1,420 days from the election, Cordray announces candidacy for Governor

Yesterday, Attorney General Richard Cordray announced his future plans serving as an Obama presidential appointee for a consumer protection panel in Washington, DC.

But most interestingly, he made no qualms about announcing his intentions in four years.

“You do a lot of soul searching after you lose, but I do expect to be running for office in the next cycle,” he said.

If anyone tells you that office is anything less than Governor, they're only fooling themselves.

But I guess we shouldn't be surprised that the perennial candidate has announced his intentions 1,420 days from his next election.

• He served just one term as a State Representative in '91 before letting his ambition get a hold of him and try for Congress. He lost.
• He ran for Ohio Attorney General in 1998. He lost.
• In 2000 he ran for the U.S. Senate. He lost. (well, technically he couldn't even win the nomination)
• In 2002 he finally won an election in his race for Franklin County Treasurer.
• He made it to the big leagues in 2006 when he joined seemingly every Ohio Democrat in winning their respective race. This time it was for Ohio Treasurer.
• And, of course, as soon as an opening for another job opened up, he ran for Attorney General in the wake of Marc Dann's resignation.
• Then he lost his bid for re-election.

In other words, the guy gets around.

Now don't get me wrong, Cordray has the potential to be a very formidable candidate. But his record as candidate isn't anything that should have anyone at the Ohio Democratic Party jumping for joy.

While Cordray has twice won statewide office, both times were in the middle of an intensely challenging environment for Ohio Republicans.  Rather than winning each race, he was in the right place at the right time.

Ultimately, do Ohioans reward perennial candidates with a record of losing? Ask Lee Fisher.