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Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Terry Jeffrey :: Townhall.com Columnist
Drafting Ken Blackwell
by Terry Jeffrey
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After Ken Blackwell graduated from college, he did a short stint with the Dallas Cowboys, but soon decided playing professional football was not his destiny. Now some longtime Republican activists are seeking to draft Blackwell, Ohio's former secretary of state, into the race for national Republican Party chairman. They believe it is his destiny to lead the GOP.

Blackwell is seriously considering running for the position.

"You could not find a person better suited to the job," said one of the activists who spoke to me on background.

First, these activists argue, Blackwell knows how to win elections. He started his political career back in the 1970s in his hometown of Cincinnati, where he was initially elected a city council member and then mayor. (He later served under the senior President Bush as under secretary of housing and urban development and as ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission.)

More recently, Blackwell was elected to statewide office three straight times, once as state treasurer and twice as a secretary of state. In 2006, he won the Republican gubernatorial nomination, but lost the general election in what was a very tough year for the GOP.

Second, Blackwell's long record of political success did not come in just any state, but in the ultimate swing state of American politics. It is a cliche, but a factual one, that Republicans cannot win the White House without winning Ohio. Blackwell knows how to win Ohio.

Third, Blackwell is a battle-tested, rock-solid Reagan Republican, sharing the conservative values of the party's grass roots on both economic and social issues.

He has long been an advocate of both lower taxes and limited government.

In 1995, Blackwell served on the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform, chaired by Jack Kemp. The commission, with Blackwell's support, recommended a flat tax. In 2000, he was national chairman for the presidential campaign of flat-tax champion Steve Forbes.

When Blackwell was running for governor of Ohio in 2006, I asked him what he believed to be the core principles the Republican Party must defend. "First, that the individual is at the center of our political system, not the state, not government," he said. "I believe in limited government. I actually believe that free men and free women and free markets can overcome any kind of economic challenge." Continued...
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About The Author

Terence P. Jeffrey is the editor-in-chief of CNSNews

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(39 comments so Far)
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Reply # 1
Date: Dec 1, 2008 - 11:46 PM EST
Steele, Blackwell
Either one of these men is far, FAR more electable than Newt. Newt is old news and has a lot of baggage. He also buys into the liberal premises of climate change control, etc. Newt is a smart guy and would manage a campaign well, but he could never be considered a true conservative any more than McCain.

Put either Steele or Blackwell into the RNC chair for four years then run them together for president/vp in 2012, or either one and Palin in 2012. Blackwell has the most conservative, strictly foundational outlook of the two. In fact, he makes George Washington look like a right leaning liberal. As president, he would do more to move the country and the party back to where it should be, right down the center of the Constitution.

Glenn Flowers
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Reply # 2
Date: Nov 28, 2008 - 2:01 PM EST
Not-so-stainless Steele
Both parties need to be less cynical about getting vote and focus on workable ideas. Michael Steele is a tainted politico who would make the Republican party look bad, especially among minorities.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/1 1/12/AR2006111201084.html
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