Brown one of few likely not running for president

S herrod Brown, Ohio’s personable two-term Democratic senator, is popular in the Buckeye State, but there’s no guarantee that he could transfer that popularity to the rest of the country.

His folksy and often loquacious personality could well be a turnoff to voters in the more cosmopolitan states of the Northeast, and his lack of name recognition could spell doom in the Southern states and those west of the Mississippi. And it staggers the imagination to contemplate any Ohio State University graduate winning a presidential race in Michigan.

Although the current Democratic front-runner, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, has dropped back a bit in the polls, she remains a strong candidate.

But you can rest assured there will be more candidates and likely many more. The temptation of running against a president that most progressives and much of the liberal press corps consider a buffoon could easily double the current field. Ponder the laundry list of Democratic candidates who have been mentioned: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Virginia’s junior senator, Tim Kaine.

Moderate Missouri senior Senator Claire McCaskill. California Gov. Jerry Brown. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, the daughter of Ann Richards, a popular governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995.

At least a dozen others possible Democratic contenders have also been mentioned, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and former Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz.

Former Rep. Mo Udall of Arizona, the witty quipster who made a strong, but losing race against Jimmy Carter in 1976, once noted, “The only cure for presidential fever is embalming fluid.”

The chances are good that if Sherrod Brown is re-elected to the Senate this fall, he’ll take gander at the platoon of Democrats already running for president and start singing. “Why oh, why oh, why oh, should I ever leave Ohio?”

Whitt Flora covered the White House for the Columbus Dispatch. He is now a freelance writer.