Brent Larkin, writing for Cleveland.com, explains what Ted Strickland’s candidacy reveals about Ohio Democrats:
A party that trots out a 73-year-old man with an uncommonly vulnerable record as its candidate for a precious U.S. Senate seat is a party with problems.
Worse yet would be if that senior citizen was unfortunate enough to serve one term as governor during a period when Ohio lost nearly 400,000 jobs.
Yet that’s exactly where Democrats seem to be headed as former Gov. Ted Strickland announced … he will challenge Republican Sen. Rob Portman in next year’s election.
In addition to "Retread" Ted Strickland, rookie P.G. Sittenfeld is also running for Senate — even though he’s only 30.
Like Ohio Democrats, Wisconsin Democrats are also in trouble. Another retread, Russ Feingold, is preparing a Senate run. In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, David D. Haynes describes Democrats’ woes in Wisconsin:
With the exception of Tammy Baldwin’s campaign in 2012 against former Gov. Tommy Thompson … the Democrats have lost all of the important statewide elections in recent years. State chairman Mike Tate is a lame duck, and there is a fight to replace him. The Dems have a weak bench and a collection of elected officials that skews either young and inexperienced or, let’s put it this way, "quite experienced."
The Washington Post’s Sean Sullivan explains how deep Democrats’ problems run:
In municipal and statewide Democratic primaries all across the country, liberal candidates have emerged in strong competition against more moderate opponents … Last month, one national liberal group asked its members whether they would like to see Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) get a primary challenger over his position in support of expanding President Obama’s trade authority, an idea that has been panned by many on the left as a job killer.
Yahoo reports that liberals have even protested at Wyden’s home:
Liberal groups have picketed the home — and threatened a 2016 Democratic primary challenge — of Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which handles trade.
For the Democrats, rookies and retreads are facing vicious Senate primaries. In the midst of this Democratic infighting, Republicans are in good shape to win next year.