FLASH: Anti-gun Coleman quitting race for governor
The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that anti-gun Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman will announce his withdrawal from the race for governor later today.
From the story:
- Mayor Michael B. Coleman today will quit the race for governor after his miscue-plagued campaign failed to get traction.
Greg Haas, Coleman's campaign manager, said that Coleman has scheduled a news conference for 3 p.m. in the mayor's office to announce his withdrawal.
"This was not a matter of electability," Haas said. "Frankly, it was a matter of personal priorites of his family and his being mayor . . . He just decided he wasn't going to pull away from his family and from his responsibilities of being mayor."
As the Dispatch notes, Coleman's campaign has been beset with problems, most recently the arrest of his wife by Bexley police Oct. 20 for drunken-driving.
On April 8, 2004, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman staged a press conference next to a jungle gym, lamenting the fact that the city was unable to "protect children" by posting signs banning concealed handgun license-holders. Coleman called Ohio's concealed carry law "a travesty for our city and for our state."
Mayor Coleman's anti-gun rhetoric again became an issue in Columbus after passage of the Columbus Assault Weapons (Mentel) Ban.
Despite the loss of the NRA's 2007 Annual Meeting and Convention, which was cancelled due to the ban, and which would have brought estimated $15 to $20 million to the city, Mayor Coleman said the city still "stands by the ban".
Coleman's withdrawal leaves U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, who has a history of strong defense for the Second Amendment, as the only major Democrat candidate who has announced their candidacy for governor (the Dispatch notes that anti-gun state Sen. Eric Fingerhut of Cleveland has indicated he might enter the race soon). Former state representative Bryan Flannery (who voted against HB274 (a concealed carry bill) in 2002) has announced plans to run, but is not considered a major contender. Flannery failed in a bid for secretary of state in 2002 after having been found to be in violation of election laws by the Ohio Elections Commission.
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