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And the hits from the heartland just keep coming. In 2006, Democrats swept statewide races in Ohio and declared that they had turned the once solidly Republican state into a Democratic stronghold, led by the duo at the top of the ticket, Governor Ted Strickland and Lt. Governor Lee Fisher. Four years later, the two have gone into free-fall, according to two Quinnipiac polls. First, yesterday’s poll shows the incumbent Governor trailing his Republican challenger, John Kasich, by 17 points:

EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio – Travel west along the old Lincoln Highway to this one-time “pottery capitol,” and the landscape maintains Allegheny mountain vistas as the Ohio River curls through the hills and hollows of Columbiana County. In the place of a once-robust pottery industry, a museum is dedicated to the area’s ceramic plants. The 300 factories of old are now down to one that produces popular, colorful Fiestaware. “We are pretty much devastated,” says Mayor James Swoger of his town’s economy and the state in general. He describes East Liverpool as a stronghold of Democrats, including himself: “I am a...

Kasich leads by 17 points, new Quinnipiac Poll says ShareThis Thursday, September 16, 2010 06:54 AM By Darrel Rowland The Columbus Dispatch Gov. Ted Strickland and Republican candidate John Kasich greet each other before Tuesday's debate. DispatchPolitics DispatchPolitics.com Complete coverage of Ohio politics The Daily Briefing The Dispatch’s public affairs team sates the appetites of political junkies with bite-sized portions of the news and what's behind it. Buckeye Forum Veteran political reporters examine Ohio politics in this weekly podcast. Today's political news Your Right to Know: State seeks to dismiss lawsuit 'money grab' Kasich leads by 17 points, new Quinnipiac...

September 16, 2010 - Kasich Has Double-Digit Lead In Ohio Gov Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Independent Voters Back Republican 2-1 Republican challenger John Kasich has a 54 - 37 percent lead over Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in the race to be Ohio's next chief state executive, with much of his lead due to overwhelming support among independent voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters released today. Kasich, a former congressman and Fox News host, holds even larger leads over Gov. Strickland when voters are asked which candidate would be better rebuilding the state's ailing economy and...

Republican John Kasich continues to hold a modest lead over incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland in the Ohio gubernatorial race.

Debate begins at 8:00 p.m. You can stream the debate from here for video or here for audio. Kasich holds a double-digit leads in recent polls.

Strickland channels Howard Dean as he rants against Republicans. He's trailing Kasich in his reelection bid for Governor of Ohio and getting desperate. Link

Biden, Strickland march in Toledo's Labor Day paradeMonday, September 06, 2010 Democrats facing plenty of anger over the nation's economic hard times along with troubling poll numbers called in Vice President Joe Biden to energize party loyalists at a Labor Day parade on Monday. Biden spent the holiday in this prized swing-voting state with Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who is facing an uphill re-election bid just two years after Democrats here helped elect President Barack Obama and seemed positioned to lock up political control. The vice president dashed along the downtown parade route, shaking hands and hugging supporters, many of...

In yet another reminder of the perilous nature of Ohio's future budget situation, the nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission today laid out how much one-time money is being used to balance the current two-year budget compared with recent years. A memo to members of the Budget Planning and Management Commission calculated the amount of one-time money in the current budget at $8.4 billion. The bipartisan budget panel was created to identify options for dealing with the 2012-13 budget shortfall.

The players are the same, and the numbers haven’t changed. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the governor’s race in Ohio finds Republican John Kasich with a 47% to 40% lead over incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland - for the second month in a row. Three percent (3%) of Likely Voters in the state prefer some other candidate, and 10% are undecided.

Gov. Ted Strickland said today that an inmate found to have a blood-alcohol level of more than three times the legal limit after drinking while working at the Governor's Residence left a note that suggests he was trying to "sabotage himself." Strickland declined to disclose the contents of the note that inmate Nicholas Hoaja left for Residence Manager Todd Rensi or speculate on the exact motives behind it but said the notes shows that Hoaja was trying to get in trouble. "It was obvious, after reading the note, that he did this purposefully knowing that it would certainly have the...

