ePluribus Media Ohio News Bureau

COLUMBUS, OHIO: In mid-morning Wednesday in Columbus while media insiders were reporting that Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland was no longer on Sen. Barack Obama’s candidate list for vice president, the still-popular governor, despite the gloomy economic news contained in a report issued by his budget director, was announcing that first-term Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray would be the candidate of the Ohio Democratic Party to run for Attorney General in the fall to replace Marc Dann, whose disgraceful conduct related to sexual misconduct lead to his resignation last month.

With Sen. Obama, the presumptive presidential candidate of Democrats, putting the kibosh on news about which candidate he would choose as his running mate until he announced it himself, the monsters of the media midway have been beside themselves about being left in the dark on such an important and tantalizing scoop as who that person would be.

MSNBC Calls Strickland Out of VP Sweepstakes, Obama to Join Strickland in Columbus Friday

Chuck Todd, political director for NBC news and the network’s official numbers and map man, announced mid-morning today on MSNBC that of all the names on the list of possible Obama choices for his running mate, the name Strickland would not be there at the request of the first-term Democratic governor. Strickland, whose popularity has diminish in recent weeks but who still enjoys favorable ratings among Ohioans, be they Democrat or Republican, has previously said he wants to stay focused on his birth state, which has plenty to worry about going forward, as the information contained in a monthly report from his office of budget and management made uncomfortably clear again today.

Obama may heed Strickland's request to stay off the national ticket, but that won't stop the Illinois Senator from joining Strickland Friday in Ohio, where both of them will speak to seniors at a center in Columbus as part of Obama's pivot from primary campaign mode to a national 50-state front against the Republican standard bearer, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

STRICKLAND TAPS CORDRAY FOR OHIO DEM'S VP CANDIDATE

But while Strickland was saying no to Obama, he was saying yes to Ohio’s new treasurer as his pick to run for the office of attorney general in November. Come the fall general elections, Democrats and Republicans will again slug it out to replace the state’s chief law enforcement officer, whose office has the biggest patronage staff in state government, in the wake of the resignation of Marc Dann, a surprise winner in 2006, whose personal conduct and that of several long-time loyal friends was so offensive in terms of their sexual harassment and affairs with subordinate females that Strickland and his fellow Democratic statewide office holders and legislators, in an effort to “clean their own house” before Republicans had a chance to turn the matter into a political battering ram, forced Dann from office in mid May.

Cordray, 49, once ran for attorney general in 1998 but lost to Betty Montgomery, a Republican powerhouse who Dann beat in an upset victory as stunning as xxx beating Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes last Sunday.

As the head of Democrats in Ohio and as the state’s governor, Strickland can select who replaced Dann in the short-term – which he did recently by selecting Ohio State University Law School Dean Nancy H. Rogers – and who would run for the office in November. Strickland said Rogers was a great choice to run the agency through the election because she doesn’t seek to run for the office and would not have those factors distracting from the job at hand.

The choice of Cordray appears to please everyone except Republicans, who have had several top contenders bow out from consideration but who still have until later in June to choose who their candidate will be to take Cordray and what many expect to be a well-financed campaign for a candidate that is without a blemish, professionally or otherwise.

Cordray has sought to distinguish himself as Ohio Treasurer, an office that doesn’t bask in the limelight of the media often, by taking up the cause of financial literacy and jumping into the home foreclosure crisis that has thrown Ohio for an economic loss as neighborhoods in major cities, especially Cleveland, that are fighting a loosing battle to the spread of home foreclosures that have plagued the state for years.

Budget Repor on Ohio Economy Another Grim Fairy Tale

What Strickland and other Buckeyes have to worry about is the further deterioration in the state economy, as J. Pari Sabety, the director of Strickland’s Office of Budget and Management told him in a monthly summary of economic news released today.

The latest in a line of reports laden with negative words like “decreased” and “decline” and “down” that are used to describe employment trends, consumer confidence and industrial production should be worrisome to Strickland who, while he inherited a state already troubled from 16-years of Republican policies that catered to the needs of big business and fought increases in caring for others, most notably in the Medicaid program that helps low-income adults and children, has undergone further decay during his first 17 months on the job.

Sabety told Strickland that, in addition to Ohio unemployment being down 9,800 jobs year to date, with the most significant declines occurring in manufacturing and construction, “the ongoing costly adjustments in the housing sector, however, combined with the sharply rising gasoline prices, renewed turmoil in the financial markets, and the critical weakening in labor markets, still spell serious economic challenges.”

The news from the report on taxes and spending were also out of kilter. Through May, general revenue fund (GRF) tax receipts are below estimates by $475.1 million (2.5%) while GRF uses, including pending payroll and transfers, are above estimates by $170.1 million (0.7%).

Disbursements for Medicaid for May were $34 million above estimate. Year-to-date Medicaid disbursements from the GRF were $75 million above estimates. Medicaid is a federal/state funded program and represents a significant percentage of Ohio’s budget that lawmakers have fought to keep under control over the years.