National Review’s Rich Lowry joined Catholic theologian Michael Novak in liking the idea about former Ohio Congressman John Kaisch becoming McCain’s VP. Lowry points out Kasich’s working-class & populist appeal that Mitt Romney certainly lacks.

Townhall.com’s Matt Lewis is also warming up to the idea, correctly noting that “considering the recent GOP scandals in Ohio, Kasich might be the only Republican who could immediately guarantee that Ohio is at least ‘in play’ in 2008.”

I don’t know how anyone could refuse the Vice Presidency, but he would certainly be missed in Ohio as not only is he the only conservative choice for Governor in 2010, but he is also does a better job hosting Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor than Bill “Ted Baxter” O’Reilly himself. But 2010 isn’t looking so good, as not only is the Ohio GOP a weak opposition party with no message, but two years is also enough time for Gov. Strickland to hire the rest of Ohio’s remaining Republican legislators.

Here is a new video from the ALF-CIO youtube account, where far-left candidate for Ohio’s 15th congressional district, supports the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act”, where workers could unionize through public petition instead where workers would be subject to intimidation and union thuggery which wouldn’t happen if ballots remained secret:

Great! Mary Jo wants to make sure all American companies perform like General Motors or, at the very least, lose even more of their comparative advantage in the global marketplace.

And Kilroy says she supports the rights of workers, but what about the right of workers to not join a union after their work becomes unionized? Ohio is still not a right to work state, and in Kilroy’s warped mind, free choice for workers only involves the decision between two options: join a union and make your company less attractive to shareholders… or lose your job.

From Ken Blackwell’s latest column on Townhall.com, “Freedom Now”:

Nancy Pelosi wants to the save the planet. That was the House speakers answer to why she is not allowing a vote on expanding domestic oil drilling. Unfortunately, Americans need for an ambitious long-term plan for energy independence is placing a damper on the speakers planet-saving pursuits.

The energy issue is taking center stage for the public. If this issue is forced to the next level, Senator McCain might win the White House and Republicans might avoid another election year rout.

Read the rest of Ken’s column here.

From Gongwer:

Gov. Ted Strickland meant no offense to farmers by breaking the long-standing gubernatorial tradition of spending a night at the Ohio State Fair with a farm family in one of the livestock barns.

He’s only trying to draw more attention to the state’s potential for outdoor recreation and tourism by spending the night in a tent at fair’s Natural Resources Park, he told reporters Wednesday on the opening day of the 155^th state fair.[...]

The governor said he hadn’t heard any criticism from farmers about his decision to forego the barnyard nocturnal barnyard tradition first established by Gov. Jim Rhodes.

Funny that this tradition was established by Jim Rhodes, because that is exactly the person that Gov. Strickland stole the “As a child, I once lived in a chicken coop” story from.

Julie Ponzi at the Ashbrook Center links over to this news report of a fascinating story of faith, charity and coincidence in the life of Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Stratton:

BarackBook.com

From The Springfield Sun:

The Springfield Sun reports on Gov. Strickland slowly unveiling his plan to supposedly improve Ohio’s school systems… which can mostly be summarized as the “I’m going to raise your taxes” plan:

Dayton, Ohio — Gov. Ted Strickland outlined 10 ideas for education reform — some of them controversial — in the latest in a series of forums seeking feedback as he builds a wider plan to overhaul the state’s education system.

Strickland has promised a plan by next March and said Tuesday, July 29, that there would be follow-up meetings to talk specifically about school funding.[...]

“I want to thank the governor for bringing us together to shared ideas about education,” Don Thompson, interim Springfield schools superintendent said in Springfield about the forum. “This is good for statewide and locally. However, Thompson said the implementation and funding of Strickland’s reforms would be the test of the ideas.

One of the principles he really agreed with was Strickland’s suggestion to use value-added data to personalize education to each child.

There is absolutely no incentive for school bureaucrats to use data to “personalize” education for each children, even if a new bureaucracy was created specifically for that purpose. The best way to personalize education is through the free market and allowing parents to chose the school of their choice which best fits the needs and talents of their children. Any plan which doesn’t include that is just fluffy worthless talk to excite old Man Joe Hallett:

Hallett flip-flopped on Ted Strickland’s education reform because, even though Strickland really won’t be able to fix Ohio’s education system, he atleast is carrying on the Taft-Voinovich legacy of talking a lot about it!:

[...]The forums, I sniffed, were a bunch of “dog and pony shows” designed to give Strickland political cover from his unachievable campaign promise to solve Ohio’s unconstitutional school-funding system by the end of his first term or, as he said, “I will have been a failed governor.”

Strickland, I continued, will “rue the day” he ever made that promise because any school-funding fix almost certainly will require a tax increase.

Four days later, in the same studio, Strickland hosted the first of those conversations, with about 200 participants. Afterward, I walked out coughing up crow feathers.

Sure, there were a few moments of insufferable edu-speak, but overall the conversation was substantive. After some initial shyness, audience members weighed in freely, constructively discussing ideas such as year-round schooling, longer school days, teacher tenure based on merit rather than longevity, pre-kindergarten education, the pluses and minuses of standardized tests, and, more than anything, a desire for lesson plans to fit the individual needs of students.

