8:08 – Strickland’s asked “What evidence is there that your policies have done anything, and how are you going to help that?” Strickland answers that the Fed approves of Ohio, and repeats lines about keeping taxes low for business and cutting red tape. “I don’t try to blame everything on the recession, but the recession hit us hard,” he says.
8:10 – Kasich answering that CNBC rates Ohio 38th most-friendly business environment, and claims anyone who was ranked that low would get fired. Goes on the attack ruthlessly, claiming Ohio’s billions of dollars in the hole and pointing out that the small business community endorsed him, not Strickland. Pivots to being positive around halfway mark.
8:11 – Strickland rebuttal: “My opponent really doesn’t like Ohio very much. He’s always encouraging us to Florida and Nevada.” Attacks Mary Taylor for advising people to move to a state with lower taxes. I hear echoes of his rant.
8:12 – Question 2 to Kasich: Is closing a tax loophole a tax increase? What are you going to cut? Kasich says he’s going to remove subsidies, and then draws an analogy between taxes and restaurant prices to prove that Strickland’s approach is economically wrong. Strickland tweets mid answer:
“Cong. Kasich says OH is not business-friendly – but under Ted’s leadership, Ohio has the lowest business taxes in the Midwest #OHGovDebate”
8:14 – Strickland says it’s “irresponsible” to eliminate 45-46% of all general revenue from income tax. Hammering the Florida and Nevada comparison. Now attacking Nevada for having highest unemployment, and Florida for having second highest unemployment (because that has nothing to do with his party). Seems to think tourism and gambling are the only reasons Florida and Nevada are prosperous. Seems to be basically admitting that Ohio has no competitive businesses. “Ohio is a great state.” No one’s saying it isn’t.
8:15 – Kasich: Strickland “promised to turn Ohio around, and you want to blame everyone else. Raising taxes when you’re losing business and you have the major analysts saying Ohio’s the worst place to go to, raising taxes just drives people out.”
8:16 – Question 3 to Strickland: “How will you balance the budget without raising taxes, and where can state spending be cut by at least a billion dollars?”
8:17 – Strickland: “Before I was a politician, I was a psychologist. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Look how I behaved balancing the current budget. We have not raised taxes. Income tax was cut 17% since 2005.” Dueling fact checks coming from the campaigns – Strickland says he’s overseen biggest tax cut in Ohio history, while Kasich says it still has the 7th highest burden. Strickland bragging about cutting government workers.
8:18 – Kasich: “We were promised a tax cut. It was taken away from us. We raised taxes, we drained the rainy day fund, and took the tobacco securitization. Then used stimulus money to expand government. It’s not a matter of being a cheerleader. One must face the facts, stop blaming other people.” The private sector metaphors are coming big. Kasich needs to say which taxes were increased.
8:20 – Strickland: “I’m not blaming everyone. I’m blaming you and your buddies on Wall Street who acted irresponsibly and caused the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Stops mid sentence because ‘my time is up.’”
8:20 – 4th question: Kasich being asked about Wall Street. “Why would Lehman Brothers hire a congressman with no experience in investment banking?”
8:21 – Kasich: “Being a banker and figuring out business just takes business and ingenuity.” Gets laughs for saying he was glad that question was asked. Says Lehman created jobs by taking companies public.
8:22 – Strickland talks about Kasich’s income tax returns. Complains that Kasich won’t show his income tax returns. “I do think he traded on his experience in Congress to get the job at Lehman Brothers,” Strickland says. Hits Kasich for proposing Social Security privatization. Keeps saying “You know” and attacks Kasich for calling leader of Lehman a “good friend.” Seems to think $400,000 is big in a firm where multi-million-dollar bonuses happened.
8:24 – Kasich says he learned how to create jobs at Lehman, burns Strickland over “politics of distraction.” “When you can’t sell your own record, you attack the other guy,” Kasich says.