Did Strickland Just Play Himself Out of the Veepstakes?

Huh. At the end of his Best Year Ever, Ted Strickland makes a rare political misstep. Strickland spent the weekend in Iowa campaigning for Hillary Clinton, his choice for the Democratic nomination. Yesterday the Dispatch broke a week-old interview with the Governor in which he publicly questioned the Iowa caucuses:

In an interview with The Dispatch last week, Strickland said the Iowa caucuses make "no sense." He called the GOP and Democratic caucuses "hugely undemocratic," because the process "excludes so many people." Anyone who happens to be working or is sick or too old to get out for a few hours Thursday night won't be able to participate, Strickland said.

"I'd like to see both parties say, 'We're going to bring this to an end,' " Strickland said, adding that he has no problem with the New Hampshire primary Jan. 8, because "at least it's an election."

Possibly worse, he dissed the state of Iowa as a whole:

"Iowa is not an attractive place to be in the wintertime," Strickland said, adding that Iowa "is not a representative state and the caucus is not a fair way to register public opinion, in my judgment."

Ted's penchant for speaking his mind, damn the politics, is admirable whether one agrees with the statement or not. Sometimes what he does aggravates me (reinstituting the Nativity scenes, offering to sign whatever the NRA wants) sometimes I'm happy about it (vetoing special ed. vouchers, taking a chance on H.B. 117). But it's always felt like he is governed more by what he thinks is right that political expedience.

The Iowa flap is similar. Strickland believes in democracy, he doesn't think the caucuses are democratic. So he says so.

All well and good, but this isn't the way to endear himself to the most hyper-controlled, message disciplined campaign in the cycle. Hillary spinners quickly distanced the campaign from Strickland's statements:

"Sen. Clinton believes that Iowa and New Hampshire play a unique and special role in the nominating process, and that process should be protected," spokesman Issac Baker said. "We're proud to have Gov. Strickland's support, but on this issue they disagree."

Time will tell whether the statements cause even minor damage to the Clinton campaign. But the campaign has to wonder if bringing Ted on board is worth¹ the risks of his steroidal independent streak.

Roundup:

Jerid noted the incident. Bill Sloat updated a post speculating that the Iowa swing was a form of Veep try-out. Law and More runs a narrative that misses wide right -- that Strickland has no sense of timing. To the extent anyone picks up on it, this needs to be squashed like a bug. Reaction from Newsday's blog and from 2008Central. And keep an eye here for Iowa blog reaction.

¹And by the way, Strickland isn't much of an asset as a Veep candidate in any event. Yes, he's popular, but he's popular because people hope he will turn the state around. He doesn't have a record of accomplishment. Worse, we Ohioans are as likely to be hacked off at the campaign for taking Ted away in the middle of the job as happy to see him as Veep.

Kucinich Offers to Obama His Iowa Supporters -- Both of Them

Poor Dennis. Even when he's trying to be reality-based he comes off as egocentrically delusional. He has publicly declared that his supporters in Iowa should move over to Obama for second round voting (in the caucuses anyone who fails to get 15% in a round drops off the ballot). Problem is, Kucinich is currently polling less than one percent in Iowa. Given that Kucinich's endorsee will be saddled with the liability of being Kucinich's endorsee, it's probably not worth the downside.

Set aside questions about whether Dennis actually has this sort of control over his followers. The fact that he is playing kingmaker with half a fistful of votes is less stand-up guy and more Dennis again saying "Look at me." After all, Chris Dodd hasn't offered his supporters a second choice. But see, Dennis is special.

Congratulations Zippy

Ohio dot com reports this afternoon that Zippy, mascot of the University of Akron, won Capital One National Mascot of the Year. Zippy defeated Goldy Gopher from the University of Minnesota in the final round.

The U. Akron community voted early and often, but no doubt the Minnesota faithful did as well. Clearly Zippy has garnered broader appeal.

Now if only the basketball team could get into the post season.

UPDATE: PsychoBilly puts it all in perspective.

10-6, But No Postseason

Wow. That has to be the least satisfying end of a season ever. Bad enough that the Browns end up as the first team in two years to fall short with ten wins. The Titans/Colts game scrimmage tonight was agonizing.

