Go ahead and cross Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio off the list of possible Vice-Presidential candidates for Senator Obama. Governor Strickland was profiled today on NPR’s All Things Considered and spoke unequivocally about his feelings when it comes to the veep spot.

“Absolutely not. If drafted I will not run, nominated I will not accept and if elected I will not serve.”

This quote says it all. Hillary Clinton must win Ohio and Texas.

“If she wins Texas and Ohio I think she will be the nominee; if you don’t then I don’t think she can.”

– Bill Clinton, quoted by ABC News, on Sen. Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

Openers blog, the political blog for the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich will drop out of the race for the White House.

Here is video of the announcement.

For more coverage of Dennis Kucinich, go to the Openers blog.

While most politicians cite “spending more time with their family” as the reason why they give up their political aspirations, in Dennis’s case, spending more time with his wife probably is (and should be) the actual reason. Oh, how I miss the sites in New Hampshire.

After being shutout for every statewide office three consecutive election cycles in a row, the once-moribund Ohio Democratic Party is not only alive, but thriving.

Congressman Sherrod Brown easily defeated incumbent Republican Mike DeWine for U.S. Senate, and Ohio elected Ted Strickland its first Democratic governor in sixteen years in an enormous landslide. Democrat Marc Dann also defeated a giant in Ohio Republican politics, Betty Montgomery, to become Ohio’s first Democratic top cop in twelve years. After a decade of Republican scandal, Dann’s oversight is sorely needed.

In a huge victory, Ohioans also chose Democrat Jennifer Brunner to be the next Secretary of State. You can listen to Jennifer Brunner’s candidate interview with DoubleSpeak here. This means the 2008 presidential election will be conducted without the disenfranchisement and dirty tricks gubernatorial loser Ken Blackwell played with the job against John Kerry in 2004. The Secretary of State is a key official in Ohio as one of 5 members of the Ohio Apportionment Board. This board does Ohio’s Congressional and state legislative redistricting every ten years, and is composed of the Governor, Auditor, Secretary of State, and one legislator of each party. Republican State Representative Mary Taylor squeaked out a victory in the State Auditor’s race, so if redistricting were done today, Democrats would have a 3-2 edge and perhaps be able to undo some of the damage of Republican gerrymandering after the 2000 Census.

Yesterday proved Ohio is very much a purple state that will be hotly contested again in the 2008 presidential election. Democrats are much better prepared to win Ohio in 2008 with Governor Ted Strickland and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner leading the charge.

Rep. Sherrod Brown has beaten Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine in Ohio. CNN is reporting the win and we’ll have numbers up soon.

Check out Sherrod on DoubleSpeak.

Exit polls mean nothing at this point, so these exit numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. But…here they are.

From Political Wire:

CNN reports corruption was the number most important issue to voters who responded to exit surveys. Early Senate numbers (uncomfirmed and with caveats):

Democrats are leading in Rhode Island (+7), Virginia (+7), Pennsylvania (+15), Ohio (+14), New Jersey (+8), Montana (+9), Missouri (+2).

Republicans are leading in Tennessee (+4) and Arizona (+4).