Taylor vs. DeWine: candidate comparison, by the issues (2018 Republican primary for Ohio governor)

Most of what follows is a series of guest posts on the governor’s race, written by fellow Ohioans.  I have not taken the time to duplicate the research and add links to all sources, but I trust the source.  If you have any doubts, I encourage you to do your own research and make up your own mind.

Anyone tired of the negative ads in the governor’s race? Maybe even confused by them? Indeed, it is not possible for them all to be true.

I thought it might be helpful for you to know how I’ve sorted through this with the help of the campaign staff, what I’ve learned, and why I am voting for and supporting Mary Taylor & Nathan Estruth for Governor and Lt. Governor. And thanks for taking the time to read this!

• Taylor vs. DeWine on Abortion/Right to Life

Taylor vs. DeWine, by the issues: Medicaid expansion

You’ll recall that John Kasich (governor of Ohio 2011-2019) was one of the Republican governors who disappointingly chose to embrace the Obamacare expansion of Medicaid, putting thousands more in government dependency; when Ohio rejected his preferred policy, Kasich circumvented the legislature and imposed his will anyway.

Two candidates are running for the Republican nomination to replace Kasich (who is term-limited):

Mary Taylor

Gibbons vs. Renacci: U.S. Senate Republican Primary (2018, Ohio) Candidate Comparison, by the Endorsements

There are five candidates on the ballot in the primary this Tuesday seeking the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Sherrod Brown for U. S. senator from Ohio, but pollsters indicate the two who realistically have any chance of winning the nomination are Mike Gibbons and Jim Renacci.*  Here’s how they compare, according to organizations that have looked into the candidates’ records and positions on different issues:

On Immigration

Tea Party Conservatives Choose Cruz

For the last several months, Ohio Conservatives United and affiliated groups in Florida and Illinois have been conducting surveys of members of Tea Party, 9/12, and other liberty groups.  In each state, their theory was simple:

“If Ohio conservatives unite behind one candidate in the primary election, we will win.

“If we split and fragment our vote across the entire field, the establishment Republican will win.”

The Plonking Earnestness of the New York Times

I saw this headline on a New York Times column:

“The Scary Specter of Ted Cruz”

I thought it was meant ironically.  (The over-the-top double deprecation is a clear signal, right?)  I thought, That’s interesting!  Someone writing in the New York Times is actually going to push back on some of the left’s more extreme emotional overreactions to conservatism, possibly even using humor and poking fun at them.

Conservative/Tea Party/Insurgent Voter Guide

Update (November 2nd, 2013):  If you came looking for a Cincinnati voter guide for 2013, the best I can do is to point you to this Cincinnati East Tea Party 2013 voter guide.

 

Update (November 5th, 2012):  If you’re looking for the voter guide for November 2012, go here:

“Tea Party/Conservative Voter Guide for Ohio, 2012”

(The below guide was for the primaries.  The one linked above is for the general election.)

Update (March 7th, 2012):  Read about how things turned out here: “Hamilton County Primary-election Results”.

Ohio’s primary is tomorrow.  For your convenience, I’ve assembled a list of the best conservative candidate in each contested race in Hamilton County; feel free to print this out and take it with you into the polling booth.  If you want to know more about how I selected these candidates, with links to my sources and further information, read on below.

• Josh Mandel for U.S. Senate

• Brad Wenstrup for U.S. House of Representatives, 2nd District

• Rebecca Heimlich for State Central Committee, 7th District

• Tom Brinkman for Ohio House of Representatives, 27th District

• Mike Wilson for Ohio House of Representatives, 28th District

• Louis William Blessing III for Ohio House of Representatives, 29th District

“Occupy Wall Street” Protesters Couldn’t Be More Different from Tea Party Movement, or from Rest of Country

First, insert here all the usual caveats about polls.  Always take them with a grain of salt, etc.

That said, according to “probably . . . the first systematic random sample of Occupy Wall Street opinion,” 31% of OWS protesters “would support violence to advance their agenda.”  

Tea Party Debt Commission

Here’s an interesting idea: a Tea Party Debt Commission, organized by Freedom Works:

What is the Tea Party Debt Commission?

. . .

The Commission consists of 12 members, paralleling the structure of the new “deficit reduction super committee” created by Congress as part of the recent debt ceiling compromise.  Committee members are volunteer tea party activists and leaders . . . .  

Debt-ceiling Fight Rages On

Speaker Boehner wasn’t able to get enough Republican votes in the House to pass his plan after all; apparently it will now be amended to require that Congress send a balanced-budget constitutional amendment to the states before a debt-ceiling increase is triggered (as would have been required by the failed Cut, Cap, and Balance Act), which is a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. 

Santorum: Fiscal Conservative

Appearing in three Fourth of July parades in Iowa last week, Rick Santorum said, “What we need is an Independence Day candidate that believes in the independence of the American people, not its dependence on government and government programs.”

I think Rick Santorum may be that candidate.  Any number of the current contenders might make an excellent president, but as Santorum points out, he already has a record of doing the work that needed to be done, even when it was unpopular—even when it cost him his senate seat.  We could do with more principled politicians like him. 

Starting to Paddle Back from the Cliff

Republican House speaker John Boehner and Democrat Senate majority leader Harry Reid appear to have reached a final deal on this year’s budget.

If you’re just joining us, the Democrats didn’t pass a budget last year for this fiscal year (October 2010 to September 2011), possibly because they could already see the rising tide of public sentiment against government spending and thought passing any kind of Democrat budget would only hurt them even further in last November’s elections. 

Don’t Sing Along, Mitch

This is a little bit inside baseball, but for those of you contemplating possible Republican contenders for the presidency in 2012, a writer in National Review Online makes my former governor, Indiana’s Mitch Daniels, sound pretty bad.  Sample:

Daniels has an Obamacare problem that could hurt the repeal movement if he doesn’t deal with it. . . . This isn’t the first time conservatives have danced with the devil on health-care questions (see Massachusetts), but with health-care freedom now at its moment of maximum peril, that needs to stop.

I don’t know whom that leaves.

Can We?

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The story of America in the twentieth century was the story of the growth of government.  It has accelerated and decelerated, and even retreated at times, but taken together, it looks almost inexorable—it grows and grows, slowly choking out freedom and economic activity.