Ted Strickland's absolute implosion a lesson to would-be Second Amendment turncoats

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R), a 2016 Buckeye Firearms Association Political Action Committee (BFA-PAC) endorsee who has been repeatedly attacked over the past few years by gun ban extremists funded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, has been re-elected to his seat by a stunning 22% margin over his opponent, former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D).

In the run-up to the election, Portman was polling so well that the Wall Street Journal recently anticipated that he might provide "reverse coattails" for Donald Trump in Ohio. Trump won Ohio, and the presidency.

In their repudiation of Strickland and Hillary Clinton, Ohioans sent a message to Bloomberg, as well as to any state-level politician who is considering running for office: Ohio is Second Amendment country.

So what was the driving force behind the Strickland campaign's total implosion?

I've been saying it for months, and I'll say it again. I believe Ted Strickland's stunning and sudden loss in support can be laid squarely at the feet of his decision to abandon gun owners.

I also predicted (when he was ten points behind) that his decision to run a pro-gun control tv ad (showing in limited markets because of his fundraising woes) would only hasten his campaign's demise. After that ad ran, he dropped another seven points in the polls, and instead of reversing course, Strickland then campaigned in Ohio with NRA F-rated U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), calling for new gun restrictions, including a gun registration scheme he calls "universal" background checks on firearm purchases, and prohibiting gun sales to people on the federal terrorism watch list without due process of law.

Ted Strickland began his campaign with as much as a ten point lead over Senator Portman. But it is commonly known that most voters don't pay attention until closer to an election. And so, when Quinnipiac first began polling, voters were clearly unaware that:

• In 2010, after his narrow defeat to John Kasich, 2010, Strickland turned his back on the gun rights community that had kept his re-election race competitive, naming an anti-gun appointment to the Ohio Supreme Court.
• In 2012, Strickland insulted gun owners' intelligence by trying to get them to ignore Barack Obama's already-abysmal record of support for gun control, endorsing the president's reelection bid and claiming that Obama "supports and respects the Second Amendment."
• In 2014, Strickland went to Washington D.C. to take what he calls his "dream job" as president of the Center for American Progress - a liberal, anti-gun think tank that supports national regulation of concealed carry licenses, monthly background checks for permit-holders and reckless lawsuits that would put American gun manufacturers out of business. He has bragged the anti-Second Amendment group "paid me more money than I've ever made in my life."

As voters began paying attention, however, as the 2016 primary got underway, they watched a man they believed was a supporter of their rights attack them at every turn. As their country fell under attack from radical Islamic terrorists, they saw Strickland join the gun control chorus that blames Americans and the Second Amendment. They heard him call for a so-called "universal" background check gun registration scheme. They noted that Strickland now favors a so-called "assault weapons" ban. In a campaign email following the terror attack in Orlando, Strickland even announced that he was joining Senate Democrats who staged a filibuster on the floor of the U.S. Senate to demand action on gun control.

Last summer, Strickland had to apologize after audio surfaced revealing that he believes the death of United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia - author of the Heller decision affirming the individual Constitutional right to bear arms - "came at a good time," all to the applause and laughter of his audience.

By Election Day, voters had become fully aware that former Governor Ted Strickland completely and totally lost his way in Washington D.C.

Strickland only won four of Ohio's 88 counties. He even lost Scioto County, his birthplace, by 30%!

On the other hand, in the wake of the San Bernadino and Orlando terror attacks and despite media misrepresentation, voters watched as Senator Portman stood firm, insisting on due process rights be maintained for those wishing to make gun purchases who are named on the terror watchlist. They saw Portman join other senators in refusing to hold hearings on President Obama's latest anti-gun rights Supreme Court nominee. They learned than Portman's vote was a key to the defeat of the anti-gun Manchin-Toomey legislation that was proposed in the wake of the mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. They saw him join 50 colleagues in the U.S. Senate in sending a letter to President Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stating that a U.N. treaty infringing on the constitutional rights of American gun owners is unacceptable, and promising to continue to oppose the ratification of The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty and any treaty that restricts the rights of law-abiding Americans to manufacture, assemble, possess, transfer, or purchase firearms, ammunition and related items.

In short, the voters knew that Rob Portman went to Washington D.C. and did exactly as he promised. Ted Strickland went to Washington and sold his political soul to the gun-ban extremists for a quarter of a million dollars.

And as they viewed the actions of these two men when it comes to their Second Amendment rights, they knew EXACTLY who to vote for on November 8.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.

Related Articles:

TV ads show Strickland doubling down on sharp left turn to gun control

Portman stands firm on gun purchases and the terror watchlist despite media misrepresentation

Ted Strickland says Heller author's death "came at a good time"

Pro-gun Ted Strickland: Remember when?

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