Editorial: Kasich, Strickland need to talk frankly

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland finds himself sitting in the other chair today, and it’s not a comfortable one.

Three years ago, Strickland and fellow Democrats had a remarkably easy time sweeping Republicans out of office. All they needed was to keep their mouths shut, thus forcing Republicans to defend an indefensible record on the state’s struggling economy and school-funding problems. Strickland was especially good at this. Instead of presenting a plan, he waxed poetic, telling voters he would be the “education governor” and they were welcome to throw him out of office if he didn’t fix school funding by 2010.

That just may happen.

With the gubernatorial election less than a year away, Republican challenger John Kasich has pulled into a tie with Strickland at 40 percentage points, according to the recent poll by highly-regarded Quinnipiac University. Even more impressive, it has taken Kasich just nine months to close a 30-percent lead Strickland held in February.

The demise in the polls will require Strickland to develop an entirely new campaign strategy. This time, the governor’s race will be all about him. He’s the one sitting in the incumbent’s chair with a big bull’s-eye painted on his chest. It’s his 45-percent job approval rating that is at an all-time low.

The same people who voted for Strickland are now saying he has done a rotten job handling the economy, disapproving of his performance by 52 percent to 33 percent. If that’s not bad enough, 43 percent say Strickland hasn’t kept his campaign promises.

All of this bodes well for Kasich, who never could have imagined being in this good of shape so early in the race. Forty-one percent of the people polled believe Kasich could do a better job rebuilding the economy, compared to 33 percent for Strickland. Kasich also comes out on top, 42 percent to 34 percent, on who would do a better job handling the state budget.

We hope Kasich doesn’t use this information to spend the next year dwelling on the shortcomings of Strickland’s record. It would be tempting, given that was the tactic Democrats used to win in 2006. The problem with such attack ads is that too often they circumvent a frank discussion about the issues. In the end, people base their votes on emotion instead of information. The result is the “same old, same old” for Ohio.

Kasich’s challenge is to clearly define his vision to voters. The closeness of the race is less about his numbers moving up as it is about Strickland’s numbers going down. A large number of people — 20 percent — say they’re not ready to vote for either candidate.

Strickland will need to explain why he deserves another chance at repositioning Ohio’s economy and why he should be trusted to fix a state budget he had a hand in messing up. Ditto for school funding.

Voters must demand straight talk from both candidates in the next 12 months.