So I emailed or used the website form to contact everyone running for Ohio governor asking for their position on sticking the governor's and lieutenant governor's names on highway signs (if you need a catchup on this saga, click here).
No one's replied back yet. Given that enough time has reasonably passed for a reply, one can conclude that all of these candidates suck, though I'm sure if pressed some may claim the email got caught in the spam filter or whatnot. However, clearly, if they don't care enough about a voter when they're begging for votes to at least send a form reply ("Thank you for bringing that matter to our attention. We will consider it after doing further research" being the bare minimum of courtesy), then they certainly won't be responsive when they get into office, which doesn't inspire hope for the state government's future. Nevertheless, I'll follow up with some phone calls if I feel ambitious. It would be helpful, however, if others could join in. Send them an email. Give them a call. Talk to them if you see them in person. Tell them you want to see DeWine and Tressel as the last names on these signs and then you want the vanity overlay signs gone in 2027. Otherwise, the campaigns assume it's just a piece of crank mail about an issue that no one else cares about, but I suspect the majority, if not vast majority, of voters would prefer not to waste taxpayer money on political vanity by manufacturing and installing metal signs with the names of politicians on them across the state. Some may say this is just a small issue when the national government is in massive debt yet still finds the means to go around bombing and terrorizing people around the world, but that's exactly the point. If government cannot even resolve a simple, small issue such as this one, what hope do we have of them solving any larger problems?
The answer isn't encouraging. Anyway, on to the candidates. At this point, they all deserve to get some birdpoop on the metaphorical highway signs with their names on it, so let's do it. On the Republican side, there's Heather Hill, Casey Putsch, and Vivek Ramaswamy. On the Democratic side, there's just Amy Acton. Don Kissick is running as a Libertarian while Tim Grady is running as an independent. Another candidate, Renea Turner, didn't get enough signatures, so she's out of the running this election year (unless she decides to run independently), so I didn't contact her. The first thing you have to know is that all of these candidates must be slightly insane because American politics is fairly toxic these days, yet what else can we do? It's a democracy, so I do appreciate them at least being brave enough to give things a go. Most likely, the next governor will be Ramaswamy since statewide Ohio is essentially a one-party state, and he seems to have enough money to just buy the Republican nomination. However, if Trump proves toxic enough, then he might even drag down the Ohio Republicans and, despite the general incompetence of Ohio Democrats, Acton might squeak into office, in which case we can all look forward to being welded inside our homes the next time a new virus circulates.
Yes, it's a depressing election already. Back to the individual candidates:
Hill seems a longshot. It's nice that the Republican field offers a choice at least. Maybe she'll drop out and endorse Ramaswamy before the primary and get a position in his administration. Sometimes that's what longshot candidates do.
Putsch, smelling like a true believer (however daffy the true beliefs), seems less likely to be aiming ultimately for a spot in the administration but even more of a longshot. Still, if someone is technically on a ballot, anything is possible. Most Americans only vote for stuff they see on tv though, which is why a lot of the time political positions in America can basically be bought. If anyone ever complains about political candidates, point them to the lazy American voter. Hill and Putsch both have websites; people could research them.
Ramaswamy seems like an Asian Obama. He's well-spoken and somewhat of an outsider to Ohio state politics, but, as with Obama, don't expect much to change if he gets in. Maybe he'll allow you to pay your income taxes in crypto currency or something, though that's already in the works. He seems like a lock for the nomination because he's spending a lot of money to obtain it and seems likeable enough for an Ohio Republican state politician, which is somewhat akin to being more likeable than a head of rotting cabbage. Alas, almost anyone would be an improvement over DeWine, who combined the worst of both Democrat and Republican (he'll postpone an election because he's worried over germs yet force a woman to bury her aborted fetus). In any case, Ramaswamy's tied so closely to Trump though that I suspect Trump's unpopularity may sink his candidacy and we'll end up with the awfulness that is . . .
Acton might be the worst Democratic nominee in recent years (I remember her from the virus panic, and, yes, I also remember the time they ran the guy driving around without a driver's license), but she might end up winning by default because no one else bothered running and Trump sank the Repubs.
Kissick (doesn't seem to have a working Website yet--a clue perhaps he's not serious--and no, I'm not linking to fucking Facebook) and Grady not responding surprised me because I doubt anyone else even pays attention to them. Ramaswamy's probably looking forward to sticking his name up across Ohio and Acton's campaign is probably incompetent in the grand tradition of Ohio Democrats, but I'm surprised not to have heard back from the minor Republicans and the independent guys. It's not like these guys are busy dealing with other media. Ohio newspapers are fairly moribund these days, so that's why you get perhaps the best 2026 Ohio gubernatorial race coverage on an obscure blog. As Trump would say: Sad. That's Ohio for you though!
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