BUCKEYE BUYER'S REMORSE:

Will the Buckeye State Swing Back to the GOP in 2010? (Stuart Rothenberg, 10/23/09, Real Clear Politics)

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that after controlling the state for years, the Ohio GOP got slaughtered in 2006 and again in 2008. In addition to losing the state's top offices, the party lost a U.S. Senator, four U.S. House seats and its majority in the Ohio House of Representatives over the past four years.

But timing is everything in politics, and Ohio once again looks like a barnburner in next year's midterm elections.

Strickland's opponent in his race for re-election will be former Rep. John Kasich (R), 57, a high-energy populist conservative who will have to defend himself against Democratic attacks that he was a managing director at Lehman Brothers, the financial services firm that declared bankruptcy in 2008 and helped trigger the nation's financial crisis.

Strickland, 68, starts as the favorite in the race, though his job approval numbers aren't as stratospheric as they once were.

The race is worth watching not only because of the state's size and reputation as a swing state, but also because Ohio's governor is one of three statewide officeholders on the state Reapportionment Board, which draws the state legislative districts after the next census. Plus, if Kasich wins, he could have a hand in deciding who carries Ohio in the 2012 GOP presidential primary.