http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Portman
Posted on 01/11/2009 1:56:04 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
Ohio Republican George Voinovich is expected to announce Monday that he won't seek reelection to the Senate in 2010.
A two-term senator, former governor and Cleveland mayor, Voinovich has been a political fixture in his state for decades. But recent press reports from his home state have indicated the 72-year-old lawmaker is considering retirement, and a person close to him told Politico that the announcement will come Monday.
His retirement would give Democrats a shot at an open Senate seat in a battleground state that voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 elections and elected Democrat Sherrod Brown to the Senate in 2006.
A Voinovich spokesman would only confirm that he will make an announcement Monday on his future. But a Senate Republican leadership aide said that Voinovich’s planned retirement is “real” and an announcement will come soon.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Great, well unless a miracle happens, it looks like the Dems will get their 60th vote...bad news for Ohio and the country.
One less pro-illegal alien GOPer....good opportunity to place a pro-American/anti-illegal GOP member in his place
Senators with weak re-election prospects that retire instead of running again are a good thing.
Lets get some FRepers in gubermint!
Run guys and gals RUN!!!!!
Cleanup the DC!
You must not live in Ohio. The chances of the GOP winning in OH with a moderate Republican are slim, at best. The chances of winning with a true conservative are zero. Voinivich's retirement is horrible news.
Huh? A conservative can win in Ohio if he/she can articulate a conservative vision. John Kasich comes to mind.
Nonsense. Voinivich was weak and an easy target. Let’s get a fresh face out there into the fight.
Honest, I can be wrong.
But, I do believe John Kasich, to be one of the very few good guys in politics.
I was not happy to see him quit.
Will he cry when he announces he’s retiring?
Kasich has made it clear that he has no desire to return to DC. He has made comments that may indicate he's looking at a run for Gov.
Ohio has changed a lot the last eight. It is clearly now a blue state is quickly following in Michigan's footsteps. I was raised in Ohio and until recently, parents still lived there. Many conservative minded people have left for states with less onerous tax codes. I don't see Ohio swinging red again for the foreseeable future. The union element is just too strong in the NW and NE corners of the state.
Run guys and gals RUN!!!!! Cleanup the DC!
I agree, Arlen should consider going as well.
I guess you didn’t notice...Ohio has a huge number of auto jobs which were on the line last month...almost everyone I talk to-I live in Ohio- is pissed at the GOP over those Senate hearings. If you think Ohio will elect a Republican who might vote against auto’s think again. Trying to destroy an entire part of the country because they didn’t vote for you (Mid West)will certainly cost the GOP elections...not just in Ohio either...the question is how many?
Also, don’t run a Southerner in the near future for president because the only people Ohioans hate more than the average Republicans right now are Southern Republicans like Shelby, Session and Sanford. I would suggest that the GOP make nice...where the Mid West is concerned...and quit running around bashing it.
Sometimes I get the feeling that people are completely tone deaf on this board. I'm expecting someone to say their glad Bloomberg has left the party so we can get a "real Republican" in the NYC mayor's office.
When the Dems were getting crushed in 02 and 04, a guy by the name of Rahm Emanuel was put in charge of turning things around. He recruited candidates in quasi-conservative candidates that were much, much more moderate than the left-wing of the dummie party would have liked. But, it worked. It worked in 06 and it clearly worked in 08.
I'm not a mathematician, but I understand that running candidates that have appeal to only 29% of the American electorate won't win many elections. It might win some, but it won't win any in states that are blue and getting bluer. Again, Voinivich's decision to retire, irrespective of his voting record, is HORRIBLE news in Ohio.
Oh please, oh please may Lugar be next to retire!
RIN-O-HI-O
Who the hell said anything about Specter? If anyone’s suffering from tone-deafness, it’s caused by morons like you running around screaming at the top of your lungs about how we have to have more damn wishy washy loser candidates with no chance of winning.
Voinivich is old, dumb, and a weak candidate at this point. The fact that he’s a RINO is way down on the list of reasons for his retirement to be celebrated. He was an easy target for the Dems to knock off. His retirement gives a chance at a fresh face with less baggage. Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll find someone who’s enough of a weak-kneed RINO to tickle your fancy.
BTW, if you’re going to admonish people for not living in PA or OH when they comment on OH politics, you’d be well served to change your FR profile to reflect that you live in either PA or OH rather than Georgia. It might help your cause just a touch.
A RINO does have ONE redeeming quality in that they count towards majority status. Case in point: would we be better off if Jumpin' Jim Jeffords stayed a Republican and yes, as a RINO, or did his "truing up" of his affiliation help the Republican cause? That man did incalculable damage to the Bush presidency (albeit, with great help from GWB himself).
Wow, you're going to hurt my feelings. Look Ace, you might want to read the WHOLE thread before making comments. You might keep yourself from looking like a moron.
Voinovich is a RINO, anyway. Now, maybe we can get another conservative in the seat.
And OTOH, if this is simply “I’ll retire at the end of my term,” why declare your lame duckness so early in the cycle?
I have tried to tell people the same thing...and for God’s sake shut Shelby up. When GOP Senators go on TV and say Ohio and Michigan basically suck...it gets worse. We need to run candidates that have appeal in the states they run in...as another poster pointed out...even a RINO counts in committees and such.
However, they should appeal to the Central Ohioans who work for Honda and would like for the UAW to go straight to hell. Unfortunately, there are too many union zombies in Northern Ohio to overcome at the moment.
I don’t think it’s so odd, since he’d have to begin campaigning now for 2010. Martinez announced even earlier, as did Bond.