Strickland sparkled. It shouldn’t have been surprising. With a doctorate in psychology, he has had plenty of experience leading group discussions. He kept the conversation moving and focused, not permitting it to dissolve into a bitch session like so many school board meetings I had covered in bygone days.

And we also learn where Ted Strickland’s true inspiration comes from his education proposals: John Dewey, who wrote the 1916 book, Democracy and Education, which one of the most harmful books written in the last 200 years:

Strickland had prepared for the conversations by dusting off his college books and re-reading John Dewey, the philosopher and educator who, before he died at 92 in 1952, was viewed as the father of progressive education. Strickland read from a piece Dewey had written in 1915 advocating “a new movement in education” to fulfill the needs of the industrial revolution.

“It could have been written yesterday,” Strickland marveled. “Today, we are moving from that industrial (society) into the innovation technology era and we are still tied to a model of education, I believe, that is still related to a time passed.”

A follower of John Dewey can not be the “moderate” that the liberal MSM paints Ted Strickland as… And I know Ted Strickland must be serious, as even the most liberal education bureaucrats probably can not get completely through Dewey’s rambling, illogical, and opaque writing style, even though his work has had a huge impact on America’s public schools.

John Dewey, a socialist, signed the Humanist Manifesto and was opposed to any moral absolutes and traditional religion. He also disparaged schooling that focused on traditional character development and endowing children with hard knowledge (ie, a “classical education”) , and encouraged the teaching of “thinking skills” instead. And through this teaching of thinking skills, Dewey saw education as primarily political, as schools would not be used as tools to shape a new society which would be devoid of those pesky traditions and religions, and this would best serve the interests of socialist “progressive” agenda. Essentially, Dewey supported an education system where schools and the state become parents to all children.

If John Dewey is the basis for all of Strickland’s proposed education reforms, parents with traditional values should be deeply concerned.

For more information about John Dewey, read Henry T. Edmondson’s John Dewey and the Decline of American Education from The Intercollegiate Studies Institute. It is a great read, I’ll send a copy to Joe Hallett.

Now that Marc Dann has apparently opened up his own law firm, he is seeking a massive amount of information about his disgraceful two years at Ohio’s attorney general:

Ex-Attorney General Marc Dann, a vocal advocate of open records, is asking his former department to fill what is one of the largest public records requests sought by the office.

The request is essentially the 17-month history of Dann as the state’s top lawyer.

“It’s a monster” is how Jim Gravelle, an attorney general spokesman, described the records request from Dann, his former boss. “It was just about any correspondence he every made as attorney general.”

Among Dann’s requests are “all of the documents personal to me,” including schedules, e-mails and expense records, provided to others through records requests. He also wanted copies of all news clippings related to him or the offices accomplishments, and all the “talking points and speeches that I delivered.”

Marc Dann made a name for himself by seeking documents regarding Tom Noe and former Governor Bob Taft. Now, Dann has gone from being a high-flying crusader against Ohio businesses to and overseeing about 300 lawyers (in addition to a couple of carefully selected bimbo staff members) and is reduced to a one man operation. He could no longer afford his nice house in Youngstown, and the investigations into his wrongdoing are far from over. Oh, how the might have fallen!

When the FBI starts raiding your home and office, you are busted:

Two titans of Cuyahoga County politics appear to be at the epicenter of the public corruption probe unfolding today.

Federal agents searched the homes of county Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo, taking away truckloads of information. Agents also searched offices in the county administration building.

Investigators would not say what prompted the probe or divulge its focus. But it appears to involve steering contracts and jobs. Several construction companies and their owners were searched as well. And some county employees were questioned about how they got their jobs.

The places searched include: The home of Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, the home of Auditor Frank Russo, the home of county Information Technology Administrator Kevin Kelley, the county administration building, the county Data Center, the county Engineer’s Office, DAS Construction in Garfield Heights, Blaze Construction in Middleburg Heights, Doan Pyramid Electric in Bedford Heights and Vincore LLC in Cleveland.

Here is some video news reports below. If their blog is any indication, the Cuyahoga County GOP is thrilled.

I often get asked, “Hey Matt, what other Ohio-focused conservative blogs should I read?” Weapons of Mass Discussion (WMD) always comes to mind as an answer, but I never mention them because their two authors are alittle odd.

Is that too mean for me to say? After all, they are taken seriously enough to be promoted to the front page of Patrick Ruffini’s excellent new blog, The Next Right and have been a contributor to the Cuyahoga County GOP’s official blog.

The answer is no, I am not being too mean. And I should put it in much harsher terms, because when they aren’t giving John Boehner’s press shop the Control-V treatment, they are posting embarrassing video of themselves like this one below. Yikes!:

If there are any conservatives in Ohio who are seriously interested in blogging about state politics, please shoot me an email (matt-at-naugblog.com) and I’d be happy to help you set up your blog. And let’s just ignore these vulgar basement dwellers.