Mandel: Off and running - again and again etc.

WHAT'S THIS THAT we're hearing about Josh Mandel, the young Lyndhurst Republican who at 33 has already held more positions than an Indians' utility player? Or, in baseball lingo, "much traveled".

Mandel is one of those phenoms - "young powerhouses" according to his gathering conservative friends - who was washed into the Ohio treasurer's office by the GOP tidal wave only last November. In political time, that could easily have been a a century ago for a person of his agility. .

Pols with his ambitious itinerary don't stay put for long. Upon election as treasurer he had repeatedly assured the voters that he would at least hang around for the full four- year term in the job that would likely bore a fellow with his wealth and curiosity. But now, little more than three months into the job, he has filed papers with the Federal Election Commission to run for the Senate against U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Earlier, he had been a Lyndhurst city councilman and then state representative. The latter job, which gave him little time to serve with distinction (a couple of bills that he introduced got nowhere, I'm told ). Thrilled by his hustle, his supporters boast that Mandel is "tested and trusted," Indeed, he has such an impressive political work ethic, they want you to know, that in his campaign for in the legislature, he "knocked on 19,679 doors and wore out three pairs of shoes listening to citizens." Sorry, there's no way I can challenge the doors figure.

I do have to raise the question of why his campaign ads for treasurer suggested that his opponent, Kevin Boyce, an African American, was linked to a mosque! As some have asked, what would have been the consequence if Boyce's ads had linked Mandel to a synagogue?

Mandel has been silent on SB5, explaining that his work as state treasurer has denied him an opportunity to know more about the bill. I seldom offer help for conservative Republicans, but in his case I would at least remind him that the union-busting bill has been thoroughly parsed in all of the papers and maybe even on Sesame Street. Good grief!

Ganleys: Like father, like son?

AUTO DEALER ROBERT GANLEY, 38-year-old son of U.S. Senate candidate Tom Ganley, has taken out petitions at the Summit County Board of Elections for the 13th Congressional District now represented by Betty Sutton, a Democrat. But the younger Ganley tells me that he has not yet decided whether to enter the field for the May 4 primary. He says several factors are being weighed. But he affirms his conservatism. Father Tom Ganley, a multimillionaire rightwing auto dealer, is making his presence felt in the Republican senatorial race against Rob Portman with a barrage of TV ads and says he's prepared to spend $6 million of his own money to get to Washington. Having appeared at Tea Party rallies, he holds the same views as those of the fledgling movement. Son Bob says he has some "parallel" views. So far five potential candidates have taken out petitions for the job, but only two - James Hrubik and James Brihon -have filed.

Ohio U.S. Senate race: A Ganley moment

WHAT CAN be said of Akron mega-auto dealer Tom Ganley's mini-senatorial campaign speech to a sparse Akron Press Club audience Thursday? I wonder. Well, it was different. With a teleprompted text of no more than 15 minutes, he may have set a Press Club record for the shortest offering in my several decades of listening to candidates at the Martin Center. And to his opponent in the Republican primary, Rob Portman, it may also have been the least threatening of oratory by a rookie political opponent. In short order, Ganley wanted us to know that (1)he was NOT a politician, (2)he was NOT beholden to a single lobbyist (that most certainly would come later if he ever was elected and worth a lobbyist's attention ) and (3) he was NOT a lawyer but was proud to be a conservative businessman. That point he emphasized so often that it is almost certain to show up on bumper stickers, to wit: . Ganley means business.

His approach to government was not unlike the sort of thing one might hear at Tea Parties, a modern phenomenon which his people say he has attended. He lamented the loss of jobs and said we need to create more opportunities for the unemployed. He was critical of deficit spending and insisted it would take a businessman to produce more jobs. Creating jobs has been political boilerplate for both parties, of course, since the colonials created the presidency for George Washington.

Referring to his campaign material that assigned socialist enterprises to the Obama Administration, I asked him whether he thought Medicare and Medicaid were the products of socialists. He didn't really say yes or no, merely declaring that they were programs that had been around for awhile. He also opposed taxes on "the rich" because they won't create jobs and "in fact, it worsens it by taking investment dollars out of the system." He also said he would have no problem with allowing General Motors and Chrysler to fail because they would be replaced by somebody else in the free enterprise system.

The most jarring note came after he skewered illegal aliens. Someone asked what he he would do about an illegal alien's sick child who needed medical attention. He would have deported them, he snapped. "They're illegal!"

It will be interesting to me to see whether Ganley's businessman-to-the-core rhetoric will carry all the way to Republican primary in May, considering that Portman is the bell cow for Republican operatives around the state.

My late Republican father once owned a Pontiac dealership in Pennsylvania. I'm glad he never ran for public office.

Ganley stakes out right-wing voters

IF OHIO's ultra-conservative Republicans were looking for a David to slay the party's establishment-endorsed Goliath in the 2010 GOP U.S. Senate primary, they now have their man: Akron auto dealer Tom Ganley. Since Ganley announced his candidacy last summer to challenge Rob Portman, George Bush's former budget director, Ganley has busied himself with pressing all of the WOW buttons to lure right-wing voters who disdain Portman's stakeout on Ohio conservatives. Ganley has so impressed his targeted voters that he now boasts of the endorsement of Bay Buchanan on his home page. Bay, who shares a lot of ideas with her brother, Pat, needs no introduction.

Ganley's game plan to win over the Ohio electorate is looking more and more like Ken Blackwell's failed right-wing fling in the 2006 gubernatorial race. I'm beginning to wonder whether Blackwell, from his safe house at a conservative think tank, might be among Ganley's advisors inasmuch as Blackwell has a thing about advising other candidates on how to win elections.

When I asked one of Ganley's campaign aides in Columbus what he's been doing , she replied that he's been quite busy talking to different groups and attending Tea Parties. I could stop right there, but I should add a few essentials. He's also issued statements opposing health care reforms, noting:

"I do not believe any of the plans I've seen thus far will help us reach that goal without destroying the free market and lead us down the path towards socialized medicine and rationed care."

On the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor:

"Had I been in the Senate today I would have voted against Judge Sotomayor's confirmation for the following five reasons:

Among these was her view on allowing her "views and experiences to influence judicial decisions". I could go on but you've heard them all before.

Well, Ganley has staked out his turf position in the GOP in the long track ahead. Should you want to hear it first hand, he'll be at the Akron Press Club in the Martin Center on Thursday for a luncheon talk. You'll need a reservation. ( Call:330-564-4211) As you've probably guessed, I already have my reservations. l