The worsening state budget crisis will test the political mettle of Gov. Ted Strickland, who promoted a handful of governing principles before he knew just how difficult the budget environment would become.

A story from the AP says, among them: No tax increases, no expansion of gambling and a new school funding plan.

They are practical as individual goals, more difficult if done together, and extremely challenging when the state is facing a projected $7 billion deficit over the next two-year budget cycle.

"Those three things are on a collision course," state Rep. Jay Hottinger, a Newark Republican, said recently. "Something's gotta give."

Holding the line on tax raises eliminates one of the few ways to increase revenue, putting more pressure on secondary options, such as expanded gambling. Eliminating revenue options makes it more difficult to maintain current education spending levels, much less the increase in state spending that would likely be needed to make Ohio's school funding system constitutional.

Each of these governing principles has behind it a powerful constituency that could become a political liability for the Democratic governor should he pick something on which to compromise on, or change positions.

In a statement, a Strickland spokeswoman did not say whether the governor was contemplating adjusting any of these governing principles.