You have to be bold to be in politics. The higher the office, the bolder the person. It's just an ugly business.

How bold?

Marc Dann stood Thursday at the Regional Chamber luncheon to receive the Chairman's Political Achievement award. Before several hundred locals, he waxed poetic about what working in this area taught him — the effect of such hard-working business leaders around him. Standing off to the side was Dann's Leo Jennings, who has the job title of "everything." 

Dann saluted his family, especially his father-in-law, who was seated in the crowd. 

And smoldering beneath it all were the issues pizza parties, his Liberty neighbor's, um, workplace comaraderie, after-work business attire and a bunch of other un-AG-like scenarios.

That's bold. That's politics. If Dann wants that career to continue, he's got to get better at the office things underneath him.

I believe from his desk to the people above him, namely the citizens of Ohio, can come the great things one expects of an AG. It can sustain his career.

But from his desk to the people below him in the AG's office, great things are not always happening. It can sink his career.

One observation seems fit: Dann spent so much of his energy getting elected to the top office, you have to wonder -- after frequent staff and operational misjudgments in the first year or so -- how much intellect was spent on how to operate the office.

He fought hard to get the title of AG. He has to fight harder to avoid another title: One-termer.