This is a part of a series of posts analyzing the 2010 midterm elections. This post will analyze the Ohio gubernatorial election, in which Republican John Kasich narrowly defeated Democrat Ted Strickland.
Ohio's Gubernatorial Election
In most of the 2010 midterm elections, Democratic performances were strikingly similar to President Barack Obama's performance in 2008. If a place had generally voted Democratic in the past, but didn't vote for Mr. Obama - it tended not to vote Democratic in 2010 either. An example of this is southwest Pennsylvania. The same holds true for places that generally voted Republican in the past but went for Mr. Obama this time (e.g. the Houston and Salt Lake City metropolitan areas.)
Ohio's gubernatorial election was an exception to this trend. Democratic former Governor Ted Strickland built a very traditional Democratic coalition in Ohio:
More below.