Politico's David Catanese says if you look at where Sarah Palin is putting her PAC money, she has Ohio on her mind:
Four of the 17 candidates Palin contributed to hail from Ohio — the state where she held by far the most presidential campaign events in 2008, according to The Washington Post’s candidate tracker.Catanese quotes a GOP source who says that Gov. Palin believes there is a real chance to make a difference in Ohio.
The former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee gave $5,000 to former GOP Rep. John Kasich, who’s running for Ohio governor; $3,500 to former Rep. Rob Portman, who’s running for the state’s open Senate seat; $1,000 to Rep. Jean Schmidt; and $1,000 to state auditor Mary Taylor, whom Kasich recently tapped to be his running mate.
Another source, Hamilton County GOP Chairman Alex Triantafilou said:
"It makes sense to me that she may be looking to a future where Ohio matters to her, and if she’s building support, I think it’s great. We’ve got an incumbent governor in Ted Strickland who is very vulnerable, so perhaps she sees where her dollars can make a difference."A poll taken last month by Wenzel Strategies showed Kasich with a 10-point lead over Gov. Ted Strickland. Portman was leading both potential opponents (Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner) by six points. Fritz Wenzel says his findings are similar to a Rasmussen Reports poll taken just a week prior to when his survey was conducted.
- JP
Sarah is simply planting the seeds, yet the elitists except for a few can't figure out what she's doing. Got to love Sarah.
ReplyDeleteJosh - here is a little political fact everyone needs to keep in mind. Ever since Florida became a state (1845) the winning President always carried AT LEAST TWO of the following three states: (1) Ohio; (2) Florida; and (3) Pennsylvania.
ReplyDeleteWinning Republican Presidents usually carry Ohio and Florida; winning Democratic Presidents usually carry Pennsylvania and one of Ohio or Florida or both. The ONLY exception to this "rule" was 1960 when John Kennedy only carried Pennsylvania and lost Ohio and Florida. However, because he narrowly won Texas (due to Lyndon Johnson as his VP) he still won the Presidency.
Unless a Democrat can win Texas or a Republican can win California or New York - currently highly unlikely - the current and forseeable future electoral college math will require a candidate to win at LEAST TWO of these three states to be President.
Bush carried Ohio and Florida in both 2000 and 2004. Had he lost Florida by a few votes in 2000, Al Gore would have been President. Had he not narrowly won Ohio by 50,000 votes in 2004, John Kerry would have been President.
Furthermore, Ohio is in the top five states with the most delegates for the Republican Presidential nomination: (1) California (173); (2) Texas (140); (3) Florida (114); (4) New York (101); and (5) Ohio (88). While not early states, if there is a long and contested primary these states will be very important. California and New York will be relatively hard for Sarah to win in a primary against Romney. Therefore, she needs to win in Texas, Florida andd Ohio.
The best allies in delivering a state in the primaries is the Gov. and Lt. Gov., followed by the US Senators. Therefore, it is not surprising she is supporting Perry in Texas and Kasick in Ohio. As for Florida, I'm sure she is waiting to see if Crist might still back out of the Senate race and run for Gov. again, in which case she will endorse Rubio for Senate and Crist for Gov.. If Crist remains in the Senate race, she will then endorse Rubio for Senate and McCallum for Gov.. I'm pretty sure this is why she has not endorsed Rubio yet. She doesn't want to go against Crist until it is certain he won't run again for Gov..