Mr. Strickland, your credentials please?

For anyone in Ohio who has been following the current gubernatorial race between Secretary of State and former Cincinnati Mayor Ken Blackwell and current 6th District US Representative Ted Strickland, you know that the choice is clear. Mr. Blackwell has laid out a very specific plan, laid out the funding for that plan, has the qualifications, and has the gumption most lack to see it through. On the other hand, Mr. Strickland has a vague, reaching plan, has avoided telling Ohioans how he will fund his TurnAround Ohio plan, is lacking leadership, and has no real qualifications for the job. During the first three Gubernatorial Debates, Strickland has repeatedly asked Ohioans to wait until he is elected to hear the details. He seems to be relying on his party affiliation and his name not being Bob Taft to get elected.
Ken Blackwell does not even need to create attacking statements, as Ted has done that for him. Despite being in the US Congress for twelve years, Strickland, by his own admission has siad he may not have left the deepest of footprints in Washington. And also in spite of his lengthy service, Strickland has failed to get even one piece of legislation passed. This is not surprising though, considering that a nonpartisan survey ranked him as the 402nd least effective member of the House, behind even the nonvoting members from Puerto Rico and American Samoa. When questioned about his positions, he stated that his voting record is in line with Sherrod Brown, Dennis Kucinich, and other liberals in Congress. During the first debate, when asked why voters should trust him to turn around Ohio when he cannot turn around his own district, he plead that the 6th district was that way when he got there. Twelve years and you can't improve it at all? That is what I like to call "leadership" right there.
Time after time during the debates, Strickland has stammered and stuttered when asked to name specifics, and frankly, spent more time in the most recent debate acting insulted and hurt by Blackwell "calling him names". If a man cannot go on simply because someone questions him or labels him a tax-and-spender, how in the heck can that man lead an entire state? I would suggest to you that he cannot lead it at all.
Ted Strickland wants you to think that Ken Blackwell is going to continue the policies of Bob Taft and maintain the status quo in Ohio; this is remarkable to me as Blackwell has been anything but that during his career in public service. Blackwell lead a ballot initiative against a sales tax increase that was successful in repealing the tax. Blackwell has been outspoken in criticizing the establishment within Ohio politics. He was so far removed from his fellow Republican office-holders, that it is absolutely hilarious to hear Ted refer to things such as "Taft-Blackwell policies". Ted is more similiar to Bob Taft that Ken will ever be. Ken Blackwell is a conservative Republican who will bring change to Ohio, and he is not ashamed to let everyone know it.
Ted Strickland wants you to think that he is the only choice to get Ohio back on track and that this race is all but over. And make no mistake about it, Ted Strickland is wrong. Even the Rasmussen poll, which has had Ken Blackwell trailing by twenty-plus points all spring and summer long, has Ken surging back into a single digit deficit. Zogby has the race at five and a half points, and I see it only getting closer as election day draws near. Ohioans are smarter than Strickland gives them credit for; they will not have the wool pulled over their eyes this November.
The choice is clear: if you like the current situation in Ohio, vote for Ted Strickland. He will assuredly do nothing to rock the boat and claim in four years when campaigning for re-election that it was this way when he arrived on the scene. Ted Strickland kept asking the 6th district for more time; he just needed a few more years. It is time for Ohioans to tell Ted Strickland that his time is up! I will be casting my ballot for Ken Blackwell, a proven leader with the ideas and vision it will take to get Ohio back on track. I would encourage you to do the same.