Fisher Forgets He Has to Win the Primary, First.

By: Tim Russo

When you’ve lost your last two statewide elections, how do you guarantee a win on the third try? Make sure your name is the only one on the ballot. 

Lee Fisher thinks he’s accomplished just that.  Unfortunately for Lee Fisher’s US Senate campaign, Jennifer Brunner has other plans. 

After losing his re-election for attorney general in 1994, and then the governorship to Bob Taft, in 1998, Lee Fisher has tired of this whole, messy, election thing. So Lee got placed into the lieutenant governor’s office by Ted Strickland in 2006, largely as an effort to kneecap Strickland’s then primary opponent Eric Fingerhut. 

Since then, Lee’s been on the hunt for an easy waltz into his next statewide seat.  When Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner beat Lee to the punch in February, 2009, by announcing her candidacy for the US Senate seat being vacated by Republican George Voinovich in 2010, Lee put Operation Open Primary into overdrive. 

Lee quickly raised a big bunch of money and gathered up the usual endorsements that tend to keep other candidates out of an Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) primary. Lee took a few shots across Brunner’s bow, at her family, just to show her who’s boss. He was left with egg on his face for that misstep, thanks mostly to the blogging community he doesn’t understand. In the meantime, quarterly finance reports keep showing a big gap in favor of Fisher.

Statewide mainstream media plays along. The Plain Dealer, the Columbus Dispatch, and every lazy Ohio reporter on a campaign consultant’s speed dial spent last summer giddily painting Brunner as on her way out, and Fisher on his way to the nomination. They’ve seen statewide Democrats jump in and jump out before filing day for the last several cycles – nothing new here!

But eight months later, Jennifer Brunner is still standing. And time is running out – the filing deadline, in February of 2010, is only three months away. 

What to do? Fisher’s been going in for the kill, because he and his campaign surely understand that if Brunner files, she is likely to win.

Rumors continue to circulate that Fisher supporters are actively discouraging donors who would otherwise donate to Brunner, with threats of lost state business, lost access, or other largesse. The Independent has learned from sources in her campaign that Bruner has recently received a good number of contributions totaling $199.99 – a penny under the amount that triggers federal requirements to disclose a donor’s name and address. This can only mean one thing – donors are concerned that once their name appears on Brunner’s FEC filing, their next call is from Lee Fisher. 

Ohio’s political bloggers have noticed, not least because they, too, are on the receiving end of the anti-Brunner pressure. Ohio’s main lefty blog, Buckeye State Blog (BSB), almost blew up in March after the Fisher campaign tried to edit a BSB video interview of Fisher before it was posted online. The endless press releases from the Fisher campaign to Ohio bloggers fill inboxes almost daily. In October, BSB’s founder, Russell Hughlock, sniffing the prevailing wind, clumsily stepped into the fray from his taxpayer funded position in state government.

When Cordray was appointed to the attorney general slot made available by Marc Dann’s resignation, Hughlock followed Cordray to the AG office.  Hughlock’s blogging days were done, but he always kept ownership of the domain name of his blog, as others took over the writing duties. 

On October 20, Hughlock emailed the writers on BSB, urging them to declare Brunner’s candidacy dead, saying, “It seems pretty obvious to me that Brunner has no support for this Senate bid at all.” BSB’s anonymous front pager Modern Esquire, a Brunner supporter, published the email, and told Hughlock to go fly a kite. No one knows why Hughlock would urge the writers on the blog he still owns to write something so patently false – Hughlock declined comment for this article. But it’s likely there is credit to be had from the Fisher camp if one is seen to be helping Fisher force Brunner out, credit which Hughlock opportunistically sought for himself, however meager.

None of this has pushed Jennifer Brunner out of the race. In fact, despite a campaign staff shakeup and the tough fundraising environment, Brunner appears more likely than ever to file. Brunner’s latest statements indicate they may actually file their petitions to get on the ballot early.

And still Lee Fisher acts like he’s got the US Senate primary ballot all to himself. 

On October 28, Fisher inexplicably waddled into the Cuyahoga County mess, endorsing the Plain Dealer pimped, Bill Mason authored, and Republican big money supported Issue 6. Entering this reeking dung heap if you have a primary in May, is a really strange choice, especially if you’re Lee Fisher.

Lee Fisher hasn’t taken many memorable stands in Cuyahoga County in his 30-year career. Governor Ted Strickland, who faces a tough re-election, and Senator Sherrod Brown, who doesn’t, both have stayed miles away from the disaster. 

Fisher’s own consultant, Alan Melamed, is also the consultant for the competing Issue 5, which is backed by a large chunk of what’s left of the institutional Democratic Party base in Cuyahoga County. Organized labor, the black community, Hispanics, commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, even the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party itself, have all endorsed Issue 5. Guess this makes Issue 6 supporting Democrat Lee Fisher a maverick!

Lee’s also just claimed some level of ownership of Cuyahoga County chaos going forward. If both Cuyahoga reform issues pass, a very messy battle will ensue. If Issue 6 alone loses, so does Lee. If Issue 6 passes and Issue 5 fails, Lee owns Issue 6’s results, whatever they may be, including any Republican gains, potential future indictments, and other assorted unpredictable tiptoes through the FBI tulips.

By endorsing Issue 6, Lee Fisher also further fractures his already shaky Cuyahoga County base in the May primary against Brunner. Fisher has just told practically every major Democratic constituency in his own home county to take a flying leap, in favor of the Republican-funded Issue 6.

In the real world, the one where Lee Fisher faces Jennifer Brunner in a Democratic primary in May, this is a fool’s errand. In Lee Fisher’s world, it must make perfect sense—a sign of an out of touch and outdated campaign, a sign of weakness. All the more reason for Jennifer Brunner to file her petition, already.