In the opinion of STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report), state Senator Kirk Schuring lost his 16th District Congressional race against Democrat John Boccieri for two reasons:First, he ran in a Democratic sweep year.
Second, he and his musical chair buddy (Scott Oelslager) have not produced for public education as promised. And Stark Countians, at least partially, had that in mind when they voted 57% to 42% for John Boccieri.
It was cool and could have been a brilliant move by Schuring to come up with an idea of getting the Ohio General Assembly to place his constitutional amendment proposal to "sorta - partially" fix public education on the ballot. But the plan had to be more than just talk.
Schuring's big problem has always been that though he's a smooth guy that nearly everybody likes on a personal basis, including yours truly, some of us question whether or not he can produce on "really" important matters for Stark Countians.
John Boccieri is also a guy that everybody likes. On this count, the race was a wash. And voters gave Boccieri a pass on the education thing because he has always been in the minority while a member of the Legislature.
For added value, Schuring really did need to produce on his proposal. Especially for being in a majority/supermarjority.
The Report noticed that his talk about Ohio Board of Regeants Chairman Eric Fingerhut supporting his idea didn't last long. Governor Strickland must have sat on Eric real quick.
You know, the governor came to North Canton to be at the Boccieri political coming out for Congress and told the folks gathered that he loved John like a brother. So the governor's going to let Schuring go into the election with his education initiative on the ballot?
Now that Boccieri is on his way to Washington, maybe Schuring can become his second favorite "like a brother." How could this happen?
Well, the Democrats did capture control of the Ohio House this November. But the Senate remains solidly Republican.
So the governor needs a Republican in the Senate to help out with the governor's education intiative that is going to be announced in his State of the State message in January.
Who better than Kirk Schuring with his education bona fides?
If Schuring were to help the governor out, he might recover from that 57% to 42% shellacking he took in Stark County. Because there is no way that the 15% difference was due to the Democratic tide.
Of course, it didn't help his campaign that Schuring gaffed on describing core city Cantonians.
A more significant part of the difference had to be Stark Countians buying into The Report's take on Schuring for years. More talk than action.
Isn't this the perfect situation for Schuring to step forward and link arm-in-arm with the governor to do something that could elevate him in to being thought of as a statesman-like Stark Countian?
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