Establishment Democrats in both Ohio and D.C. really did not want Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld to run for Senate against their preferred candidate, ex-Gov. Ted Strickland, and they did everything they reasonably could to squeeze him out of the race. But Sittenfeld's shown no desire to quit—quite the opposite, in fact. In particular, he's spent the last several months hectoring Strickland over guns, averring that the former governor's A-plus ratings from the NRA put him out of step with Democratic primary voters who favor stronger gun safety regulations, and calling Strickland's hesitant steps on the issue insincere.
And it seems like Sittenfeld might have finally drawn some blood: His campaign just unearthed a radio interview from last March in which Strickland declared, "I have not lobbied for additional gun laws" and touted his high scores from the NRA, saying, "That has been my position and it is my position." Strickland had previously tried to claim that his views began to evolve after the Sandy Hook shootings, but Sittenfeld's argued all along that Strickland has only appeared to soften on gun laws because of the primary challenge he faces. This newfound interview certainly seems to undermine Strickland's claims to have experienced any change of heart.
In response, Strickland's campaign called Sittenfeld's broadside "a false, personal attack," but his own words show what a bind he's in. Strickland badly does not want to get pulled to the left on guns because, should he win the primary, he doesn't want to open himself up to charges that he's anti-gun in the general election against well-funded GOP Sen. Rob Portman. Indeed, it would be surprising if Strickland didn't at least partly attribute his gubernatorial victory in 2006, and his close loss despite the GOP wave in 2010, to his ability to connect with Ohioans outside of the traditional Democratic base who embrace a particular gun culture.
But it's by no means a necessary requirement for a Democrat to win statewide in a presidential election year. Barack Obama carried the state twice, and you know how conservatives feel about his views on guns. What's more, Sen. Sherrod Brown has, too, and he has an F rating from the NRA. Strickland is surely aware of this electoral history, but he faces a risk of looking insincere if he comes over to the cause of gun safety.
And we can't even be sure how much it will all matter. Strickland's fundraising has outpaced Sittenfeld's by a wide margin, so it won't be so easy for Sittenfeld to get this message out beyond the papers (though a pro-Sittenfeld super PAC says it's raised over $700,000). And the lone public poll of the primary, from PPP back in June, had Strickland leading by a dominant 65-13 margin. Still, Sittenfeld is a problem Strickland would rather not have, and he's not going away.