In a Tuesday item, the Politico's David Catanese reported on the results of an interview he had (HT to Third Base Politics) with outgoing Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, who was defeated by Republican John Kasich earlier this month.
It was billed as "his first one-on-one interview since his loss," the first for a sitting Ohio governor in 36 years, so you would think anything particularly controversial Strickland might have to say would be news elseswhere.
Well, here's an obviously newsworthy comment (in bold), especially considering what came just before and after it:
“We have to keep our team together to see how to keep the Ohio Democratic Party the best-organized, best-funded party in the country,” he said, adding that part of his role would be to monitor the new administration “really, really closely.”
“I wouldn’t call what we’re contemplating a shadow government, but you might,” he said with a laugh.
“I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me. I think we all do. We’re going to make sure the incoming administration adheres to high ethical standards. We’re going to continue to fight.”
3BP reacted in a follow-up post:
I can't think of any time where a sitting Governor has gone so far as to state his willingness to set-up a shadow government after he left office.
Neither can I, and I've been around a few years -- make that quite a few years -- longer than the recently married 3BP.
Given what he said just before and after the "shadow government" statement and how he conducted himself in the final months of his campaign, it seems highly likely that Strickland wasn't merely blowing off bitter electoral steam.
Recall that on Labor Day, in a story the Ohio and national media almost totally ignored, Strickland said the following in a speech to a union picnic audience (blanks are present because audio at the link is difficult to hear):
The Republican Party has been overtaken by the zealots, by the extremists, by the radicals, by the _____, and they don’t seem to like Ohio very much, and quite frankly, they act as if they don’t like America very much.
They want to change our Constitution, they want to change Medicare, they want to change ___, they want to change this country …. and we say to them, “Hell no, we won’t …”
And so I ask you: Are you read to fight …. against the extremists? Are you ready to fight the Tea Party radicals? … Are you ready to fight John Kasich?
So someone's going to have to explain to me why Strickland's statement isn't news at the following Ohio newspapers, at least based on the non-results of searches on "Strickland shadow government" (not in quotes) at each paper's web site:
- The Akron Beacon Journal
- The Cincinnati Enquirer
- The Cleveland Plain Dealer
- The Columbus Dispatch
- The Dayton Daily News
- The Toledo Blade
No search at any of the six papers returned anything relevant to Strickland's comment at the Politico.
Oddly enough, the Politico item does not show up in a search on "Strickland shadow government" (again, not in quotes) at Google News or Yahoo! News (though it does appear in regular Yahoo! and regular Google web searches).
Somehow, I think that if a losing Republican governor promised to set up a "shadow government" after leaving office, it would be making just a little bit more news right about now.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
