[steadfastconservative]

Scandals were the main reason that Republicans lost this past fall. There was a coin scandal that involved Taft and a couple of other members of his administration and there were at least 2 Republican Congressmen who were involved in corruption scandals of their own. Republican "corruption" became an easy target for the Democrats, who handily turned the Republicans out of the governor's mansion and who also took back a seat in the U.S. Senate and several seats in the House.

While Governor Ted Strickland currently has high approval numbers, he has only been in office a few months and has not done anything yet, good or bad.

A lot can change before the fall of next year, I would't write off Ohio yet.

[mak5]

Strickland still has no plan for school funding, though he said he did during the campaign. He is using the tobacco settlement money to fund the schools for the next two years, but cutting funding for many local districts, for two year colleges, for buses for students at charter schools, and he is actively trying to close down the charter schools.

He is already responsible for gasoline price increases by cutting out tax breaks for wholesalers and retailers.

The new Sec. of State, Brunner, is (illegally) promoting here reelection on her state website and now is trying to further Tubbs-Jones' agenda by replacing the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

Marc Dann, the new AG is busily rewarding campaign contributors and continuing the "pay to play" tradition.

Given a year of this kind of corruption and incompetence, there is no reason to expect things to not turn around.

[Designer II]

"Scandals were the main reason that Republicans lost this past fall."

I disagree.

[North Coast Conservative]

The Republican Party is in trouble in Ohio because they came into power, controlled all of the main offices in the state, both houses of the legislature, and left the state in absolutely economic shambles. When in power they repudiated all the things they were sent to Columbus to do, and were content to act like Democrats.

It is a terrible place to bring your business, is marked by high taxes and high state government spending.

College graduates are following jobs out of the state.

Taft and his cronies ought to be in jail rather than in retirement for looting the state for their own benefit.

Our "conservative" Senators were anything but, so now we have Sherrod Brown.

Conservative voters had nothing to vote for, so they stayed home.

The conservatives in the party need someone to get excited about, to work for, to turn out for on Saturday morning to go door to door for, to tube for, to show up and make phone calls for.

I wouldn't write off Ohio, but there has to be something/one to get the conservative base motivated.