The one point of solace, if you could call it that, is that the Coltscrubs lost the game exactly the same way the Browns would have: no pressure on the quarterback and porous secondary play. I recall one Tennessee pass play being broken up by a defender -- the one that gorked off the corner's helmet and was caught by a Titan's receiver. It was a real God Hates Cleveland Sports moment.

A special shout-out to Tony Dungy for not taking the last time out. Nice to have confirmation that you were never interested in winning the game.

More Republican Challengers in Local Races

News today that Roe Fox will run against Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, and Mary Stormer will run against County Clerk of Courts Daniel Horrigan. (Forewarning: that link for the Stormer story is acting funny).

County Democrats acknowledge that the one immediate effect of the Elephant War is that no one will run unopposed this year. Walsh was unlikely to get by without an opponent. The office is too attractive and she's taken some hits over the years. (That said, Fox's promise to "restore hope" to the office is extreme campaign hyperbole coming right off the blocks.) Ditto Horrigan who is running for the first time after being appointed last January.

All that said, these are some serious challengers. Fox was a high-ranking Assistant Prosecutor under Mike Callahan. Stormer is a campaign veteran of sorts, having served on the Akron Board of Education, and is an executive assistant to Muni Clerk Jim Laria. Both are also, as far as I can tell, Alex allies. So as he makes his pitch for staying in as Chair, Alex can point to recruiting two quality candidates in two key local races. His detractors, of course, will argue it's too little too late.

Meanwhile, these will be interesting races to watch.

Bill O'Neill's Big Year-End Push

Conspicuously absent from recent discussions of congressional races in play was Ohio's Fourteenth. Judge Bill O'Neill has pledged to give entrenched Republican Steve LaTourette a battle.

O'Neill's campaign is running a particularly strong fundraising campaign for the end of the reporting period. The pitch says fairly explicitly that O'Neill is trying to get on the DCCC's next tier of priority races:

Democrats in Washington know I can beat Steve LaTourette. But they've been clear that the next 10 days are absolutely crucial for my campaign.

Every three months, congressional candidates must file reports on their fundraising progress. These reports are what reporters, pundits and Democratic leaders use to measure which races are winnable. Help us show that we're ready to take on a long-time incumbent - and win. (Emphasis in original.)

So if you have a little extra Christmas money, surf over to Judge O'Neill's ActBlue and offer an end-of-the-year vote of confidence.

Benizir Bhutto Assasinated.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister and opposition leader Benizir Bhutto was assassinated this morning by a lone gunman/suicide bomber. At this point (around 1:30 EST) the estimated death count is over twenty. This is shocking, and in retrospect surprising that it was so shocking. The immediate open question is not whether this will result in a chaotic, destabilized Pakistan but the extent of the damage and how far it will spread.

I fear for the world my daughters are growing up in.

A few links.

The NY Times story.

Firedoglake and Texas Liberal both have posts including lots of in-country links. Based on that and other searching, the following are recommended:

Paki.fm

The Pakistani Spectator

All Things Pakistan

Council on Foreign Relations has a quick if obvious piece up about what's next.

Lots of blog reaction and more to come, no doubt. So far I agree most with this piece in Moderate Voice about the contributing negligence of G.W. Bush. The U.S. is locked in a partnership with Musharraff in which his relative power waxes and wanes inversely with U.S. credibility in the Middle East. Bush's entire term has been devoted to squandering American power, hard and especially soft. Whether Musharraff was directly complicit or merely incompetent in fighting the extremists in his midst may never be known. But certainly U.S. weakness has made this sort of thing far more likely.

Lots of reaction on Counterterrorism Blog, including news that NRO just concluded a symposium on the assassination. Not that the conservative punditocracy is rushing its analysis or anything.

TPM's Must Read quotes a south Asia expert who opines that the U.S. strategy is "in tatters." (h/t Yglesias).

Finally, I learned about the tragedy within an hour of the AP posting their story. By that time Bhutto's Wikipedia entry had been updated with the news. Who thinks of these things?