Ohio has three weeks until voters pick the winner of the three-way primary for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. But Ted Strickland -- the candidate with most the money, endorsements and name recognition -- was a no-show for a debate today at The City Club of Cleveland.
That left Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld and Cincinnati activist Kelli Prather to answer questions ranging from guns to civil rights to energizing voters.
Prather dismissed the 31-year-old Sittenfeld as a “jumper,” looking to move up to the Senate on his way to a run for the White House.
“The citizens of the United States want change. They want a new fresh-face. They want diversity. They want a woman in office who represents them, who understands life from the everyday-person’s experience.”
Sittenfeld insisted he is the change voters want, someone who will take a strong stance on issues like gun safety, abortion rights and marriage equality – while finding issues such as tax reform that are ripe for compromise.
When asked about the refusal by Senate Republians to consider any Supreme Court nominee during the president’s last year in office, Sittenfeld challenged Portman directly.
“The president of the United States, Barack Obama, was elected to a four-year term. Rob Portman seems to somehow think it was a three-year term. So he’s absolutely mistaken and I think it speaks to why people all across the state and frankly all across the country are fed up with senators who don’t want to do their job, who seem to want to stop government from actually working.”
Here's video of one other point on which Sittenfeld went after Strickland -- using a prop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbVUcT7zAhQ
The winner of the primary will face Portman in the fall.
