Indivisible looks to do for the political left what the Tea Party did for the political right. But Rob Portman and other Republicans are worried about being used as props. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders backers are stepping up their efforts to promote Democrat Nina Turner for governor. Read more in Ohio Politics Roundup.
Don’t call us, we’ll call you: Democratic activists are trying to replicate the Tea Party’s political magic, but for progressives. Their efforts to press congressional representatives and senators at local town hall-style meetings have gained attention in the early days of President Donald Trump’s administration. But the congressional representatives and senators are catching on to this disruptive, made-for-cable-television approach. And some are adapting on the fly.
Cincinnati-area lawmakers “have stocked their schedules with more ‘telephone town halls’ than in-person sessions,” writes USA Today’s Deirdre Shesgreen, who contributes political coverage to the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Asked about upcoming events that are open to the public, not one local lawmaker responded with a specific date and time for such a session.”
One Ohioan jumping into the fray: Jim Jordan. At a Presidents Day appearance Monday at the Harding Home Presidential Site in Marion, Jordan, a conservative Republican congressman from Champaign County, gamely took questions from critics, the Washington Post’s David Weigel reports. “This,” he said, “is how democracy’s supposed to work.”
Jordan encountered a smaller group of protesters during his visit later Monday to the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums in Fremont, the Toledo Blade’s Tom Troy writes.
Paging Portman: A Northeast Ohio affiliate of Indivisible, the group that has been organizing town hall protests, is planning a 6:30 p.m. event Thursday at St. James AME Church in Cleveland. The liberal advocacy organization MoveOn.org is listed as a sponsor.
The “constituents town hall” is billed as an opportunity to grill Republican Sen. Rob Portman, if he or anyone from his staff shows. The group also has invited Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and Democratic Reps. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights and Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, but Portman is the focus of the invitations. It’s hard to imagine any Republican knowingly walking into a forum sponsored and organized by organizations on the political left. (To be fair, it’s just as hard to imagine Brown, Fudge or Kaptur walking into a Tea Party rally circa 2010.)
A Portman spokeswoman confirmed that the senator does not plan to attend, but “Rob and his staff plan on participating in a variety of events around the state this week.”
What’s really brewing? Some Republicans are emphasizing Indivisible’s links to MoveOn.org and to Organizing for Action, a group that traces its roots to former President Barack Obama. They assert this is the work of well-funded liberals, not an organic movement. But remember: The Tea Party got off the ground eight years ago with help from wealthy conservatives.
How legitimate are the Tea Party comparisons? Time will tell.
And speaking of the Tea Party … it’s not like that movement is going gentle into that good night. Trump supporters plan to rally around the new president “during ‘Spirit of America’ rallies across the country Feb. 27 and March 4,” cleveland.com’s Stephen Koff reports.
“The primary group behind the rallies is Main Street Patriots, whose co-founder, Bedford resident Ralph King, was a Trump elector from Ohio. King also co-founded the Cleveland Tea Party. Main Street Patriots list a 12:30 p.m. rally on March 4 in Voinovich Bicentennial Park in Cleveland. Others are listed in Cincinnati, Mansfield, Springfield, Jackson and Bridgeport.
Plans for many of the rallies are still shaping up. But organizers in Tennessee have announced a program and agenda for their Nashville rally March 4, including an appearance by an Ohio Tea Party leader, Tom Zawistowski of Portage County, according to the Tennessee Star.”
Together at last? “Ohio Gov. John Kasich is tentatively slated to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House [on] Friday, three sources familiar with the plan told CNN [on] Monday,” the cable network’s Sara Murray reports. “A Kasich adviser said the White House didn’t offer an explicit agenda for the meeting. A senior administration official said the meeting is still tentative but is likely to be a private sitdown between Kasich, the president and possibly Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. The official described the meeting as long overdue.”
The meeting, if it happens, should be full of intrigue. Kasich has been a Trump critic. And recent moves by the governor and his advisers — a forthcoming book and the creation of a political group aimed at promoting Kasich’s decidedly non-Trumpian vision of Republicanism — have fueled speculation that Kasich might be up for a primary challenge in 2020.
Debuting this week on cleveland.com: “Ohio Matters” — a series that will take readers to six very different areas of the Buckeye State as we contemplate the Trump era and its impact here.
Our team of Mary Kilpatrick, Jeremy Pelzer and Andrew J. Tobias will report from Greene, Jefferson, Seneca and Vinton counties, plus Cleveland and the Columbus suburbs. Here’s an introductory piece, and look for the first dispatches Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Gov race rumblings: Turner Time? Our Revolution, the outgrowth of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, has scheduled a “Nina Turner for Governor” meeting for March 4 in Cleveland. “This will be the FIRST grassroots organizing meeting for NINA TURNER for GOVERNOR, in Northeast Ohio,” the online invitation and RSVP form reads. “Let’s kick this off right and make Nina Turner the most progressive leader our state has ever seen!”
It’s another indication that Sanders allies, thankful for Turner’s steadfast support in 2016, are looking to elevate the Democratic former state senator. Turner tells me she is not participating in the Our Revolution effort. “As for a run” for governor, she says, “I haven’t decided.”
Tim Ryan on the clock: On Feb. 9, the Youngstown-area congressman said his decision on running for governor would come in “the next couple of weeks.” If we hold him to that timeline, we should know no later than Thursday. Democrats expect word one way or another this week.
Full stack: All four of the prominent Republican prospects for governor — Attorney General Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Jon Husted, Rep. Jim Renacci and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor — are scheduled to speak March 4 at the Northeast Hamilton County Republican Club’s pancake breakfast in Sharonville. “Local GOP mover-and-shaker Zac Haines, the club’s former president, said he believes it will be the first time DeWine, Taylor, Husted and Renacci will be featured in one event as potential governor candidates,” the Enquirer’s Jason Williams reports.
Funding frustrations: Kasich’s budget proposal has many local government leaders on edge, cleveland.com’s Sara Dorn writes. See Dorn’s video on the “financial warfare” here.
A setback for payday loan foes: State Rep. Marlene Anielski, a Cleveland-area Republican, will no longer lead a bipartisan effort to implement interest caps on the industry, cleveland.com’s Jackie Borchardt reports. Rep. Michael Ashford, a Democratic sponsor for the measure, hopes to advance a bill but admits it will be difficult without a Republican on board. Anielski “plans to spend her last two-year term in office focusing on her top priority, suicide prevention.”
Her initial support for payday loan reform was a surprise. Anielski, whose son took his life in 2010, tells Borchardt the issue a “legacy project” for her. “I understand both issues deserve significant attention and I believe I can effectively only truly focus on one at this time.”
Um, congrats? Today, writes Eric Ostermeier at Smart Politics, Trump surpasses Ohio’s own William Henry Harrison, who at 32 days has the record for shortest White House tenure. Harrison died in office. Ostermeier winks at all of the past hot takes that predicted Trump would never make it this far (including speculation he would step aside before inauguration).
“In what might be described as a perpetual unwillingness over the last 20 months in some quarters to accept reality on reality’s terms,” Ostermeier writes, “the 45th president has time and time again proven his skeptics wrong and exceeded expectations.”
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