In Ohio,Tea Partiers say they are ready to strike

Mid-week wash:

Interesting, don't you think?,  how a politician's self-serving decision  can come back to haunt him three years later. In 2010, Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff bucked the State GOP by endorsing Tea Party favorite and then-State Rep. Seth Morgan in the Republican primary for Ohio auditor.

The news broke something like this:

Arshinkoff: Morgan is a certified public accountant and has a fresh face and bold ideas. (Read: It was really a bowing concession to the Tea Party much like the ones that other Republicans are handing out these days.)

Morgan: "Alex is a longstanding, respected leader with the Republican establishment...and to gain his endorsement is truly  exciting for this campaign."

Short-term excitement, that is.  Morgan lost to the state party's choice, David Yost.

But his right-wing credentials were impeccable enough for the uber-rich Koch
brothers to take him on as the policy director of Americans for Prosperity, the outfit founded by the Kochs.

Joe Hallett of the Columbus Dispatch lately quoted Morgan as saying the Tea Partiers  now have several options to form a new party, create an "insurrection" within the GOP and "everything in between."

Connect the dots:  Arshinkoff, long an Establishment Republican, now finds the  party facing a serious threat from a guy that he endorsed more for personal political reasons than the  relative merits of the two primary candidates.

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Speaking of the Tea Party, how about this notion  from former State Republican Chairman Kevin DeWine when he spoke to the Akron Press Club in  April 2010:  The Republican Party and the Tea Party have much in common and he (DeWine) would welcome them into the party. At the time  Grumpy Abe  wrote: "It may be more accurate to wonder whether the Tea Partiers would ever welcome Republicans into their ranks"  The answer is clear enough.

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Now that former South  Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has won a special election for a  congressional seat,  can we forever erase the idea of a superior moral compass in the hearts of southern Republicans?

Ohio GOP -2; Tea Party - zero.

A FUNNY THING happened to Ohio's bellowing Tea Parties in Tuesday' s Republican primaries. If you'll recall they had huffed and puffed and ...

And what?

And, well, nothing, really - except for some humiliating defeats. at the hands of GOP-backed candidates. It wasn't even close. Some figures: Dave Yost, the endorsed candidate for state auditor, won two-thirds of the vote against State Rep. Seth Morgan, the Tea Partiers' Chosen One. And State Sen. Jon Husted nailed nearly 70 pct. of the vote against Sandra O'Brien, another Tea Party favorite. Call it a learning experience for a disorganized group of bleaters who lack the political know-how and organizational leadership - which translate into campaign money - logistics and sales message to form, at best, a third party movement. The results looked more like the emperor's new suit.

It should be a learning experience for those county Republican chairmen, including Summit County's mercurial chief, who supported Morgan in fear of Tea Party reprisals.

I was among those who saw the renegades as a growing threat within the State GOP household, particularly in a primary when their dissent at the outer edges 0f ideologies can cause serious mischief even in a losing cause. Tuesday's results don't mean that it will be the last we will hear of the TP's. But unless they can regroup with a tolerable political voice, they will be no more than a nuisance for Republicans; that is, of course, if the regulars don't stop genuflecting to the Tea Party rants.

A born-again Tea Party movement will take more than is has shown so far on Election Day, despite the encouragement of a forever chirping Sarah Palin, or the outlandish male chorus of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and their ilk. These jabberers aren't paid to win elections. They are paid to win the ratings wars with their competitors to the satisfaction of their network bosses. In that respect, they succeed. But what other good can come of it?

That would be a fair question to ask Tea Partiers while they are picking up the pieces today.

OK, I'm asking.

John Kasich: After...and before

THERE'S AN unwritten rule in politics that the public tends to remember what the pol says first - no matter what he or she says later. It's a noose that has been slipped around John Kasich's neck, no matter how he tends to soften his original statement as the Republican gubernatorial candidate. I refer to his bombastic promise that he would eliminate the state income tax - even now that he and his allies are hurriedly saying that he didn't mean to do it by the next day's sunrise. Indeed, I'm not sure when he intends to eliminate the tax if he wins. Campaign promises often arrive in a haze.

The Columbus Dispatch reported today that opposition to Kasich's idea is quickly rising among school officials who fear that the absence of an income tax would further cripple their efforts to make ends meet. They have reason to worry. According to the Legislative Service Commission, seized as a convenient authoritative source by Democrats, the schools would lose $200 million in 2011 alone and God-knows how much over a 10-year period.

Not that Kasich doesn't have his supporters. For example, there is freshman Rep. Seth Morgan, the young (31) GOP candidate for state auditor, who accused the D's of turning the tax proposal into a heartstring issue and "using children as political pawns."

Something about Morgan, now that he has chosen to enter the fray from the political far right with Tea Party blessings. He represents the Dayton suburb of Huber Heights, and has posted his qualifications on his campaign home page: He says he would use his "passion for public policy, philosophy for a responsible government and love for Ohio" to make a difference. Here we go again: He has earned his spurs by once managing a Christian bookstore and attended Liberty Academy Satellite Schools. He got an online undergraduate degree but did manage to get an MBA summa cum laude from Dayton University. Forgive me: I recite all of this now because his name will be popping up regularly during the campaign season.

As for the income tax, the Dispatch reported today: "Ohio's income tax brings in a little more than $7 billion to Ohio's general revenue fund, about 44 pct. of all tax revenue. Kasich has said he favors its elimination but he has not set a timetable."

The election is many months away, but don't bet that the fuss over the state income tax - Kasich's original version - will go away. With political rhetoric, it is usually first things first.