Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Ted Strickland won't run for governor, leaving Dem field open

Want the scoop on hot races around the country? Get the digest emailed to you each weekday morning. Sign up here. Leading Off:

' OH-Gov: Ah, what a bummer'though I'm not terribly surprised. After what felt like years of speculation and consideration, former Gov. Ted Strickland announced on Tuesday that he would not seek a rematch against the man who beat him two years ago, Republican John Kasich. I've always admired Strickland's fighting spirit and his unabashed populism, which kept his race against Kasich incredibly close despite the nightmare of 2010. (Noam Scheiber summed up Strickland's singular appeal well in this post-mortem.) It also made Strickland's two-point loss all the more painful, and easy for supporters to imagine him exacting sweet revenge in 2014.

But alas, it's not to be. While Strickland didn't explain his rationale for declining to run again, he's 71 years old and, by all accounts, seems to be enjoying his life these days, which has involved a teaching stint at Harvard and just generally serving as the Ohio Democratic Party's booster-in-chief. You can't exactly blame Teddy Ballgame, and I wish him nothing but luck.

Now, attention will turn to a host of other possible candidates: Rep. Tim Ryan, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, former state AG Richard Cordray, and perhaps even ex-Rep. Betty Sutton. Hazy reports have suggested Ryan's not interested, while an unnamed "Democratic source" tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer that Strickland specifically reached out to FitzGerald to alert him to his plans before making Tuesday's announcement. Given that Strickland is said to be a "mentor" to Ryan, and also seeing as Ryan, like FitzGerald, has been waiting on Strickland in order to make up his own mind, you have to wonder whether Strickland communicated with Ryan, too. If not, perhaps Strickland already knows Ryan won't run'or perhaps he prefers Fitz as a successor. In any event, this news should open the floodgates for other candidates to declare their intentions, so we'll soon see.

P.S. Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, who briefly ran for governor in 2005 before bowing out to make way for Strickland, confirmed in response to Tuesday's news that he, too,  will not make a gubernatorial bid this cycle. I don't think anyone was gunning for a Coleman entry very hard, but his spokesman went pure Sherman: "If nominated he will not run, and if elected he will not serve." Okay then.