" Tim Ryan and "bad candidate" JD Vance or Josh Mandel?

Title is just a parody of an olawakandi post. Not everything fits your "every Dem on this forum is a crazy hack!" narrative

[Meatball Ron]

https://twitter.com/mh4oh/status/1427964655604011009?s=21

Oooooo I'm intrigued.

Why?  Her last primary campaign against Joyce Beatty was a joke

I like progressives and I prefer supporting women, especially women of color, in primaries where possible.

I agree with you both. She isn't going to come close to winning, but I don't see any downside to having her in the race. She is not toxic, she is not a Nina Turner type. She has praised the Biden administration.