Republicans have relentlessly attacked Democrat Ted Strickland’s tenure as governor in Ohio’s Senate race, arguing in ad after ad that Strickland was somehow to blame for the job losses his state suffered at the end of the last decade. They’ve also berated him for draining the state's once-flush emergency fund without, of course, ever once acknowledging the massive economic crisis that made it necessary to do so.
Until now, though, neither Strickland nor his allies have done much to respond to these assaults, and polls show Republican Sen. Rob Portman has opened up a clear lead, even while Hillary Clinton is simultaneously beating out Donald Trump. But thankfully, Strickland is finally going up on TV with an ad defending the tough choices he made during his tenure.
Strickland speaks to the camera and tells the audience that Portman and his wealthy allies “say I lost jobs and drained the rainy-day fund. Well, friends, I was governor during the great national recession and we all know it was raining pretty hard.” Strickland continues by noting that he “used the rainy-day fund because I wouldn’t cut education or local police and fire. And we balanced the budget every year.” Strickland concludes by saying, “Attack ads are easy. Leading in a crisis is hard.”
It’s good to see Strickland standing up for his governorship, and in particular, his refusal to cut education or emergency services is the right message to hit. Still, the whole ad is somewhat more defensive than it needs to be. Strickland doesn’t need to repeat GOP attack lines, even if he’s countering them. In future ads, he can simply talk about how he calmly steered Ohio through a time of great trouble. In other words, it’s better for Strickland to frame his governorship as a success rather than as not-a-failure. And further spots should also feature some of the people who benefitted from Strickland’s decisions, like teachers, police, and firefighters whose jobs were saved from the budget axe. Third-party validators, especially those from highly respected professions like these, can make Strickland’s case even more effectively.
Of course, Republicans haven't let up on their attacks. The Koch brothers’ funded Freedom Partners is spending $1 million on a new spot hitting Strickland. They feature a coal miner identified as “Josh W.” telling the audience that he’s not sure if he’ll “have a job the next day.” It then features a clip of Clinton declaring, “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners out of business”; Josh complains that Strickland is still standing with her. As we’ve noted before, the coal industry only employs about 3,000 people in all of Ohio, though the GOP seems convinced that framing Democrats as anti-coal fanatics will resonate in the rural parts of the state.
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