The Republican Governors Association launched a new television ad yesterday with familiar complaints about Gov. Ted Strickland's handling of the economy and a zinger at the end: "His aides lied to investigators." It was an apparent reference to the fact that Public Safety Director Cathy Collins-Taylor and others were accused in an Ohio inspector general's report of lying under oath about an aborted sting at the Governor's Residence in January. Collins-Taylor insists that she didn't lie. But the ad started airing a day after a Republican-led Ohio Senate committee voted 5-4 to recommend against confirming Collins-Taylor. Strickland previously had complained...

Ohio families relying on cash assistance will get an extra $100 in their June welfare checks. Gov. Ted Strickland ordered the one-time payment to each of the 103,000 families now relying on the safety-net program to meet their basic needs. "Ohio is committed to ensuring the improved well-being of families and children in these trying times," Strickland wrote in an executive order Thursday to authorize the payments. With the state unemployment rate at 10.9 percent, the governor noted that the challenges facing families are great, particularly as many begin to exhaust their unemployment benefits. The state is using $8.4million in...

Though his agency was charged with coordinating the federal response to the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Department of the Interior chief of staff Tom Strickland was in the Grand Canyon with his wife last week participating in activities that included white-water rafting, ABC News has learned. But Strickland’s participation in a trip that administration officials insisted was “work-focused” raised eyebrows among other Obama administration officials and even within even his own department, sources told ABC News. Strickland, who also serves as Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, was in the Grand Canyon with his...

Unemployment in Ohio is pretty darn bad. Not Michigan-level bad, or Nevada-level bad, but 11 percent unemployment is still higher than the national average. And some cities are considerably worse: Dayton and Lima are at 12.5 percent, Toledo is at 13.4 percent, Youngstown is at 13.7 percent, and Steubenville, over by the West Virginia border, is at 15.3 percent.

Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland leads Republican challenger John Kasich in the race to be Ohio's next governor, 44 - 39 percent, up from a 40 - 40 deadlock November 11, and has improved his standing slightly, but consistently, on a broad array of measures, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Columbus Channel 10’s Paul Aker is covering a HUGE story that, according to my sources, is about to get even bigger: Read more: http://www.rightohio.com/2010/02/17/ted-stricklands-drug-sting-cover-up/#ixzz0fsPexaJ3 COLUMBUS, Ohio — Senator Timothy Grendell, chairman of the Ohio State Senate Criminal Justice Committee, plans to hold a hearing into a drug sting that was called off at the Governor's Residence in January, 10 Investigates' Paul Aker reported on Wednesday. Grendell said he wanted a hearing on what he called a "fiasco at the Governor's Mansion" after listening to responses from the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Superintendent, Col. David Dicken. Grendell was not pleased with...

Listening to the TV news out of Columbus Ohio. There was a news story that the Governor and his mansion staff were under investigation for tipping off a female drug dealer, who was about to make a delivery of drugs to the Governors Mansion. The drug dealer was under surveiliance and was warned off by one of the Governors Security personnel who had become apprised of the investigation. There is no report so far of who the drugs were supposed to have been delivered to. The Governor, is claiming no involvement with the drugs, use, or authorizing the attempt to...

Republican challenger John Kasich continues to lead incumbent Democrat Governor Ted Strickland in the race for Ohio's statehouse, according to a poll released this week. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Kasich leading Strickland 47% to 41%. Faced with that match-up, five percent (5%) like some other candidate, and eight percent (8%) remain undecided. Last month, Kasich posted a 47% to 40% lead over Strickland and in early December was ahead 48% to 39%. The polling data also showed the race currently split along gender lines. Kasich holds a massive 23-point lead among...

A new poll out of Ohio, which is called the Buckeye State but is really a political keystone state in this year's midterm election and beyond -- waves a large flag about Democratic hopes to hold the governor's office. Ohio Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, like many incumbents across the country, is sliding into deep trouble when racked up against his Republican opponent, former Ohio congressman John Kasich. According to the Ohio Newspaper Poll as published in the Dayton Daily News, Kasich currently leads Strickland 51-45. Last fall, despite earnest campaign efforts by the White House, Democrats lost control of the...