John Kasich=next OH Gov & Rob Portman=next OH Sen

The belated Lincoln birthday dinner occurred this week (love the quote on flyer!). OH State Rep Josh Mandel spoke. He is considering running for OH Treasurer in 2010. He supports zero budgeting.

Mike DeWine also spoke. He expressed unhappiness with the Obama administration rolling back D.C. school choice that DeWine championed when in Congress. He expressed possible plans to run for some undisclosed office in Columbus, OH in 2010. He might express definite plans at his next ice cream social. DeWine volunteered that Jon Husted may run for Ohio Secretary of State.

The rumor around the table was that the current Ohio Secretary of State, Democrat Jennifer Brunner, was going to rule against Husted in the trumped up controversy over his residency. This is the same person that allowed "homeless" people to vote in OH without proof of residency &/or citizenship. If &/or when she rules against Husted, the GOP will go to the OH Supreme Court, which is still controlled by Republicans.

DeWine encouraged people to support Rob Portman for US Senate, to fill the seat being vacated by Sen Voinovich. Otherwise, if the Democrats take the seat, they'll reach a 60 seat veto proof majority.



The keynote speaker, and next governor of Ohio, was John Kasich . He was introduced as helping to pass the first balanced budget in the US since man walked on the moon. Kasich was born in Pittsburgh, PA & is/was a Pirates fan (Yeah! Go Bucs!). Kasich spearheaded welfare reform, which Obama also targets to overturn. Kasich is a Reagan Republican. He volunteered the anecdote that Sect Baker didn't want Reagan to deliver the "Tear down this wall speech" in Berlin, since it might offend the Soviets (typical US State Department). Kasich didn't identify who might be the next Reagan, but definitely hung the Carter cardigan sweater on Obama. An applause line: "Under Obama, our 401Ks have become 104Ks".

Kasich wants to eliminate income and inheritance tax to prevent people from moving to Florida. He supports school choice. Wants to revitalize OH dying cities. He listed Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Johnstown, but skipped Toledo (because it's completely hopeless?) Stated black smoke equals money, so it's safe to infer that he's not a big global warming Al Gore aficionado. Pointed out that government is a devouring cookie monster & regulators often just want to put the private sector out of business.

Kasich's biggest applause line of the evening was that we shouldn't tax the successful and prudent to subsidize the irresponsible greedy house flippers.