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Budget cuts make job tough for Ohio governor

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By William Hershey, Staff Writer 7:00 PM Saturday, July 4, 2009

COLUMBUS — Two years after Gov. Ted Strickland hugged Republican Jon Husted of Kettering in the governor’s office as they celebrated passage of a state budget with just one “no” vote, the bipartisan political symphony is off key.

As Ohio citizens continue to pound the Democratic governor over proposed cuts to libraries and other programs, Republicans seem to be polishing the shoes they hope to wear dancing on his grave.

Nobody is too ready to cast the 67-year-old Strickland into political purgatory. During 10 congressional campaigns in a district with more than its share of Republicans, he was never out even when he was down.

But this hasn’t been the best of times for Ohio’s first-term governor.

His budget cuts angered advocates for children, the mentally ill and others who depend on the state’s safety net — usually reliable Democratic supporters.

An ordained United Methodist minister, Strickland even got a scolding from the state’s two Methodist bishops for promoting expanded gambling. He asked them to pray for him.

Public opinion polls show voters have cooled, removing any lock from next year’s re-election.

But Strickland says he doesn’t worry about being tied to the drastic budget cuts he’s proposed.

“My brothers and sisters, you may not believe this, but that is the least of my worries,” he said last week. “There will be political campaigns in the future; charges and countercharges will be made. My responsibility is to get this state with a budget that will enable us to move forward.”

The state will move forward. But whether it does so with or without Strickland will likely depend on whether the economy hits a few high notes over the next 16 months.

“Yes, he can rebound from a tough year,” said Mark Caleb Smith, director of the Center for Political Studies at Cedarville University. “But his ability to rebound will be intimately connected to the state and national economies in 2010.”

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