The Former ODP Chair gets it.

Buried at the bottom of the Dispatch's article on Yvette McGee Brown, James Ruvolo, former Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, nails exactly what I've been pushing on this blog for months and months.

[Ruvolo] called Brown "a solid choice" but said the economy remains the overriding issue in the campaign.

"Who the lieutenant governor is will not matter in this race," Ruvolo said. "This is all going to be about the economy. If people think things are getting better, they'll give Ted Strickland credit and he'll be fine. If not, he'll be blamed."

This goes along with what Peter Brown from Quinnipiac told me a couple months ago:

Voters are much less complex than many of us think. They like things. They don't like things. Most of them don't focus on specifics.

And what William Hershey of the Dayton Daily News has said:

When times are good, incumbents get credit, whether they helped the economy boom or just went along for the ride.

When times are bad?

They get blamed, even if they’re mayors and governors and the economic collapse is national and global.

The Ohio Governor's race, the Senate race, and all the down-ticket races are about one thing.

Jobs.

Democrats can scream and yell about Lehman Brothers and the tax cuts all they want, but it won't make a lick of difference.

As long as Ohioans aren't satisfied with the state of unemployment and Ohio's economy, Democrats will not win on 11.2.10.

Take that to the bank.