Cincinnati.com:
All over the country, a battle is going on for the heart and soul of the Republican Party.
....In Ohio, the line is being drawn between the two announced candidates for attorney general, who will face each other in the May primary - former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, who has had some problems with the party's most conservative members in the past, and Delaware County prosecutor Dave Yost...
...The Ohio GOP endorsed two candidates who are likely to have primary opposition in the May primary - former congressman Rob Portman for the U.S. Senate over Cleveland car dealer Tom Ganley; and former Ohio House speaker Jon Husted for secretary of state over Sandra O'Brien of Ashtabula....
DeWine, Portman, and Husted might not be conservative enough for some Tea Party members in the Republican Party. That is why their opponents from their own party are making it a little uncomfortable. Tea Party supporters have flocked to Yost for AG, Ganley for U.S. Senate, and O'Brien for Ohio Sec. of State, much to the dismay of the Ohio GOP and Chairman Kevin DeWine. Although they might not admit it, the Republicans are worried about the future of their party.
>>> A recent editorial from the very conservative Columbus Dispatch, even accuses Ohio's Republicans of trying to save themselves, instead of people.
Dispatch:
No reason to sugarcoat the obvious: Senate Republicans look foolish in their handling of the state budget crisis.
The longer they delay filling an $851 million hole in the current two-year budget, the more nervous school superintendents, university presidents, prison wardens and children-services leaders become about getting the money they've been promised.....
...Motivated by self-preservation, the 21 senators in the GOP majority are so afraid of their right flank that they are paralyzed from adopting a common-sense budget solution favored by even their most ardent benefactors, including the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Manufacturers Association and the Ohio Business Roundtable....
While this is going on, the entire state sits and waits for these selfish members of the Republican Party to agree to the budget.