By Gerard Valentino

The gloves are officially off in the Ohio gubernatorial race.

During a recent campaign speech in Youngstown, presumptive Republican nominee John Kasich ripped Governor Ted Strickland's time in office as a third term of Bob Taft. There are few things in Ohio politics worse than being compared to former Governor Taft, who presided over statewide economic disaster and the ethical meltdown of the Ohio GOP.

When he left office, some polls showed Taft's approval rating at an unheard of 15%. His political career was in such a shambles at the end of his second term that his own Party chose to override his veto of HB347, which reformed Ohio's concealed carry laws.

There are few characters in Ohio politics as reviled as Taft, yet it isn't equating Strickland to one of Ohio's political failures that will help the Kasich campaign. By tying Strickland to Taft, it distances Kasich's run from the failures of his own Party.

By Gerard Valentino

WCMH TV, Columbus' NBC affiliate is reporting a home owner shot and killed an armed home invader who entered his house on the city's Southwest Side. Also home at the time, according to the report, was a 5 year-old relative of the homeowner, a woman, and another man who is bedridden.