National attention As the election approached, there was increasing national attention on the Ohio gubernatorial election, focused largely on the ability of the Republican party to maintain control in Ohio. Results in Ohio in 2006 were regarded as a possible
bellwether for the
2008 presidential election; Ohio was considered a crucial
swing state, with 20
electoral votes. Since the
Republican Party's inception in 1854, no Republican presidential candidate has ever been elected to office without the electoral votes of Ohio. In contrast, a Democratic candidate has won the national election without the support of Ohio eight times (1836, 1844, 1856, 1884, 1892, 1944, 1960, and 2020). Overall, Ohio's electoral votes have gone to the winner of the election 78% of the time. Comedian and talk-show host
Jon Stewart taped
The Daily Show from October 30 to November 2, 2006, at the Roy Bowen Theater on the campus of
Ohio State University. The series of episodes was entitled "Battlefield Ohio: The Daily Show's Midwest Midterm Midtacular" and was intended to bring further national attention to the election in Ohio. This was only the second time that the show had been filmed in a location other than New York City.
Ohio, Blackwell, and the 2004 election Ohio played a decisive role in the
2004 presidential election, as Ohio's electoral votes would have been sufficient to swing the election from
George W. Bush to
John Kerry had Kerry won in Ohio. Given the importance of the state, Blackwell's role in the conduct of the election was closely scrutinized. As Ohio Secretary of State, Blackwell was the state's chief elections officer. He was also an honorary co-chair for the
Bush re-election campaign in Ohio and the most prominent backer of a ballot measure to ban
same-sex marriage on the same ballot. Leading up to the election Blackwell made a number of decisions about the election process, most of which placed additional restrictions on voting. Opponents argued that Blackwell's decisions would have the effect of suppressing turnout among vulnerable populations, most of whom would be expected to vote for Kerry in the presidential contest—and that Blackwell had a conflict of interest as a co-chair of Bush's re-election campaign. Supporters argued that the Secretary of State had always been a partisan political office and that there was nothing wrong with Blackwell having a preference in the presidential elections; they denied that Blackwell's decisions were designed to benefit Bush. Reaction to Blackwell's conduct was so strong that a coalition of left-leaning organizations attempted to amend the
Ohio Constitution to abolish the Secretary of State's oversight of elections, as part of a package of election reforms. The proposal was rejected by voters in November 2005. Dissatisfaction with Blackwell's involvement in the 2004 election apparently hurt him with Ohio's African-American community; according to exit polls, Blackwell received only 20% of the African-American vote in 2006. Exit polls showed that confidence in the election process among Ohio voters was even lower than voters in Florida, the state which produced an unprecedented five-week post-election fight in 2000. But among voters "very confident" that votes would be counted accurately, Blackwell actually
led Strickland.
Republican control Entering the 2006 campaign, Ohio had been dominated for a decade by
Republicans. Republicans had held the governorship for sixteen years, occupied all statewide constitutional offices, and controlled both houses of the
state legislature.
Important scandals Bob Taft At a low point in his popularity in November 2005, Taft garnered only a 6.5% approval rating. According to polling organization Survey USA, this was a lower proportion than any governor in the United States. A poll taken in May 2006 indicated that only 2% of Ohio residents "strongly approved" of Taft's performance. The low approval ratings led pollster
John Zogby to comment, "I'm not aware of anyone who's ever sunk lower." Taft's low approval ratings follow several years of scandals. In 2005, Taft pleaded no contest to four ethics violations involving illegal gifts totaling $5,800. He was convicted of four misdemeanors and was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and apologize to the people of Ohio. Taft is the only Ohio governor to be convicted of a crime while in office.
Thomas Noe and Coingate In 1996 the Republican controlled
Ohio General Assembly removed a restriction requiring that state investments only be in safer, though lower-yielding,
bonds. After the restriction was eliminated, hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds were invested by a number of investment firms with close ties to the Republican party. Among those investments was $50 million of the
Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation fund which was given to
Thomas Noe, an investor in rare and unusual coins and major donor to the Republican Party including then-governor Bob Taft. In 2005 it was revealed that Noe could only account for $13 million of the original investment. Among the missing funds were two coins worth over $300,000 alone. Throughout 2005, there was a protracted legal battle over the release of records which Noe claimed were privileged and prosecutors claimed were in the public domain. The
Ohio Supreme Court ruled 5–2 in favor of the prosecutors. On February 13, 2006, Noe was indicted on 53 counts, including: engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity (which carries a mandatory 10-year sentence), 11 counts of theft, 11 counts of money laundering, 8 counts of tampering with records, and 22 counts of forgery. The charges also accuse Noe of personally stealing $2 million. On November 20, 2006, Noe was found guilty of theft, money laundering, forgery and corrupt activity, and was sentenced to serve 18 years in prison, fined $213,000, ordered to pay the $2 million cost of his prosecution and make restitution to the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation. Also in 2006, Noe pleaded guilty to three charges of using over a dozen people in 2004 as illegal "conduits" to make donations to
George W. Bush's re-election campaign of over $45,000 in order to skirt laws limiting donations in federal campaigns to $2,000. Noe was convicted and sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $136,000 fine. ==Democratic primary==