It was a very busy evening for Ted Strickland, Democratic governor of Ohio. First, a rally was held for Strickland at Genoa Park with President Bill Clinton providing the reasons why we all need to get out and vote. With a crowd of just over 2,000 people, Clinton said that under Strickland, the state has gotten rid of the franchise tax, has recruited hi tech and manufacturing jobs, and has been highly rated as being ready for green jobs. Strickland has created 50,000 new jobs.
Strickland's second big event was the debate with Republican, John Kasich, former managing director for the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers.
Ted Strickland was quick with his statements and responses including the following:
"Ohio and this country were hit by major recession, not of our own making. It was caused by Wall Street."
Strickland has
- balanced budgets
- cut taxes by 17.5
- provided for a tax cut for senior citizens who own homes.
- helped Ohio be regarded as the 5th strongest education system in country
- froze college tuition for 2 years
- there are 56,0000 more people in college than at the start of his term
- according to Federal Reserve Ohio has the 6th fastest growing economy
- entrepreneur and small business council says Ohio is friendly to business.
- Ohio has fewer government workers than any other state
- has released ten years of his income tax returns
- Strickland blamed Kasich and "his buddies on Wall Street" for the recession
- accused Kasich of using dated information on Ohio's education
- when Lehman manipulated things on Wall Street, Ohio's pensions lost over $400 million, and then Kasich got a bonus
- Strickland called Kasich "impulsive and reckless"
- called Kasich's development plan to use public funds to pay appointees, give them bonuses and not report information to the public as against Ohio's constitution
Kasich will be remembered from this debate for saying certain things:
- Kasich said, "We haven't lost jobs to China."
- used the phrase "snouts in the trough" at least four times in referring to special interests
- all Kasich talked about was business
- he would not use the money provided for the 3 C train project (money would then be turned over to another state)
- Kasich claimed he was the architect of the budget fix in the 90's
(Note: Here is what Bill Clinton said about Kasich taking all the credit for the budget fix:
Kasich should only get credit for 10% and Democrats, including Strickland who was in Congress at the time, should get the remaining 90% credit. Clinton said that what Kasich is saying about the budget during the 90's is wrong because it was not Kasich's budget that was passed. Kasich wanted to eliminate the Dept. of Education, Energy, cut Medicaid, cut Medicare, and make various other serious cuts. When Clinton wouldn't "budge" (Clinton's word), the Republicans shut down the government twice.)
"We haven't lost jobs to China," uttered by Republican candidate John Kasich during his debate with Gov. Ted Strickland, will be remembered by every working man and woman in the state of Ohio.
Kasich repeated the same lines over and over again and seemed somewhat off balance by having to respond to questions. Also, Kasich uses hokey stories to explain things. I don't think that is a real winning strategy.
I give Strickland the win in this debate.
