As presidential politics heats up, Cleveland prepares for the Republican National Convention and budget battles peak in Columbus, BW political science professors are on media speed dial.
Professor Barbara Palmer, who also serves as executive director of the Center for Women in Politics of Ohio and literally wrote the book on Women and Congressional Elections: A Century of Change, weighed in for a Vermont NPR story on efforts to break the statehouse class ceiling, saying the power of incumbency makes it hard for women to break into the offices held mostly by men, and it's an especially steep climb in small, rural states. How to break the imbalance? “It comes down to two words: candidate recruitment,” Palmer said.
In the race for president, Professor Thomas Sutton, helped WEWS-TV5 in Cleveland make sense of Ohio Governor John Kasich's late entry into the GOP nomination battle. "In some ways Governor Kasich is keeping the limelight for himself possibly being the last [to announce]," Sutton told the station. Sutton says Kasich might also be looking to make a splash two weeks prior to the first debate in Cleveland, which could propel him into the top 10 national poll position he needs to participate.
As for state business back in Columbus, Sutton also was tapped by The Plain Dealer for a story on the Ohio's budget battle. Sutton said it was understandable that the Governor tangled with a legislature dominated by his own party given that Kasich's budget proposed a number of tax increases that conservative lawmakers weren't ready to accept. "The legislature was really reluctant to upset the apple cart and disturb the status quo," he told the paper. "They're not sure what they would gain from it, but they're pretty certain about what they would lose in terms of negative public reaction."
