Donald Trump,John Kasich

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is set to deliver the "State of the State" address in Sandusky on Tuesday, April 4, 2017.

(Evan Vucci, AP Photo)

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is set to give his penultimate State of the State address on Tuesday. Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown will vote to block President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. And the U.S. Senate race for Brown's seat is already heating up.

Read more in today's Ohio Politics Roundup.

The state of Ohio: Ohio Gov. John Kasich will give his second to last State of the State speech on Tuesday, and is again taking the show on the road, traveling to Sandusky. Kasich's continuing his tradition of moving the address across the state, highlighting different regions of Ohio.

"When the governor announced he would be delivering his address from Sandusky, he said it was the perfect opportunity to show off 'our state's crown jewel' - Lake Erie," City Manager Eric Wobser said.

So how is the state of Ohio doing?

"Tuesday's address might not be so rosy. The governor cautioned legislators last year of an impending recession. The two-year state budget he proposed in January makes minimal funding increases. And lawmakers have already signaled several of his bolder proposals, such as further trimming state income tax rates, won't make it," cleveland.com Jackie Borchardt writes.

Ahead of the speech, Kasich "took a victory lap at an Amazon fulfillment center his administration helped locate east of Columbus," Borchardt writes. "The online retailer employs 3,000 people at the 855,000-square-foot building it opened east of Columbus in September. The center is one of 20 nationwide where Amazon uses robots and people to quickly fulfill and ship customer orders."

Stay with cleveland.com and follow reporter Andrew J. Tobias on Twitter for live coverage of the speech.

Helping Ohioans: As Kasich prepares for his State of the State address, Ohio still falls short on some quality of life indicators, according to the non-profit One Ohio Now.

"One Ohio Now released its second annual report this morning on how Ohio measures up in a study summarizing statistics on poverty, hunger, infant mortality, employment and education," Columbus Dispatch reporter Randy Ludlow writes.

And in summary: Some of the numbers aren't great.

"Ohio ranks 39th worst in infant mortality, 44th in hunger, 40th in home foreclosure and 15th in the number of insured residents," Ludlow writes. "The state comes in 39th in high-school graduation rates, 36th in college tuition cost and 23rd in pre-school enrollment."

Congress goes nuclear: "Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown will be among the dozens of Democrats voting to block final consideration of Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch this week, a move akin to filibustering," cleveland.com reporter Stephen Koff writes. "Unless Democrats change their mind and compromise with Republicans, it means Republicans won't have the votes they need to cut off debate Thursday. So Republicans will probably take the extreme move of "going nuclear. That means they'll change the rules -- and dispense with niceties -- so they can confirm Gorsuch with a simple majority, probably on Friday."

Twitter rant: Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, who plans to run for Brown's U.S. Senate seat in 2018, has jumped on the Trump train, big time. And lately he's been blasting out opinions about sanctuary cities and terrorism -- two topics Trump often touches on publicly and online, Columbus Dispatch reporter Alan Johnson writes.

"The second-term Republican state treasurer has been a prolific Twitter user for a long time, but after the election, he began lashing out fast and furious at 'radical Islamic terrorism' and 'sanctuary cities.' Both topics are frequently mentioned by Trump in public statements and social media," Johnson writes. "A look at Mandel's Twitter feed from Nov. 9 through last week shows that of more than 250 postings, nearly half concerned either anti-Islamic terrorism (about 70) or sanctuary cities (more than 50). In three months prior to the election, from Aug. 1 to Nov. 7, Mandel posted no comments about Islamic terrorism or sanctuary cities that show up on his Twitter account."

Election 2018: Republican U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi criticized Mandel, a potential GOP rival for the Senate seat, during an event in Columbus. Tiberi threw shade at Mandel's government transparency project that tracks government spending.

"Appearing at Ohio State University's Moritz School of Law, Tiberi was asked by an audience member whether Ohio taxpayers should have to pay for competing websites developed by Mandel's office and the governor's office. Both sites, which were developed separately, track state government spending," cleveland.com's Tobias reports. "The questioner described Mandel's site as many times more expensive than the website developed by Gov. John Kasich's office. That description is basically accurate, although Mandel's website also tracks spending by participating local governments. The questioner also described Kasich's website as costing $100,000, although it actually cost about $150,000 to develop, plus staff time."

Tiberi's response?

"Wow, that's crazy," Tiberi said, according to a recording of the event provided to cleveland.com. "No. I don't think so. I think you should talk to your state legislator. That is crazy."

More announcements: State Rep. Christina Hagan, a Stark County Republican, announced her plans Monday to run for the congressional seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci. He's running for governor instead of seeking re-election. Watch her announcement video here.

"I'm in this race to win," Hagan said in a written statement, cleveland.com's Tobias writes. "No more career politicians, no more special interests with their hands out, no more backroom deals."

ICYMI: Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, who's gearing up to run for Ohio governor, has stepped down from her role as director of the Ohio Bureau of Insurance.

The shift will allow Taylor to raise money for her gubernatorial campaign from the insurance industry, cleveland.com reporter Jeremy Pelzer writes.

"Taylor spokesman Michael Duchesne said the lieutenant governor, who is taking steps to run for governor next year, believed it was the right time to step down," Pelzer writes.

"She's trying to look to the future for Ohio," Duchesne said.

"Taylor has overseen the state's department of insurance, which regulates the industry on behalf of consumers, since she was sworn in as lieutenant governor in 2011. Her most visible role in the job has been to trash the Affordable Care Act, claiming that it has made health insurance more expensive and hasn't given Ohioans more choices of healthcare plans," Pelzer writes.

Oh, the possibilities: Former Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich isn't saying whether he plans to run for Ohio governor. But he's keeping the door open, Statehouse News Bureau Chief Karen Kasler reports.

"He doesn't say he is, but he doesn't rule it out," Kasler writes.

"People ask me about it. So when they ask me about it, I listen, but I don't, I'm not really here to talk about that at all," Kucinich said last weekend.

Pointing fingers: Ohio Democratic gubernatorial contender Betty Sutton wants state Attorney General Mike DeWine to investigate comments state Sen. Matt Huffman made about wage law.

"Huffman, a Lima Republican, said during a news conference that a mayor in his district had 'a buddy' construct a building to avoid the high cost of paying union-scale prevailing wage on the project. His bill would allow local municipalities to opt out of paying prevailing wage," according to the Associated Press.

Sutton wrote in a letter to DeWine that the anecdote could constitute illegal and corrupt misuse of tax dollars.

"Ohio's prevailing wage law has effectively protected workers and provided contractors, and other taxpayers, with a more sustainable workforce for decades," Sutton wrote to DeWine. "Since Senator Huffman won't request an investigation into the possible corruption of steering taxpayer dollars to a 'buddy' or circumventing laws that protect Ohio workers, I will."

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