Tim Ryan

Another presidential candidate slipped through my legs. Tim Ryan, a congressman from the Youngstown, Ohio area, announced over a week ago, but hardly made any splash. I'll say it again, I'm on the mailing lists of a lot of Democratic organizations, and I get emails from lots of candidates, begging for money, but I've heard nary a word from Ryan. I think he's in trouble before he gets started.

Ryan is going to appeal to the centrist Democrats, who I've heard there are a lot of, even though I don't think I know any. He challenged Nancy Pelosi for party leader in 2016 and lost. Ontheissues.org does classify him as left/liberal, but he was pro-life (he now concedes that the decision should be left to the woman--how magnanimous of him). He also receives an "A" rating from the NRA for pro-gun positions.

On the other hand, he's a reliable liberal on education (100 rating from the NEA), the environment (100 from the League of Conservation Voters), immigration (a 0 from FAIR, indicating a loosening of immigration laws), LGBT rights, health care (for expanding the ACA), is pro peace, avoiding foreign entanglements, and making it easier to register to vote.

But clearly Ryan is aiming for the center. He and Amy Klobuchar are the only two candidates who are trying to tack away from the left, and she's got a much more visible profile. He could be an appealing veep choice for a progressive, but that NRA rating pretty much dooms him. Any Democratic candidate who has that organization's support has a lot of explaining to do. It's not the right time to be pro-gun (or anti-gun control).

Ryan may just be spending a lot of money to prep him for a Senate or Gubernatorial run, as I don't see him lasting long. Will he even make the first debate? There's been a lot of talk about moderate Democratics dreading the popularity of progressives, and Ryan may be the one to pick up votes if there is a progressive backlash, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Incidentally, anyone my age who grew up watching sports will think of a sportscaster when they hear the name Tim Ryan. He called a zillion different sports during his career, including lead play-by-play man for the NHL on NBC during the '70s. He has the dubious distinction of being associated with the animated Peter Puck, a gimmick that NBC used to try to explain the rules of hockey to the casual fan. I wonder if anyone learned what icing is from that puck.