Ted's night out....

Gov. Ted Strickland, who has been hanging out in Cincinnati a lot lately, had a funny story to tell Thursday at the end of a morning of being dragged around Cincinnati by Mayor Mark Mallory et al in a Metro trolley car.



The governor had spent Wednesday in Cincinnati, talking to seniors in Blue Ash and making an appearance at a fundraiser for Steve Driehaus. So, at the end of the day, the governor and his staff joined the mayor and his staff for some libations at the Rock Bottom Brewery on Fountain Square.



Afterwards, the governor said, they all went outside to the Fountain, so that the governor could enjoy a cigar.



"I smoke about two cigars per year,'' the governor explained to former Ohio Senate President Stan Aronoff, who is no stranger to cigar-smoking pols.



The governor sat puffing away when up came a city worker carrying a large hose.



"Excuse me, sir,'' the city worker said. "I've got to power-wash this area. The governor is coming here tomorrow and they want it cleaned."



He had a hard time convincing the guy he was, in fact, the governor and the square looked pretty clean to him.



Strickland laughed about it as he told the story Thursday, which is more than some governors we have known would have done.