I’m the campaign manager for Ohio Governor Ted Strickland’s re-election fight against former Congressman, Lehman Brothers Managing Director, and Fox News "Heartland" host John Kasich.
Right now, voters in Ohio are casting their ballots in our primary election. By our count, when polls close tonight at 7:30 pm, the general election starts. And we’re ready to go.
About an hour ago we released our first TV ad, on the first day of the general election, to define our opponent right away. I want to share it with our Kossack friends:
Ted’s running against the sort of guy that likes to brag that his effort to shut down the government in the 90’s "was one of the greatest moments of my career." In 2000, after Kasich’s failed bid for President, he was the first candidate to endorse George W. Bush. For the next eight years – when he wasn’t guest hosting for the O’Reilly Factor – he served as a managing director of Lehman Brothers.
From experience, I've known Republicans that will say or do anything to hide their record from voters. We can’t trust them to tell the truth. So for Congressman Kasich, we’re going to tell the truth –starting today– for him.
The ad tells the story of Meghan, who worked at a brake-pad plant near Dayton, Ohio for 12 years. In 2007 she lost her job when it was shipped to China. Meghan is one of hundreds of thousands of Ohioans who have been hurt by unfair trade deals like NAFTA and permanent normalized trade relations for China. These unfair trade deals benefited Wall Street banks and multinational corporations while sending Ohio jobs overseas.
To no one’s surprise, Congressman John Kasich voted for unfair trade again and again. And when he left Congress, he cashed in on his votes at Lehman Brothers. He’s a caricature of everything that’s wrong with the Republican Party. We can’t afford to elect him in Ohio, or anywhere else.
If you’re unfamiliar with Ted, we introduced him on Daily Kos back in 2005. Since then he’s built a strong record of reforming education, investing in advanced energy, and fighting for long-term economic growth despite the global recession.
The Governor will be checking in directly with the Kos community periodically over the next few months. But today -- on the first day of our fight for re-election -- we wanted to let all of you know that we’re ready to roll.
Aaron Pickrell
Campaign Manager
Strickland for Governor
PS. Tonight, just after 10 pm, the Governor will call in to blogtalk radio to speak with Ohio's Plunderbund. If you have a question for Ted, you should join us.