wonkity wonkity #1: Ohio gubernatorial update

I just received an email from "Mike Coleman" announcing that he is dropping out of the gubernatorial race to be with his family and devote himself to his mayoral duties.

The interesting thing now is, first of all, consider whether there was pressure to consolidate the primary and get behind Strickland, and whether that pressure is coming from the Democratic party. If so, will there be any other candidates getting into the governor's race? Why are so many people getting behind Strickland when, frankly, a successful, popular black mayor of a city could get more support in what is essentially an urban and suburban election? Granted, Coleman's campaign failed to fulfill the potential of the candidate, and Strickland can check off certain boxes like "minister" and "NRA member" and "southern Ohio," but those signifiers do not necessaraly add up to a compelling candidate.

Also, if the party is trying to streamline the primary, especially given the events of last week with Jean Schmidt's gaffe in the House, is Hackett going to reconsider running for that House seat he lost so closely instead of going against Sherrod Brown?