Well, we wouldn’t want your feelings hurt. Considering the blather that passes for ‘thought’ in your posts, I can see why you would be so protective of those ‘feelings’ of yours.
Not in Ohio...Voinivich may be weak but he has a chance...you don’t know the situation on the ground here. I live in North East Ohio...I don’t think a conservative could get elected. It has to do with job losses-look at the economic situation in the Mid West. I think many Ohioans are conservative, but they voted for Obama because of the job situation...don’t forget McCain went down to MI and said, ‘the jobs are not coming back’. There were commercials shown in Ohio that emphasized outsourcing of jobs and you should have seen the Obama campaign literature my neighbor showed me.
Wrong-I know people who work for Marysville Honda...assembly workers do not want to see the union destroyed...you are confused. They know that as soon as the unions are gone, they would get far less in terms of wages and benefits...Honda pays well to discourage unionization. If this threat was taken away...it would be a different story. Also, what you fail to understand is that we know that if the big three disappeared as almost happened, Marysville would certainly shut down-no suppliers. I would say there is a limited amount of support for the GOP in the part of Ohio that borders Kentucky-not enough to win statewide though if this anger persist.
Yes, I was right. You are a freakin idiot.
“A conservative can win in Ohio if he/she can articulate a conservative vision. John Kasich comes to mind.”
Fiscally perhaps, but Kasich handed the assault weapons ban to Clinton on a silver platter and took 42 RINO’s with him. For that, I’ll support whomever would run against him, as I did in his next election after that bill.
As far as Voinovich goes... good riddance! Same went for his side kick DeWine, another gun grabber.
Be nice?, no way!
Take your union members and go stuff it.
Snappy comeback.
With your intellect, I am sure that’s all you could handle.
I am living in New England at the moment. I think Arlen will be like William Roth and he is past his prime and will lose. If you have seen him recently he is clearly been hurt by the operation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Portman
But, if you're going to lose one, Voinovich is definitely expendable.
You may be right. But, I would argue that a nearly brain-dead 75% Republican is better than Chris Matthews.
My, once more Bronxboy projects his distaste for all things Southern. And he assumes that all Ohioans feel the same way.
In a polite audience, that is called "projection".
In an impolite audience, it is called "prejudice".
Hardly, my wife is a southerner. I lived in Georgia for years. I express the reality of what I see in Ohio. No doubt the bashing of autos and the Mid West in general left a bad taste in people’s mouth. Consider this, many have chastised me for my comments concerning the Southern Senators...how do you think those in Michigan and Ohio felt upon hearing his comments? Perhaps resentful?
I hear you...however, the problem is when RINOs lose,they are replaced with Democrats. We have lost the North East, having trouble in the West, lost two southern states (VA,NC), will we cede the Mid West as well...how will we win a presidential election? How much influence will we have in Congress if this continues?
It’s gonna be Dennis Kookcinich. That’s my guess.
Again so there is no misunderstanding...unwise words from the Southern GOP Senator hurts GOP election prospects in Ohio and probably Indiana as well. This is a fact-nothing to do with any sort of prejudice...I merely warn of a disaster in the making.
God could not hate me this much that I would have Kucinich as my Senator...
If you have ever posted to me especially on Auto posts, you would know that I work for GM in management in Lordstown-never hid the fact...management is never union. As for ‘make nice’ then don’t and continue to lose elections. I don’t see how a GOP candidate can win a presidential election without Ohio...what it happened once this century?
Good news. He’s a cry baby that held up Bolten.
Well, thanks for dumbing your dizzying acumen down for me. Imagine if you’d pulled out the big guns and used both of your IQ points!
Had I known about your propensity to sandbag your intellectual prowess for the benefit of others, I could have taken that into consideration from the start. Perhaps you should add a note to that effect in your profile while you’re changing your location. It could say something like:
“Big_Monkey isn’t really a dimwitted numbskull in real life. She just plays one on Free Republic.”
If you had done this yesterday, think of the time we all could be saving today!
I didn’t say I liked Voinivich...I said he will be replaced by a Dem...do you realize that gives Dems 60? If spector leaves perhaps 61- with a senate makeup like this I yearn for the RINO’s of yesterday...
Not good, I agree. I've defended RINOs in the past for the very reason you cite -- they are part of the caucus and they are probably the best we can expect from their particular constituency.
But, if you're going to lose a RINO, Voinovich is a good one to lose.
As we're sitting here today, the state of the Republican party isn't vastly different than it was in 1965 or 1975 -- post-Goldwater and post-Watergate. Actually, it's in a lot better shape -- save the atmosphere created by the MSM, which makes it seem a lot worse than it really is.
Bush screwed the pooch. And our "conservative" Congressmen and Senators became Beltway Regulars and thought they were bulletproof. Sure, the Democrats didn't deserve to win in 2006...but the GOP majority sure as hell deserved to lose.
Yeah, we're going to take it in the shorts for a while. But there's no point in abandoning conservative principles. Review the voting, and the electoral reverses of the past two years aren't so much a vote for Democrats by Democrats, but a vote against Republicans by Republicans.
Conservatives are a fickle and demanding crowd. They're prepared to stay home -- or vote against -- a Republican. I don't necessarily agree with it...but it's part of what we are.
We've had some contentious exchanges, but I'm learning where you're coming from. What part of Ohio? I spent five good years in Cincinnati. It remains one of my favorite cities.
Look, just because you seem to have mommy issues, doesn’t give you license to be an ass. I can’t help that someone seems to have abandoned leaving an empty feeling in your soul. Perhaps Oprah is a better fit than Free Republic. Enjoy your time with the queen.
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