On Wednesday, Gov. Ted Strickland made his first stop on his Main Street Tour of Ohio.

He met a crowd of about 60 supporters at Ruby’s Restaurant on Center Street in Ironton. Democratic State Representative candidate Ron Hadsell was also by his side.

Ruby’s owner Kathy King introduced Strickland, who received much applause.

“I’m here to talk about the difference between my opponent and me,” said Strickland.

According to Strickland, his opponent, Republican John Kasich, “does not share our values.”

Strickland said that while Kasich was in Congress, he voted to cut funds for veteran’s assistance, and to privatize Social Security.

He also said that Kasich is “not a friend of southern Ohio” because he voted against gun owners as well as the Appalachian Regional Commission.

“This guy is not good for Ohio,” the governor said. “I’m going to fight like hell to hold on to this office.”

Gov. Strickland said that since he has been governor, he has worked to keep college tuition down, give more funding to grades k-12, and lower property taxes for senior citizen homeowners.

With early voting day coming up in September, Strickland said he wanted at least 50 percent of all the votes cast before election day in November.

The next stop on his tour was Cincinnati on Wednesday afternoon and then Maumee, Lima and Huber Heights on Friday.