It's Taylor.

Last week 3BP was the first to place their bets on Mary Taylor being Kasich's LG pick.

Well, if reports from all over the Ohio MSM are true tonight, it looks like it's time to collect.

And we all know what matter first and foremost in announcements like this is the media coverage. Well, that's the best part of these reports - the positive message that comes with them.

From the Plain Dealer, and AP papers across Ohio:

For Kasich, Taylor offers diversity for his ticket, a bright, young, female politician from Northeast Ohio where Republican support is more scarce than in Central Ohio where Kasich lives.

The Dispatch:

Such a political marriage makes sense on a number of levels. Kasich would benefit from having a woman on the ticket who has political strength in voter-rich northeastern Ohio (Taylor lives in the Akron suburb of Green). As the sitting auditor, Taylor also would have the credibility to press the case for Kasich that Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland has mismanaged the state's economy and budget.

These are all analyses from the writers themselves. Only when quoting Democrats are any negatives brought up in these articles. In other words, first indications are that the papers like her as a candidate.

Of course, we all know at the end of the day that the LG pick means relatively little in the scope of this race. With that being said, an effective surrogate can help push the message, and that's a role that Taylor can play with great authority.

Ultimately, Kasich has already scored a victory with this pick thanks to the early positive coverage across the media spectrum. Because who knows when we'll hear about the LG again after Thursday's announcement.

Also on the LG front, and as I mentioned first on twitter yesterday afternoon, it looks like former Franklin County Judge Yvette McGee Brown will be Strickland's LG pick. Overall, it seems like a decent pick for Strickland. She has a solid resume and shows some diversity. That may help the Governor with the meager(for a Democrat) 71% support he received from African-Americans in the most recent Rasmussen poll on the race. But unlike Taylor, McGee Brown doesn't have the political experience that sometimes is necessary with a gubernatorial race. Will she have the discipline necessary of an LG candidate - to not start a story unless directed to by the campaign? We simply don't know. But I imagine her introduction as the LG nominee will be the first and last we hear from her.

Ultimately, these LG picks will matter very little come 11.2.10. But hey, it's the news of the week, so might as well embrace it, right? :-)

Finally, let's get to the Auditor's race that Taylor will be leaving open.

After chatting with some folks this evening I'm fairly confident we can definitely rule DeWine and Yost out.

Mandel is the best hope, but he seems deadset on being Treasurer. With that said, he'd be doing his future a world of good by taking on the higher profile Auditor's race. He's already shown himself to be a prolific fundraiser, and with what he's raised already Pepper would be hard pressed to be able to make it a race.

Other names I heard last night include State Senators Shannon Jones and State Senator Jimmy Stewart. Herself a keen politician, Jones would bring with her a whole heckuva lot of cash already on hand and a solid resume on budget issues. Stewart obviously has the ridiculously good name, as well as the resume. But he lacks cash. It would be fair to say Pepper likely didn't improve his fundraising numbers all that much since July when he had around 280k(1/5 of which came from his family). After all, everyone that would contribute to him figured he'd be facing Taylor, so why bother. This means that a Party backed nominee should have the money necessary to take advantage of the amazingly good political environment that 2010 is turning out to be for Republicans.

Finally, are Republicans taking a chance pulling Taylor from the Auditor's race to even further strengthen Kasich's chances to unseat Strickland? Sure. But how much of one? Until we see who gets the nod and what Pepper's fundraising numbers are, we won't know for sure.

But ultimately, with the Apportionment Board in the balance, it shows the complete faith Republicans have in winning the Governor and Secretary of State races.