Kasich is in for Ohio Gov

Weapons of Mass Discussion were on the con call today and had the updates.

The Swamp has the story

Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland presides over a state that the Democrats were able to corral for the election of President Barack Obama last year, a state which nevertheless has undergone extreme pressure in the recession now underway even before it was a recognized recession. How Ohio plays in 2010 will speak volumes about what Ohioans make of the Democratic strategy for economic recovery.

And apparently Newt Gingrich was tipped off? This is what he said last night:

I am confident that when you have candidates like John Kasich for Governor and Rod Portman for the Senate in Ohio, you have a ticket that in 2010 is going to be dramatically stronger than anybody would have suspected 30 days ago. (FOXNews.com)

John Kasich was a congressman from central Ohio in the nineties and part of the Gingrich revolution. Not surprising at all if Newt would have an advance heads up on this. And in OH, with Cincinnati being red and Cleveland being blue, Columbus is usually the difference maker. That Kasich is known in the Columbus area is an asset. I'm also happy is that we're going in a different direction than the leadership that lost the statewide races in 2006.

But even more of an asset is that he has nothing to do with our former GOP governor, the despised Bob Taft. The Ohio GOP has had the slats knocked out of it for the last two cycles, but they also have a deep bench of quality candidates, as this announcement shows.

The sitting governor, Ted Strickland, is a formidable politician and has decent popularity even in these tough times with decent fundraising skills. But Kasich is no sacrificial lamb. As he indicated on the con call, he intends to spend the next thirty days fundraising, after that we'll have a better idea if this will be a titanic matchup or more of a David vs. Goliath.