TRACKING FOOTAGE: Ted Strickand Changes Tune On Keystone Pipeline

While in Washington, D.C. late last week to attend a fundraiser, Ohio senate candidate Ted Strickland, best known as the former governor who ran the state into the ground, said Ohioans “absolutely” deserve to know his position on the Keystone XL pipeline in response to questions from an America Rising tracker:

This may come as a surprise to Ohio voters, as Strickland said in August that he would absolutely not take a position on the “divisive” issue. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported:

At a lunch Monday at the law offices of Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke, Strickland was quoted as saying, “The Keystone pipeline doesn’t involve Ohio. So I’m staying out of it. It’s too divisive.”

Strickland’s dodge became the basis of primary opponent P.G. Sittenfeld’s most direct attack on him:

Sittenfeld was not in the room, but Democrats confirmed to The Enquirer it was said. The Strickland campaign declined to comment.

“Since when did it become acceptable for Senate candidates to avoid dealing with issues because they are controversial and divisive?” Sittenfeld said. “Leaders lead — they don’t bob, weave, evade and equivocate.”

Clearly Sittenfeld’s attack hit its mark in what has become an increasingly nasty Democratic primary, and Strickland is feeling the heat.

It’s worth noting that, once again, Strickland is apparently taking his cues from Hillary Clinton on Keystone. His sudden move from ‘no position’ to claiming that he will pick a side while remaining vague about what it will be or when he will reveal it mimics Clinton’s similar change in rhetoric on the issue at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire last week.

 

(Source)