Whew, now it's time for reflection and relaxation. Richard Cordray won handily in Ohio, and even won Hamilton County -- that might be a first for an AG candidate of the Democratic persuasion, but he didn't get every voter to go his way so there is still some convincing to do for next time.
One huge fan of Rich's said that Rich's popular vote was a direct effect of how incredible he is. Well...there is that - but how many people outside of Franklin County (where he won 3-to-1) know Rich? Most people I talked to said they had never heard of him. Others said they wanted to vote for Democrats - as a backlash to the last 8 years. Okay, but that didn't translate into landslide votes for other Dems. Why Cordray? 
I think it's a combination of lots of things. For one - both of our opponents did not mount viable campaigns. [note: It's always good to have a 3 way race if the other two are very similar and come from the same place.] One opponent ran an attack ad, but didn't even get his own name out there for anyone to choose as the alternative, so in effect he just built more name recognition for Rich, and none for himself - what a waste of money. I will say that his vote count is a good baseline for the number of votes any random endorsed republican can win in Ohio. But back to Cordray, I believe it's more about the buzzzzz that got created by Rich's candidacy. There were hundreds of really dedicated folks talking to their neighbors about Rich Cordray. And why did that happen? Because the people that were passionate about him -- spread that passion to others. It's easy to do when you hear his story. This is a guy I want to see go far. He is the kind of public servant that we all need looking out for our best interests.
Thanks to everyone who voted for him, and an even bigger thanks to everyone who supported me when I went to work for him. It felt really nice to work for a winner for a change.
If you don't know Rich - here's a chance to get to know him better.
