The battle lines are clear. The path to re-election for Barack Obama is through Ohio and will probably rest on the shoulders of Governor Ted Strickland who is up for re-election in November.

Ted's education policies have set a course that will leave affluent schools in the state treacherously underfunded, and large key school systems, particularly in Southern Ohio, are now running in deficits that tax payers have no intention of covering.

The Governor is but a microcosm of Obama. Both were former college professors with big, expensive ideas that do not translate well in the real world. The old saying "those who can't do, teach" embodies the spirit of these well intentioned socialites who have drifted far out into an ocean of ideas and have run aground.

The Lakota School district is the 5th largest school system in Ohio with the highest academic rating. It is the school district for House minority leader John Boehner, and along with Little Miami, a few districts to the east, are both facing massive budget shortfalls as a result of Governor Strickland's redistribution of wealth plan for education in the state.

It was impossible not to overhear the Lakota Education Association, (the teachers union) whispering in the back rows of the packed school board meeting at their monthly get-together where the union openly conspired to thoroughly embarrass Joan Powel, the school board president. The School Board and the LEA are currently locked in a fierce contract dispute coming on the heels of a devastating tax levy failure in the May primary. The levy will reappear on the November ballot, so the goal is to strong arm the district into renewing their teaching contract, while also getting the community to cover Strickland's education budget policy with the passage of the levy. 

The levy is to shore up funds cut by Governor Strickland, because his administration has proclaimed Lakota an affluent school district. This means the funds of those affluent citizens from the district pay their state taxes just like everyone else, but Ohio decided to send that money to less affluent districts. Meanwhile the affluent districts are being told to pay again to shore up the deficits inflicted by unfunded state mandates which are thinly disguised double taxation policies.

The governor is up for reelection this fall, and the Obama group is poised to assist. After all, they are well aware that their own 2012 attempt will largely rest on what happens in Ohio. Vice President Biden was in Cincinnati prior to the health care vote, on March 16th, and then joined Obama in the northeast sector of the state for a fundraiser for Strickland later that day. Biden was in Cincinnati to support Steve Driehaus who was one of the pivotal votes on health care.

Politicians use education to ride into office, and Strickland has done much of what Obama does - write checks he can't cash and redistribute the burden to others. As the levies all over the state come up for a vote this November, along with Strickland, it would be a wise tactic to make sure the increased costs in education get associated with the culprit that stands as a wheel to Obama's royal carriage.

And that is precisely what Governor Strickland is - a simple wheel to Obama's presidency, a wheel that needs to come off.

Rich Hoffman is the author of "The Symposium of Justice" and a leader within the Liberty Township Tea Party serving to restore state sovereignty in Ohio beginning with the Health Care Freedom Amendment to the Ohio Constitution.