On Tuesday, two of Ohio's top Democrats--Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner--announced that they would be running for the state's open Senate seat in 2010, setting up a contentious primary.
Another Democrat attracting a lot of Senate buzz, Rep. Tim Ryan, announced soon after that he would not run for the seat and that he would be endorsing Fisher. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) has already said that he would back Fisher over Brunner in the Democratic primary, giving Fisher instantaneous establishment and financial support.
As far as electability is concerned, polls like this and this show that both candidates match up equally against Rob Portman, the likely Republican nominee.
Now that two heavyweight Democrats have announced their candidacies, I think it is reasonably safe to say that none of the other members of the Ohio congressional delegation (Reps. Zack Space, Betty Sutton, Marcy Kaptur, etc.) will enter the race.
Competitive primaries always have the potential to leave the party's nominee bruised, so there is just reason for Democrats to have concern.
However, Taniel of Campaign Diaries makes the case that this kind of primary could potentially be a good thing for the Democrats, citing that the primary is in May--so there is plenty of time to recover in time for the general election--and it allows them to stay in the media spotlight while Portman will fall out of the public eye. He also compares this race to the primary battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and how it strengthened Obama's campaign in the long run. It's worth a read if you're interested.
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