The Ohio Democratic Party brought its “Knockout” road show to Cleveland Monday night, the last stop on a tour of the state to generate enthusiasm for the 2010 campaign. Next year, all statewide offices will be up for election, as will two state supreme court seats and George Voinovich’s U.S. Senate seat. And the ODP is hoping to make as strong a showing as it did in 2006, when it took back the governorship as well as three of the four non-judicial statewide offices.
Around 300 people — many of them longtime party activists, along with a scattering of elected and party officials like Cuyahoga County Recorder Lillian Greene and county party executive director Mary Devring — gathered at Pickwick and Frolic on East 4th Street to hear speeches by state Treasurer Kevin Boyce and secretary of state candidate Jennifer Garrison, and a Power Point presentation hosted by state party executive director Doug Kelly. While Boyce was well-received, attendees seemed unenthused by Garrison’s harping on Republican candidate Jon Husted’s residency issues, which most were probably unfamiliar with. (He’s been accused of not living in the state Senate district he currently represents). Since Husted is known for his hyper-partisanship and would likely revert to the same disenfranchisement tactics that former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell pioneered, there were many more powerful arguments she could have made. The scattered, half-hearted applause she received showed that she will probably be the weak link in a ticket whose challenge will be to energize progressive base voters in an off-year election. (We’ve previously documented her radical anti-choice stances).
This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2009.