both LasVegasDave and Flutters.
Posted on 03/30/2012 3:50:14 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
At a luncheon for the Ohio Bankers League here earlier this week, the man introducing Iraq War veteran and U.S. Senate hopeful Josh Mandel joked that running as a Republican in Cleveland is as challenging as a third tour of duty in the Middle East.
It's a line that Mandel, who was elected to the state House of Representatives from a Cleveland suburb in 2006, said he wished he had thought of before, and it's one voters are bound to hear often as the 34-year-old state treasurer (he won that election in 2010) campaigns to unseat incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown this fall.
Mandel is considered a GOP rising star but an underdog in this race. Party operatives on both sides of the aisle agree that Brown, a liberal stalwart in the Senate, will be tough to beat. Nonetheless, spending from outside groups, coupled with the general-election climate in this manufacturing- and businesses-centered swing state, will make the contest one to watch as the GOP wrestles to gain control of the Senate.
Republicans believe Mandel has what it takes to give Brown a good run: He has raised an impressive $5.8 million (with $4.3 million on hand) and comes with a compelling personal story. But some acknowledge that he isn't there yet; he needs more polish on the stump and to find his groove in countering criticism that he is too young, too inexperienced and perhaps too ambitious to run for Senate so soon after becoming treasurer.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
I really hope that Josh Mandel wins this. He would be a good conservative voice in the Senate and a real star in the conservative movement.
Mandel is a combat vet and ran well last time. He should win BUT so goes Obama in Ohio goes Brown because Sherrod is lashing himself to the O-boy. 2 years ago Gov. Ted Strickland lashed himself to O and lost to Kasich. It is a gamble that the unions and northeast Ohio will pull them both through. Mandel has the rest of the state sewed up. He needs help. Send money to http://joshmandel.com.
I expect he will. The only fly in the ointment is if we are cursed to have Slick Willard on the top of the ticket. He will be a fiasco for us, including the downballot races.
Sherrod Brown is just as loathsome as Debbie Washerwoman Schultz is.
As things are developing it looks as if the Republicans will have a goodly number of true conservative Republican Senatorial candidates in ‘RED’ states including Ohio.
I just hope that if Romney wins the nomination, I hope that he has the savvy and intelligence to have a vice-presidential running mate such as Sarah Palin. Wouldn’t that set things on fire and get the base super motivated & turned out!!
“Hope” is not a word I would attach to Slick Willard in any shape, matter, or form... unless you are using it in the way Zero does, in which case, it applies 100% (which is hopelessness and total destruction). Any “Conservative” whom would willingly allow themself to be prostituted for Willard’s benefit as a VP for the purposes of deceiving the base will deserve permanent damage to their reputation.
“But some acknowledge that he isn’t there yet; he needs more polish on the stump and to find his groove in countering criticism that he is too young, too inexperienced and perhaps too ambitious to run for Senate so soon after becoming treasurer.”
I don’t care. I’m originally from Ohio and when I got an email asking for a donation, he got one. I knew nothing about him before that, but having done 2 tours in Iraq and being a conservative I felt he deserved the support.
Josh Mandel is a conservative vet. It would also be nice to have a Jewish conservative in the Senate. He’s actually a few months younger than me. I suddenly feel like I’ve wasted my life.
If if if the GOP can run a good campaign in Ohio in the Fall, perhaps Mandel can win and House people too. It is up to the voters NOT to reward bad policies from the Obama-ites like Brown and the Prez. If they vote like the lemmings in some blocs, the kid is dead and so is the GOP. I am beginning to think that voters nationally have had mass amnesia over Obama and his ilk. Sickening.
Real Clear Politics is not a patriot site, and I wouldn’t put much credence into what it says.
Remember, nobody predicted that the Republicans would take 66 seats in the US House in 2010.
So let’s chillout and ignore any pronouncements from RCP.
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