Ohio: Kasich

Republican John Kasich is expected to file papers today so that he can begin raising money for the 2010 race for governor.

Sources told The Dispatch that the former congressman from Westerville will file papers this afternoon with the Ohio secretary of state designating a treasurer for his gubernatorial campaign. The move will permit Kasich to raise cash and hire staff for his anticipated campaign against Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.

"We're off and running," said a source who has been helping Kasich prepare for a gubernatorial bid.

Kasich, a former 18-year congressman and a Fox News on-air personality, is expected to formally declare his candidacy by early June.

For two years, he has been ubiquitous at GOP county Lincoln Day dinners, drawing big crowds and exciting the party base with fiery speeches.

They're skeptical that his school-funding plan will improve education as promised.

And for the first time they don't like how he's handling Ohio's economy.

So perhaps it's not a huge surprise that Strickland's net approval rating in Quinnipiac University's poll is now the lowest since he took office at the beginning of 2007.

"It may be that voters are starting to look at him as part of the economic problem," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the university's Polling Institute. "Up until recently he has had just superb job-approval numbers for a governor in a big two-party state."

Still, the Democrat is ahead in prospective 2010 general-election matchups against two potential GOP opponents: former U.

At some point, you have to admire the Columbus Dispatch's complete abandonment of journalism ethics.  I mean, you let a guy announce his candidacy for Governor by giving him an editorial column, instead of a newsstory that addresses some of these points.

Today, the Columbus Dispatch published a column by former U.S. Senator/widely rumored GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine titled "Ohio needs new direction in tough times."  Nowhere does the Dispatch editorial writers notify its readership that this column is written by a person who has the personal ambition to run against Governor Strickland, and therefore, is a less than objective critic of the current Governor.

The Columbus Dispatch has the latest Quinnpiac poll shows generally good news for the Strickland Administration:

• Strickland crushes, crushes John Kasich 56% to 26%.  Kasich actually does worse against Governor Strickland than former U.S. Senator Mike DeWine who loses 54% to 32% in a head-to-head matchup.  This is probably largely due to DeWine's highly name recognition.  Regardless, both "top tier" GOP prospects aren't polling any better (one could argue worse) than Ken Blackwell's 2006 election result.
• Although a large segment of the respondents felt they didn't know enough about Governor Strickland's education reform plan, those who do feel they know enough support it.  42% believe it will improve education in Ohio; 22% do not.