Sen .LaRose: the non-maverick McCain maverick

ONE OF MY chores this week end was to clear out some of my paper files - the soaring pile of stuff often mindlessly hoarded from newspapers, magazines and the Internet. Still, it did offer a few items worth attaching to the moment. Of particular interest to me was the Oct. 4, 2010 Beacon Journal endorsement of a young Republican candidate for the state senate, Frank LaRose. (OK, guys, based on what I am about to write you can accuse me of hindsight, but the endorsement never made much sense to me from Day One and I wrote as much at the time.)

LaRose made it to the Senate. And here is how the BJ hailed his credentials to send him to Columbus as the candidate who would represent northern and western Summit County from Barberton to Cuyahoga Falls:

"What is appealing about LaRose is his fresh perspective on public life, his willingness to learn and his understanding about the importance of reaching across the aisle to advance the larger interests of the state.

"LaRose makes a point of wanting to get beyond the polarizing attitudes at the Statehouse....'' The editorial praised him for supporting a "prosperous economy" through investments in such things as education and public works.

But unless I missed something that occurred in the Senate between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., across-the-aisle LaRose has voted down the line with the ultra-conservative Republican majority on every major polarizing issue from concealed weapons in bars and Senate Bill 5 to drilling on state parklands and harsh anti-abortion measures - public hospitals would be barred from abortion services. (He also told the BJ that he didn't think it was time for cutting taxes, but end the estate tax anyway!)

LaRose spent his political apprenticeship working in the presidential campaign of John McCain, the alleged maverick. Whatever the case, LaRose hasn't shown evidence that he is one. He'a too deeply ensconced in Planet Kasich.

By the way, the editorial also referred to LaRose's Democratic opponent, Frank Comunale, noting that he "made a strong case for his candidacy".

Time for a GOP presidential round-robin tourney?

AS I WITNESS one potential Republican presidential candidate after another making a vacuous Tea Party-inspired statement in front of a TV camera, I confess my bewilderment over why the job should be so appealing to people who would be a lot better off managing traveling circuses. We are now hearing, for example, a lot of talk about impeaching President Obama, an intrusion that wistful Republicans haven't tried since 1998. The Democrats had a good opportunity to corner George Bush with much graver charges than sexual trysts, but, as is often their brand, they lacked the will to stir up trouble.

Anyway, I think I now know why so many Republicans are running for president: Truth be told, each one has such a low opinion of all of the others that they are convinced that this is their moment to run the table. That will become more obvious when, say, Newt Gingrich officially declares his candidacy. What other reasons can a retread in his late '60s with a thoroughly troubled past possibly have? And Rick Santorum? A religious zealot who was trampled when he ran for reelection to the Senate in Pennsylvania? So far, Newt is ahead in that matchup, but not by much. Mike Huckabee might edge Gingrich if he wasn't in the news each night for one more assault on Obama's legitimacy as a native-born American. He seems to be trailing the entire field in style points. Mitt Romney, a Mormon whose health care reforms in Massachusetts were ever so much like the new Federal law?

We are now past the point of no return, but you can see how this is going down.

I invite you to play this game as well as a sort of vapid round-robin competition that could end up with nobody left standing. In that deferral to democracy, you can at least fill in a blank to the end of the season. So I ask you: Wouldn't it be smart for the GOP to take a cue from the Miami Heat or New York Knicks and rent a name player to pose as a presidential candidate to relieve the party 's dearth of credible standard-bearers?

As of now, my choice would be, oh....Sen. Frank LaRose?

The BJ endorses Comun...eh, Frank LaRose!

OH, HELL. AS LONG as we're at it, let me follow up on my post about the Plain Dealer's dysfunctional endorsement of John Kasich for governor by adding another sample of an editorial writer's mystifying disdain for a clear nod to its candidate of choice. It appeared in today's Beacon Journal for the Ohio Senate contest between Democrat Frank Comunale and Republican Frank LaRose. After saying some kind things about rookie LaRose - he would work across the aisle and shows a willingness to learn with a fresh political perspective - the editorial then told us that

"None of this should be read as diminishing the contribution of Frank Comunale to the community, from his services on the County Council to his work as a trustee for the Akron-Summit County Public Library" as well his emphasis on the need to invest in education, "protecting the poor and vulnerable, in bolstering innovation and job creation."

Of Comunale, the editorial opines, "He makes a solid case for his candidacy." (If all of that is true, Mr. Comunale, you never had a chance.)

Oh? As the editorial concludes, "Still, this moment is better suited to Frank LaRose..."

Well, all right, if that's the way it's going to be. Having spent some time at his request with LaRose over coffee, I found him to me a likeable young man even though he was one of Alex Arshinkoff's hopefuls to fill out the Republican ticket. LaRose told me that he had worked in John McCain's presidential campaign, another candidate who promised to work across the aisle. But that's another story.

Newspapers have long endorsed candidates. No argument there. I even wrote a few myself back then. But I must confess that I get a little dizzy tracking the logic of editorials that tell me all of the positive things about one candidate before endorsing the other. In football, that's when you throw the red hanky on the field.

State Senate race: Still thinnish broth

THEY'RE BEGINNING to stir up the thinnish  broth for the race to fill the 27th District Ohio Senate seat that's opening up with the forthcoming departure of term-limited Republican Kevin Coughlin.  So far, only Democratic County Councilman Frank Comunale has declared (unofficially to me)  his candidacy.  And despite what you may have read in comments to this blog, the GOP field is wide open.  The only name mentioned as a possible candidate is Frank LaRose, Jr., a scion of the House of LaRose family, owner of the  big  wine & beer distributorship in Northern Ohio

Although Summit County Republican chairman Alex Arshinkoff  believes LaRose would have some ballot appeal as a young Marine back from Middle East conflicts, he also cautions that the book is still wide open with several other "potential candidates" still in the mix.  That would include a Hudson industrialist who might run in the Republican District.

Although Arshinkoff doesn't precisely say so, the biggest determining factor will be, who can put up the cash for his or  her own race. Some of the  big Republican business and corporate contributors  are retreating from heavy commitments to any candidate.   "It's all the  bigger challenge to our party," he says, "because we're not in power anymore.    The other guys are running things at the state and national level. Today we have people who used to have $90 million, but only have $9 million now  because of the market and they don't think they're rich."  

Arshinkoff used to have the reputation as one of the state's most successful fund-raisers   but that's ancient history in today's economy.  Apparently the state Republican hierarchy is feeling the pressure on its treasury, too, during the Obama Era and is pressing the party's county chairmen to find new  mother lodes  to help its state and legislative candidates.  

That's not likely to happen unless the GOP starts minting it own cash to bail out its candidates. Or maybe arranging a loan from Limbaugh. .