Kate Riga: “He’s made his brand on wrinkled suits and a gravelly-voiced authenticity, championing workers rights as well as those of women and LGBTQ people. He speaks in economic populism, a language that may have endeared Ohioans to both him and Trump.”
“And he appears to have figured out a way to appeal across-the-board to a large state in which politics vary dramatically depending on what corner of the state you’re in.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced that he will not mount a 2020 presidential bid, saying that he believes the best way for him to serve the country is in the U.S. Senate, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
“Brown’s decision comes as something of a surprise. He recently finished his tour of the early-primary states – Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina – and as recently as the weekend hinted that he was going to jump in.”
“His star had been rising as a possible contender, viewed as the kind of candidate who could bring voters in Midwestern states back to the Democratic Party.”
Politico: “In the Senate, Sherrod Brown is known as a scourge of Wall Street. But in a Democratic presidential primary with fellow Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren thundering away at bankers, Brown is viewed by many in the industry as a reasonable alternative.”
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Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Sherrod Brown “are on an early collision course in the initial days of the 2020 presidential race,” Politico reports.
“They’re chasing the same potential supporters, touting the same themes and even using some of the same language to go after President Trump. And Brown, kicking off a pre-campaign tour of key presidential voting states last week, made clear that if he gets into the race he intends to run, essentially, as Biden without the baggage.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) dismissed a possible independent presidential campaign from Howard Schultz, calling the billionaire former Starbucks CEO a “total idiot,” CNN reports.
“While talking with voters in Iowa’s Dallas County after a farmers’ roundtable, the Ohio Democrat, who’s also considering a presidential bid, introduced himself to a voter who expressed concern about dark money in politics.”
Said Brown: “Yeah, I mean you got this idiot Schultz running, maybe. He’s an idiot. I mean, he’s a total idiot.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) “is taking a big step toward running for president, with plans to visit the all-important early voting states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina,” BuzzFeed News reports.
“The Democrat’s political team shared details Tuesday, and Brown made an announcement during primetime on Chris Hayes’ MSNBC show, affording him an audience of the liberal and progressive voters he will need to impress to stand out in a crowded field.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) “is preparing the biggest step yet toward a potential presidential campaign: a trip to Iowa in the coming weeks, which is in the final stages of planning and will soon be announced,” Politico reports.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) “hasn’t decided whether he’s running for president — but he’s checking off a lot of the boxes that come along the way,” Politico reports.
“The Ohio Democrat is reaching out to fellow senators and party officials in early primary and caucus states. His team is collecting résumés for potential campaign workers in those states.”
“He is airing a broad campaign theme with a concise slogan — ‘the dignity of work’ — in a rising number of press interviews and TV appearances, and he wants to road-test the theme in speeches or town hall-style events.”
New York Times: “In an interview, Mr. Brown said those who characterize him as a politician for the ‘white working class’ are missing the point, because his message on the ‘dignity of work’ — which is inspired by a speech from Martin Luther King Jr. — specifically acknowledges the existence of discrimination and has support throughout Ohio’s minority communities.”
BuzzFeed News: “His brand — a reluctant, rumpled guy fighting for you — also demands that he not appear too eager to be president. Right now, though, there is no Democrat working harder to build a national profile. … He is imprinting his slogan — his advisers prefer to call it a mantra or mission statement — onto the brains of anyone watching. On a good day, he can work ‘dignity of work’ into an interview at least six times.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) “just won reelection resoundingly in a Trump state running on Trump’s issues — taking a hard line on trade and helping blue-collar workers,” Politico reports.
“Now the Ohio senator is talking increasingly like he’s prepared to take on the president himself.”
“In an expansive interview that began in his Senate office, Brown sketched the outlines of a potential presidential campaign that connects with the working-class, particularly Rust Belt voters who’ve fled the Democratic Party for Trump — but with a less divisive message.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told BuzzFeed News that his decision about running for president could hinge on whether another progressive Democrat can gain traction with an economic message aimed at the working class.
Said Brown: “I don’t really want to judge other candidates, what they’re doing, what they’re saying. But I’m concerned… I think the most important political decision in my lifetime will be replacing Donald Trump in 2020.”
“If Stacey Abrams doesn’t win in Georgia, they stole it. It’s clear.”
— Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), quoted by The Hill, on Georgia’s race for governor.
After comfortably winning re-election to his U.S. Senate seat last week in a state that President Trump won comfortably two years ago, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he is weighing a run for president.
Said Brown: “My message clearly appeals to Democrats, Republicans and independents. We showed you can get votes by being authentic and standing up for workers. People in Washington don’t understand the dignity of work.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he is not the kind of guy who looks in the mirror every morning and sees a future president.
Said Brown: “I love this job. The other people on those lists are people that are out talking about it, are out campaigning across the country. I am not doing that.”
“A new political website has sprung up, appropriating the ‘Me Too’ movement to attack Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) over allegations stemming from his 1986 divorce,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
“The website… includes a 60-second video that references court records from Brown’s divorce with his then-wife, Larke Recchie, as well as excerpts from the records themselves. The ugly divorce, which included allegations that Brown ‘bullied’ and shoved Recchie, has come up in many of Brown’s campaigns, including his 1992 race for Congress and his 2012 re-election campaign to the U.S. Senate. Recchie is now a political supporter of Brown’s and has described ‘angry words’ that surrounded their divorce.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has asked the Treasury Department to evaluate whether President Trump and his family’s business associates and possible investors from Russia and other countries have violated U.S. laws against financing terrorism, money laundering and other illicit activities, the AP reports.
Brown said that Trump’s “refusal to disclose investments that create potential conflicts of interest raises concern for his international holdings.”
Politico: “Aides say Sanders thinks that progressives who picked Clinton are cynical, power-chasing chickens — like Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of his most consistent allies in the Senate before endorsing Clinton and campaigning hard for her ahead of the Ohio primary. Sanders is so bitter about it that he’d be ready to nix Brown as an acceptable VP choice, if Clinton ever asked his advice on who’d be a good progressive champion.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) “may support Hillary Clinton, but the Democratic senator provided one reason Tuesday that he might think twice before accepting an invitation to be her running mate: Ohio Gov. John Kasich would nominate his replacement if the ticket is successful,” Politico reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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