During his visit to Washington today, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell (R.) dropped by the HUMAN EVENTS/Heritage Foundation weekly bloggers' meeting, bringing with him an upbeat and positive message about his chances in November.

Fresh off the good news of a Wall Street Journal/Zogby International poll showing him only 4.6 percentage points behind Democrat Rep. Ted Strickland in the race for governor, Blackwell outlined his five-point reform plan, which is aimed at keeping more Ohioans in Ohio.

Blackwell also pointed out just how liberal Strickland is when compared to his House Democrat colleagues. When Blackwell said Strickland mirrored Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, he was actually being kind. You see, Andy Roth had distributed to bloggers the Club for Growth's scorecard for the 109th Congress, and on it Pelosi's score is 3 (for a rank of 384), while Strickland's is 0 (for a rank of 416), making him a tad more liberal.

Blackwell told us that Strickland's liberal ways -- and the San Francisco values he champions in Washington -- won't go over well with Buckeye State voters. However, it's getting the message past the liberal media filter that makes his job all the more difficult.

That's one of the reasons Blackwell has embraced blogging. On his campaign website -- www.KenBlackwell.com -- you'll find the "Blackwell Blog," which is run by campaign blogger Matt Naugle.

I have been a fan of Blackwell's since HUMAN EVENTS Political Editor John Gizzi introduced me to him back in January 2005 in an article, "Conservative Star, Ken Blackwell, Is on the Rise in Ohio." Even then, before beating his establishment Republican primary opponent, Blackwell had a clear mission about what he would bring to the state as its governor.

His five-point reform plan is simple: 1) jumpstart the economy through tax reform, 2) clean up the regulatory environment, 3) work with the Legislature to pass tort reform, 4) improve K-12 education, 5) tackle Ohio's healthcare problems.

Blackwell's goal is to stop the exodus of Ohioans heading to Florida, where he says an average of 65 Ohioans move every day, depleting the tax base and hurting the economy.

When I asked Blackwell if he could win despite the sour mood toward Republicans in Ohio, he told us about the energy of the conservative base and the turnout he expects from the African-American community. And Blackwell said the minute Strickland tries to drag him down as part of the unpopular Republican establishment, he would turn the tables on Strickland, whom he called a status-quo politician with no interest in reforming Ohio.

Find more coverage of Blackwell's visit with conservative bloggers at Tim Chapman's blog and Mary Katharine Ham's Townhall.com blog.