ABSTRACT
Ken Blackwell ran the most expensive gubernatorial campaigns in Ohio state history, suffering a brutal loss, garnering only 37 percent of the vote to Strickland's 60 percent, the lowest number of votes of any Ohio Republican candidate since the election of 1912. This chapter argues that J. Kenneth Blackwell's loss is attributable to an array of factors. Blackwell was the wrong candidate, in the wrong year and in the wrong state. Ken Blackwell's run for Ohio governor sheds light on people understandings of what non-traditional black candidates running for statewide office might encounter in future elections. Ken Mehlman, then-chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), set the party's agenda with a strong emphasis on aggressively attracting black voters. The centerpiece of the RNC's strategy to attract black voters hinged on the emergence of a star power team of black Republicans running for high-profile statewide offices in key battleground states.
