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The Office of Auditor is very important to Ohio Republicans, if for no other reason than to have a seat on the apportionment board. With the announcement of Mary Taylor leaving the office to be John Kasich’s running mate, I think it is fair to say all political observers were surprised as to how there was apparently no preparation for her departure. And now, under the woeful incompetence of Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine, we will have a primary. oh boy!

On my Twitter account, I beat the spry Dayton Daily reporter William Herhsey by 4 minutes that Dave Yost will officially drop out of the race for Ohio Attorney General today (Monday) at 2:30 at the Ohio Republican Party headquarters in Columbus.

This is bad news for all of you concerned about seeing the reemergence of liberal former Senator Mike “gang of 14″ DeWine, with his F rating from the NRA and lack of principles, helped create the environment that swept Sherrod Brown, Barack Obama, and the Democrat majority into office. DeWine, who has been campaigning with mass emails about his wife’s lousy recipes, had a serious Republican challenger in Dave Yost, a tough-as-nails Prosecutor from Delaware County who was already been endorsed by 5 county parties. DeWine, with his support for entrenched special interests and the same lawfirms who wish to trade campaign contributions for special counsel work, was about to recieve the Janette Bradley primary-election treatment.

It is sad to see Kevin DeWine work so hard to clear the field for his second cousin.

However, Dave Yost has experience working as Delaware County auditor between 1999-2003. In addition to being an ethical principled conservative, he is a tireless campaigner.

Would I rather see Dave Yost screw with the party leadership and run for an office where his passion clearly is? Of course. But having Yost anywhere on the statewide ticket is fantastic.

This is not to discount State Representative Seth Morgan, another principled conservative who has taken the additional step of having his campaign run by tea party coordinators, many of which I know personally and would consider friends.

Morgan is credentialed for the job as a Certified Public Accountant. However, since Mary Taylor was Ohio’s first Auditor who was also a CPA, apparently voters don’t see this as an essential requirement.

He has also accomplished much more than most 31 year olds. He is an accomplished financial advisor to small and medium sized businesses. And, while elected to city council at age 23, helped pass major tax reform in the city Huber Heights.

However, he did lose his race in 2006 for county auditor. In addition, his important lawsuit against Gov. Ted Strickland to release details about his so-called “evidance based” education reform was ultimately unsuccessful.

Regardless, I couldn’t be a bigger fan of Morgan’s fire-breathing conservatism.

And the dark horse in this race is Franklin County Auditor Rob Montgomery, who has served in his current elected office since 2000. He is a principled conservative that I had the pleasure of meeting in 2006, when he was Ken Blackwell’s second choice to run for Lt. Governor.

The word is that Montgomery would have been the party’s choice instead of Yost, but Montgomery has been hesitant about announcing. But with a campaign fund of $400,000, he can transfer most that through the Ohio GOP accounts and other means into this race immediately.

I am almost 100% certain that Rob Montgomery will run, and he could quickly become the choice of the Republican establishment. Not only would this put Dave Yost into a similar position that he is currently as the outsider candidate for AG and he could lose anyway.

It pains me to write about this race at all, because I have so much respect for the three candidates running and are all incalculably better than Mike DeWine or Jon Husted. They are all fantastic candidates who can breath life into an otherwise soulless, lifeless Ohio Republican Party which is counting on voters growing opposition to President Obama to sweep them back into power.

The Kasich campaign, the ORP, and Chairman Kevin DeWine should have planned to avoid a primary mess completely so attacks could be focused on David “don’t shoot! just drive me to an ATM” Pepper.

Stay tuned!

Related posts:

1. Seth Morgan “Welcomes” Dave Yost to the Auditor’s Race
2. Founder of Homemakers for America Endorses Seth Morgan for Auditor, Rips Dave Yost
3. [UPDATED] More Endorsement Controversy? Both Dave Yost and Seth Morgan Claim to be Endorsed by the Buckeye Firearms Association
4. Montgomery County GOP Endores Seth Morgan
5. Dave Yost for Auditor- Press Release