A supporter of former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s Senate campaign got physical with a tracker for a Republican opposition research political action committee.
The Strickland supporter asked the America Rising tracker trying to capture b-roll footage of the Democratic Senate candidate if he was “ticklish.”
Midway through the nearly three minute-long video, a man in a blue shirt tries getting in the way of the tracker’s video camera prior to a Strickland event in Toledo where the Democrat unveiled his infrastructure proposal last Thursday. The Strickland supporter sported an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Ohio Council 8 polo shirt and started interfering with the filming after the tracker raised his camera in the air to get an overhead shot.
“Are you ticklish?” the supporter asked the tracker.
“Sir, you need to stop touching me,” the tracker replied.
America Rising told the Washington Examiner that the Strickland supporter has been seen at multiple Toledo-area events in support of the former governor.
Strickland himself is currently involved in a tight race against incumbent Republican Sen. Rob Portman, the outcome of which could determine which party controls the Senate. According to the latest RealClearPolitics average, Portman leads with 41 percent to Strickland’s 40.5 percent.
Strickland spokesman David Bergstein told the Examiner that the supporter was “a little overzealous” and not affiliated with the campaign.
“This individual isn’t a member of the Strickland campaign, and it looks like he got a little overzealous in his interaction with the tracker — this certainly doesn’t reflect our campaign’s policies in dealing with trackers and the video shows the Strickland campaign staffers behaving appropriately,” Bergstein said in a statement. “Meanwhile, Sen. Portman is ducking through D.C. alleys in order to avoid answering questions from the press about his support for Donald Trump.”
