Mark Namick tries his hand at stand up comedy:

The general managers and employees of the Ganley Auto Group are throwing a fund-raiser for their boss, Republican Tom Ganley, who wants to go to Congress. Ganley dropped his bid for the U.S. Senate last week and jumped in the race for the 13th U.S. Congressional District, a much more practical use of the millions he’s pledged to spend on his political ambition. Democrat Betty Sutton currently represents the district.

In a letter to supporters – sent by Ganley’s campaign – the employees say the event is March 3 at the International Exhibition Center, timed to overlap with the March auto show.

Ganley’s employees, who filled out the audience when Ganley announced his bid for the U.S Senate in July, clearly love their boss.

Or, they are eager to get him out of the office, far away in Washington.

Tom Ganley just spent more than a million dollars on statewide TV ads trying to run for U.S. Senate, just because he could. How scared does Sutton have to be of a conservative candidate who doesn’t hesitate to spend his fortune in that way?

During the State of the Union speech tonight, which just like Ted Strickland’s State of the State, was full of awful tax incentives derived to micromanage your life while enriching accountants/tax lawyers, Tom Ganley, candidate for Senate, ran this ad twice on a broadcast TV channel:

What do you think of the ad? At least someone dressed him properly this time. This week, the Ganley campaign has announced it raised about $1.5 million.

I’ve heard stories about a certain Ganley dealership trampling over property rights, but am not sure if that’s worth getting into now. I’m still not convinced he is a serious candidate, but I give him credit for dropping serious money on TV.

However, if the Ganley campaign asked me for advice, I would tell them that this ad is very similar to the boring biography ads Jim Petro wasted two million dollars on very early during the primary campaign of 2006. It feels as if the ad shows Tom running a general election campaign for an election decided by the conservative Republican base… It is time for Tom to get creative, as not only is Rob Portman an incredible fundraiser, Rob is the more ideologically conservative candidate.

is willing to spend between $5-7 million against Rob Portman.

This is a fascinating article by Jessica Wehrman of the Dayton Daily News.

I had no idea Rob Portman’s family were abolitionists, Brunner comes from an accomplished Republican family, Tom Ganley was working on owning his own car dealership at age 22, and hairy Lee Fisher was probably picked on in grade school for not being able to compete in sports due to breathing issues.

Here is a sample of some fresh YouTube video from the Ganley for Senate campaign. I admire anyone who goes against the Columbus political elites:

I especially like Tom because: 1) I can tell he isn’t a career politician just by his unfashionable blue suit, 2) the strong Cleveland accent, 3) He is a successful business man who is mad as HELL about what Democrats have done to American industry.

Kevin Holtsberry did some excellent work covering today’s announcement by Cleveland-area car dealer Tom Ganley’s announcement that he will run for US Senate. Here is Kevin’s video:

So what do you think? Is this a serious campaign or a PR stunt? As a former Clevelander, I know a great deal about his business but little about Ganley personally. I would say that on the trade issues, he is likely closer to the mercantilism of Sherrod Brown than the free-market principles of Rob Portman.

But I certainly give anyone credit for ignoring the Columbus political establishment.

Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.