Strickland needs exposure in US Senate bid

Ex-Gov. Ted Strickland’s campaign doesn’t want him in a competitive primary for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 2016.

The goal seems to be to announce endorsements from key Democrats and party organizations to squeeze — or at least convince — Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld to drop out of the race clearing the field for Strickland to avoid a primary and face incumbent U.S. Sen. Rob Portman in the November 2016 general election. Portman, a freshman Republican from the Cincinnati area, is seeking next year his second six-year term in the Senate.

Almost daily, the Strickland campaign announces the endorsements of established Democrats.

First, three of the state’s four Democratic U.S. House members — Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th; Marcia L. Fudge of Warrensville Heights, D-11th; and Joyce Beatty of Columbus, D-3rd — endorsed him.

Then it was U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, a longtime Strickland friend and political ally, the only Democrat elected statewide in a partisan election. Ohio Supreme Court Justice William M. O’Neill is a Democrat, but judicial candidates don’t run in general elections with political affiliations next to their names.

After that, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the official party organization designed to elect Democrats to the Senate, endorsed Strickland a year before the primary. That was followed by outgoing Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, who gave some consideration to running for the seat, and the Ohio College Democrats. The last one had to hurt Sittenfeld, who, at 30 years old, isn’t that far removed from being a College Democrat while Strickland is 73 years old.

Sittenfeld told a number of Democrats that’s he’d get out of the race if Strickland ran. But Sittenfeld says he is remaining a candidate.

Why does Strickland want to avoid a primary?

It could be costly as Sittenfeld will certainly spend a lot of money to win. Also, the primary could be close and often there are hard feelings after a primary from those who back the loser. At times, the money spent and the bitter feelings make it very difficult for the primary victor to win the general election.

However, in this particular case, a competitive primary would benefit Strickland, even if he wins a close race.

Strickland was last on the ballot in 2010, losing his gubernatorial re-election by 2 percentage points to Republican John Kasich. He hasn’t won a race since 2006. By the time of the 2016 Senate race, that will be a decade since Strickland’s last win.

Strickland has superior name recognition compared to Sittenfeld or any other Democrat who would consider a Senate run so he doesn’t have to worry about matching or exceeding the money spent by Sittenfeld. The Cincinnati councilman needs to spend a fortune just to get a portion of the name ID Strickland already enjoys. Sittenfeld is an unknown in Northeast Ohio, the most Democratic part of the state.

A strong primary campaign puts Strickland’s name back in front of voters. Running campaign ads on television, radio and internet allows him to frame the arguments as to why he should be elected.

Strickland hasn’t been in election mode since the Kasich defeat so the primary would help remove the rust.

Sure the Republicans will come after him — they’re already doing that.

But Strickland stands a better chance of beating Portman if he’s on the 2016 primary ballot in a competitive race than he does going in cold against the Republican incumbent six years after his last [failed] campaign.