Just over a month ago, Ohio State Sen. Kevin Coughlin announced his candidacy for Ohio Governor.
3BP, thanks to some reliable sources, is able to be the first to announce that by the end of the month Coughlin will quit the Governor’s race and instead become a candidate for Secretary of State.
Back in January when Coughlin for Governor rumors first started surfacing, Buckeye State Blog proudly proclaimed this as evidence that Kasich wasn’t running.
They couldn’t have been more wrong. Shocker, I know.
While I’m sure Coughlin wants to be Governor, he likely entered the Guv race in hopes that the Party establishment would make financial/political committments to him in order to avoid a Primary against Kasich. I can’t say I blame him. This is a tactic that has been used, with mixed success, by potential candidates for years. This time, it didn’t work.
In reality, I’m sure the Kasich people never saw him as a threat. They knew he would bolt as soon as John officially entered the race. So Coughlin’s move to switch races before Kasich officially enters is a good one in that it doesn’t look like he is stepping on toes and doesn’t force Kasich to acknowledge his deficiencies as a candidate relative to the former Congressman.
The decision to run for Secretary for State is a curious one. It has the potential to be a crowded field with State Sen. Husted, Sandy O’Brien and Rob Montgomery already expressing intention to faceoff in the Primary. But perhaps he thinks he has a better shot splitting the field rather than going one on one against powerhouse candidate Josh Mandel for Ohio Treasurer.
Best of luck to State Sen. Coughlin in his race. He’s a quality candidate and a good conservative with a big future in Ohio.
