If Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) were ten years younger, I’d guess he’d be the next Republican nominee for President, regardless of Trump’s failure or success in 2020, based on his demonstrated competence in directing the response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Ohio. This is based on this WaPo article. NPR has a lovely visual model of peak cases of COVID-19, and when. Ohio ranks as one of the best responding states.
By comparison, here’s New York, which has been hard hit despite determined leadership from Governor Cuomo (D):
And, since I live here, Minnesota, led by Governor Walz (D):
Making such comparisons is, of course, dangerous without knowing all of the factors for which adjustments must be made, from the average health of the residents to population densities to factors of which I’m not aware of – at least not at midnight. Just think of New York City’s status as a global crossroads, while Ohio and Minnesota are relative backwaters.
Insofar as Governor DeWine goes, at 73, he’d be running at age 77. I doubt we’ll be seeing that. I expect in four years we’ll see a bunch of much younger candidates running – Rubio, Klobuchar, Harris, various Republican governors, etc.
I’m not sure who else in the Republican Party is showing good leadership skills at the moment. Glancing at his profile, I’m not sure I’d agree with him on much, but you have to give him props for his work on this crisis.
