Ohio's Next Senator

After Senator George Voinovich announced he would not seek a third term, the mid-term elections in Ohio became a hot topic.

Who would replace the liberal Republican George Voinovich?

Republicans mentioned never really interested me, even though I believe Ohio is better represented by both parties in the Senate. I was hearing names like Mary Taylor, Mike DeWine, Nancy Hollister, and - the evil one - Ken Blackwell.
Out of that list, I would choose Hollister or Taylor. I would probably have voted for Taylor in hopes of getting a long serving Senator. It came down to Rob Portman and Tom Ganley. At the time, I knew nothing about this Ganley guy, other than he was a Cleveland cars salesman. I knew Portman's name, knew that at one time he represented the Portsmouth area in Congress and that he left Congress to serve in G.W. Bush's administration. Eventually Ganley dropped out of the race to run against Betty Sutton (D-OH13), leaving Rob Portman as the Republican nominee to replace Voinovich.

On the Democratic side, names dropped included Tim Ryan (D-OH17), Peter Lawson Jones, Tyrone Yates, Lee Fisher, Mike Coleman, and Jennifer Brunner. I secretly hoped for either Coleman or Brunner to run, and soon Coleman dismissed leaving the mayoralty. When Brunner announced that she was running, I immediately supported her. I believe that Jennifer Brunner is Ohio's best hope, and would have made a fantastic Senator. She would have become our first female senator, she stood for most things I believe in, fixed Ohio's destroyed election system, and she was from Columbus. It came down to a primary fight between Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Lt. Governor Lee Fisher. I registered as a Democrat (oy vey), and voted Brunner. However, Lee Fisher won the primaries and is now the Democratic nominee.

To be honest, I don't know who I will vote for. I feel like both candidates are bad choices to represent Ohio in the United States Senate. With Fisher, I feel like he is a party pusher and a corporatist, and I think he will hurt Sen. Brown's reelection. At the same time, I feel like Rob Portman is also a party pusher, but I think electing him will send the message that Ohio liked the Bush years and is not embracing change. However, I do feel like Portman would stop and think about the little people before a vote.

So, with no real candidate in mind, I am tempted to vote for a third party candidate (we have a Socialist, a Constituion Party, and two independents - one of whom has 36 grammar errors in one blog), vote for Brown in '12, and hope that a real candidate steps up in '16 (OYANGO!)

The same thing is kind of going on in my 15th District. Hopefully Kilroy retains her seat, and next election is replaced by a most out standing Democrat (OYANGO!)