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Strickland wants decks cleared for Senate bid
On the side
Portman gearing up: U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican seeking re-election next year, recently announced his county co-chairs — largely political insiders, such as county Republican chairs and vice chairs.
The Portman campaign says those selected will “play a vital role in the campaign’s county-level grassroots activities, helping with volunteer organization, voter contact and get out the vote efforts.”
That might be difficult for one of Portman’s co-chairs in Mahoning County. Former Mahoning Republican Chairman Clarence “Sonny” Smith doesn’t live in that county anymore. He moved last year to Lake Tomahawk, a tiny community in Columbiana County.
The other Mahoning co-chairs, who actually live in the county, are GOP Chairman Mark Munroe and Tracey Winbush, vice chairman [yes, she’s a female, but the title is vice chairman.]
In Trumbull County, Portman’s co-chairs are John Blue, Karen Combs and Bob Tucker. In Columbiana County, the only co-chair is Dave Johnson, that county’s Republican chairman.
Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, who wants to be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2016, will likely walk into a lion’s den Saturday.
The Ohio Democratic Party’s executive committee, of which Sittenfeld is a member, is expected to vote to endorse ex-Gov. Ted Strickland over him for the Senate seat.
It’s the latest attempt to get Sittenfeld out of a primary that is a year away.
Strickland has lined up all the major endorsements, and the list is likely to grow.
“Gov. Strickland will have the support of most of the party establishment and Democratic insiders,” said Dale Butland, Sittenfeld’s campaign spokesman. “But the rank-and-file Democrats are tired of being dictated to by the big shots and the insiders.”
But it wasn’t “big shots and insiders” who controlled a recent Quinnipiac University poll that has Strickland ahead of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, the Republican incumbent, by 9 percentage points, and Sittenfeld getting crushed by 20 percentage points.
“There isn’t a person in the state surprised with the poll results,” Butland said. “Portman is vulnerable, Ted has an early lead and P.G. doesn’t have name recognition.”
Sittenfeld has served on Cincinnati council since December 2011. His professional career appears to be spotty at best.
He’s been assistant director of the Community Learning Center Institute since August 2009, making an annual salary ranging from $39,000 to $46,000, based on the agency’s tax forms. Sittenfeld’s father is a board member of the institute.
His LinkedIn page states he spent three months in 2008 in corporate communications and public affairs at Google, and was a freelance reporter for The New York Times between January 2006 and June 2007. The only article I could find that he wrote — there could possibly be more — was in May 2006 about a Princeton student taking a course taught by her father. Sittenfeld was an undergraduate student at the university when he wrote it.
When asked about Sittenfeld’s work experience, Butland said, “What matters to voters is the strength of your ideas and not the length of your resume.”
But Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras, a strong Strickland backer, said, “P.G.’s experience is paper thin. Rob Portman is an experienced politician. Republicans will spend millions of dollars. You need a Democratic candidate who’s been vetted by voters. What Democrat has been more vetted than Ted Strickland?”
Betras said Sittenfeld is “in the big leagues running for the Senate and his bat is not big enough to hit the ball. What’s P.G. going to say? I’m down 20 points so vote for me?”
Also, there’s been a number of changes in Sittenfeld’s campaign staff for a campaign that officially kicked off Jan. 22.
Ramsey Reid, his longtime friend, left as campaign manager, and 270 Strategies, a prominent Democratic campaign consulting firm, abandoned Sittenfeld when it became obvious that Strickland had national party backing.
Butland, who joined Sittenfeld’s campaign around the time of those departures, said the plan was for Reid and 270 to help the campaign get “off the ground and transition into a campaign top-heavy with Ohioans.”
Reid is an Ohioan. A replacement hasn’t been announced.
The campaign announced several new hires including a political director, finance director, pollster and media firm, with Ohio connections.
Sittenfeld has proven to be a good fundraiser even with the pressure to quit the race.
He raised $757,043 in the first quarter compared to $671,073 for Strickland.
Sittenfeld announced his candidacy Jan. 22.
Strickland announced Feb. 25, but started raising money Feb. 16.
In the final two weeks of the fundraising period — Jan. 1 to March 31 — Strickland raised $469,601.
Sittenfeld’s campaign didn’t give an amount for the last two weeks of the period, but Butland said it “was among our strongest periods.”
He added: “I don’t think there’s any way to read $750,000 in roughly two months as anything but a pretty impressive achievement.”
Portman raised $2.75 million in the first quarter and has about $8 million in his campaign fund.