Strickland winning the endorsement sweepstakes

A majority of Democrats in the state Legislature view U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland as the party's best and most electable candidate in next year's gubernatorial race.
To date, Strickland of Lisbon, D-6th, has received endorsements from 22 of the Democrats' 39 Ohio House members and five of its 11 Ohio Senate members.
Before Wednesday, only three House members publicly supported Strickland. The congressman made a huge splash Wednesday with the addition of 24 other Democratic state legislators. Among them are House Minority Leader Chris Redfern, Senate Minority Leader C.J. Prentiss, and Senate Assistant Minority Leader Kimberly Zurz.
Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman is counting on Democrats in big cities such as Cleveland, Columbus, Akron, Cincinnati and Toledo to vote for him.
But legislators in all those cities except Columbus endorsed Strickland. They include Prentiss of Cleveland, state Sen. Teresa Fedor of Toledo, and state Reps. Catherine Barrett of Cincinnati, Steve Driehaus of Cincinnati, Annie Key of Cleveland, Robert Otterman of Akron, Jeanine Perry of Toledo, and Brian G. Williams of Akron.
State Sen. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown is expected to endorse Strickland in the near future. Strickland publicly endorsed Hagan during his failed bid for mayor a few days before the election and the state senator will surely return the favor.
Strickland is expected to do very well in the Mahoning Valley in next year's primary so Wednesday's endorsements of state Reps. Kenneth Carano of Austintown, John Boccieri of New Middletown and Sandra Stabile Harwood of Niles -- and eventually Hagan -- probably won't mean much.
Not to slight them, but a majority of Valley Democrats are expected to support Strickland, who represents Columbiana County and a portion of Mahoning County, with or without their endorsements.
Strickland also received the endorsements of 17 county Democratic parties. The support is from smaller counties and primarily in counties Strickland either currently or formerly represented in the U.S. House.
U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan of Niles and Sherrod Brown of Lorain are supporting Strickland. On top of that, Strickland has the support of numerous labor unions that his campaign says represents more than 68,000 workers and retirees.
In comparison, Coleman's list of endorsements includes the Franklin County Democratic Party, the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Council and a plumbers and pipefitters union from the Columbus area.
So Strickland's victory in the 2006 Democratic primary should be a no-brainer.
However, Strickland's victory in the May 2006 primary is anything but a sure thing.
A recent Wall Street Journal/Zogby International poll shows Coleman and Strickland in a statistical dead-heat.
How can that be?
Well, regardless of what elected officials say and who they endorse, many people have no idea who represents them in the state Legislature and don't care who their representatives support for governor.
Also, Democrats aren't all that common in the state Legislature. There are only 11 of them in the 33-member Senate, and 39 in the 99-member state House.
The primary is six months away, and I seriously doubt many voters are studying Coleman and Strickland to see who is the better candidate.
The strategies of the two Democratic candidates are rather transparent.
As mentioned earlier, Coleman is looking to win in the big cities. If he does, the election is his.
Strickland is looking to neutralize Coleman in the big cities, and win big in the Mahoning Valley and the southeastern part of the state that he represents or represented in the U.S. House.
There aren't many Democratic voters in Southeast Ohio, but if Strickland can win the primary and retain his support in that typically-Republican area during the general election, he stands a strong chance of being the state's next governor.
Auditor Jim Petro, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, is already running campaign commercials on television in an attempt to increase his name recognition across the state. It might be a good time for Coleman and Strickland to do the same thing to get people familiar with their names.