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Strickland: Potential Dem opponent for Senate isn’t serious threat
YOUNGSTOWN
Ex-Gov. Ted Strickland, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat next year, is largely dismissive of Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, his potential primary opponent.
“P.G. is a bright, talented fella, but there are 15 or 20 such talented people in the Democratic Party,” Strickland said in a Thursday interview with The Vindicator. “Many of them have more experience and a more-impressive resume than he has.”
Strickland specifically mentioned former state Reps. Connie Pillich and John Patrick Carney, who last year lost statewide runs for treasurer and auditor, respectively; ex-state Sen. Nina Turner, who lost the secretary of state race last year; Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley; and Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley.
This was Strickland’s first visit to the Mahoning Valley since The Vindicator first reported Jan. 30 on its Vindy.com website the former governor was going to run for the Senate, and officially announced Feb. 25.
Strickland has picked up numerous key endorsements — including the Ohio Democratic Party, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and former President Bill Clinton, whose wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is running next year for president.
Strickland wants Sittenfeld to get out of the race, but the Cincinnati councilman says he’s not leaving.
Explaining why he wants to avoid a primary, Strickland said they “cost money and they always lead to divisive circumstances, hurt feelings, and so on. I’ve never seen a primary that didn’t have that result.”
Strickland said he wasn’t concerned that Sittenfeld remains in the race.
In response, Dale Butland, Sittenfeld’s campaign spokesman, said, “If Governor Strickland and his allies weren’t concerned with P.G., they wouldn’t have engineered an early endorsement by the [state] party.”
Butland added, “P.G. is obviously a serious candidate. The Sittenfeld campaign outraised the Strickland campaign in the first quarter. That’s a sign he is very much a serious candidate.”
During the first quarter of this year, Strickland raised $671,073, about $100,000 less than Sittenfeld. Strickland started raising money Feb. 16 and Sittenfeld started Jan. 22.
“I think that quarter was pretty good,” Strickland said. “I’m not going to judge the strength of my candidacy on money alone. If I was going to allow money to make the determination, Rob Portman would obviously be well ahead.”
Portman, the Republican incumbent seeking his second six-year term in the Senate, raised $2.75 million in the first three months of the year and has a campaign-fund surplus of $8 million.
Strickland said there are significant differences between him and Portman, most notably trade and the minimum wage.
Portman has “never met a trade deal he didn’t embrace and support,” Strickland said.
Portman agreed the two differ on several issues.
“If you want to grow the middle class, you need to export,” Portman said.
Regarding a potential presidential run for Gov. John Kasich, the Republican who beat him by 2 percentage points in the 2010 gubernatorial race, Strickland said, “I think he probably will.”
But Strickland doesn’t give Kasich, who is moving closer to running, much of a chance.
“His idea of a constitutional amendment to have a balanced federal budget is wrong-headed; it’s just a bad idea,” Strickland said. “He’s likely to make an effort to seek the presidency. I think he waited awfully too late to get in.”