Redfern (abbreviate): Thanks for this gathering. Congratulations to Kevin DeWine. We served together for 8 years in the legislature. Politics often swings as a pendulum but I did not realize it would swing so strong and so quick. I'll offer up some thoughts about the election...the Republican party is strong because of Kevin's leadership, which makes us as democrats fight harder and be better. There are more democratic officials in Ohio at the local level than there have been in 50 years. The legislature. Between now in 2012 we will work to elect more democratic city councilpeople across the state...we will work to build upon what we learned on Tuesday. Obama won 22 Ohio counties and won Ohio. Strickland won 26 Ohio counties, but the shades of blue where lighter; that was the difference. The majority of those votes are in Northeast and rural Northwest Ohio. With Sarah Palin as the nominee who will be running in 2012... well no one is more scared of that than Kevin DeWine. The same four states will open the presidential cycle in 2 years - the primary in Ohio will be in May. If you have a base of support like Governor Palin has, well, she can come out of those states and win. I believe and I know that Sherrod Brown is right - healthcare, auto jobs - these are the issues that will help us win in two years. I will be here, reminding those that made the promises that now it is time to keep them. Income taxes have been cut in the last four years and we are not more competitive for it. Thanks very much.
DeWine: If any of you were expecting Chris to be gracious in defeat - well you are disappointed. But I know how it goes I have been there... and I wish you many more opportunities to be there. There are so many new fresh faces that are coming to Columbus - this is the first opportunity to let the healing process begin and work on behalf of the 11.5 million people of Ohio. It is kind of difficult for me to put into words what happened on Tuesday. Chris and I have different styles, those of you who know me - I am not up here to be braggadocio, to pound my chest - what happened is seismic, this is bigger than 1994, bigger than anything they have experienced in their political lifetimes. Let's focus on what happened in Ohio. We defeated an incumbent gov. for the third time ever in the history of Ohio. I recognize Ted Strickland for coming here today. It speaks to the character of the man who led this state for four years. We swept the statewide offices. We have the largest majority in the senate since 1967 (that was the year I was born). We won 13 of 18 US house seats. We kept all 3 seats on the Ohio Supreme Court. Picked up 23 county commissioner seats. Broke every volunteer record, turned out more voters than the ODP. Tuesday's victory for the GOP is deep and wide for Ohio government. We need to make sure we understand the lessons of this election. Voters have unhappy with what is going on in Ohio - the pendulum swings hard in Ohio. This is correction of the democratic overreach, a message to Barack Obama that you went too far. The independents left him. This is a rejection of the party in power rather than an embrace of the GOP agenda, to those who were elected, remember that please. Voters want checks and balances. They want bold, decisive leadership and that's what they saw in Kasich.
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