BREAKING: Fisher Campaign Manager Steps Down

Geri Prado, campaign manager for Lee Fisher's Senate campaign, is apparently no longer in that position. With three months to go until the primary, it is apparent that the Fisher campaign is worried. They have not been able to separate themselves from Jennifer Brunner, despite their fundraising advantage.

More details as they come out.

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The Twitter Primary

At the time of this post, Lee Fisher's Twitter page has 493 followers. Jennifer Brunner's Twitter page has 1,214 followers. That is very nearly three times as many followers for JB.

What does it mean? Well, probably not much. But it may say something about the enthusiasm for one candidate over another, or perhaps the advantage she has in online organizing. Or, it may be because Jennifer Brunner's "tweets" are interesting and sound like they were written by a human being, while Lee Fisher's are robotic and sound like they were written by a consultant.

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Petitions: filed.

It is now official. Lee Fisher will have a primary opponent. That opponent will be Jennifer Brunner, who filed her paperwork this morning. It is on!

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While we were away

New polling has confirmed what we have known all along: Jennifer Brunner would have a better chance of beating Rob Portman in the general election. A Rasmussen poll last week put Portman ahead of Brunner 43%-40% (within the margin of error). When matched up with Lee Fisher, Portman had a much larger 44%-37% lead.

This is further proof that the momentum is all on one side in this race. However, as Mark Naymik points out for The Plain Dealer, the numbers could move once the Fisher campaign takes to television. That is why we have reached a pivotal point in this campaign. If there were ever a time for you to consider volunteering or donating money to the campaign, now is that time. It will not be easy, but this race is very winnable.

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The campaign becomes official

Sorry we have been away for a while. We needed to spend some time resting up for what is sure to be a very exciting year.

And here we go: reports say that Jennifer Brunner will file her petition to run for the U.S. Senate tomorrow morning. If she was going to drop out and concede to Lee Fisher, she would have done so already. This filing means that she is in it all the way. If Fisher wants to be the party's nominee, he is going to have to earn it.

Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen. It should be fun.

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Attend a strategy meeting in your area

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: Jennifer Brunner will win because her grassroots organization will be superior to all challengers. But that means she needs you to get involved. Donating money would be a great start, but it is going to take more than that. Elections are won on the ground. Sign up now to get more information about how you can get involved, and start making a real difference right away. This is about our future, and politics is not a spectator sport.

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Brunner on Daily Kos

She's up with another thoughtful, intelligence piece, this time taking a look at the Senate's healthcare bill.

Let me be clear at the outset: I’m glad the Senate got something done, but it could have done so much more for the American people.

Expecting to see an extensive piece from Lee Fisher explaining his thoughts on the legislation? Don't hold your breath.

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Two very different emails

Yersterday, I received a fundraising email from the Fisher campaign:

Our important end-of-year financial reporting deadline is quickly approaching, and I would very much appreciate your help now, so that I can continue the fight.

A few hours later, I received an email from the Brunner campaign:

During the holiday season… I’d like to ask you to give your time and money to your favorite charity, instead of giving it to my campaign.

Two very different emails, eh? Joseph over at Plunderbund was impressed:

While Fisher’s crew has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for Brunner to drop out, J-Bru’s team has really done a great job of changing the conversation, getting out in front of the issues and making Fisher look like a total slacker.

Brunner’s team is quickly proving they are more agile, clever, responsive and smart. Today’s fundraising emails from the two campaigns provide a great example.

Of course, you should still give money to Jennifer Brunner, even if she doesn't want you to. These emails only offer further proof that we need to elect her as our next U.S. Senator.

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The Forthcoming Deadline

Remember, folks, the end of the year will also mean the end of another fundraising quarter. Once again, Lee Fisher will outraise Jennifer Brunner, and the media will declare the race over. Of course, we know better. Nonetheless, it would be really nice to see the Brunner campaign put up some good numbers.

Please consider making a contribution today. I know it is the holidays, and money is tight, but this is about the future of our state, and our nation. An investment in the Brunner campaign is an investment in Ohio. Donate by using the ActBlue link at the right of this page (underneath Jennifer Brunner's photo) or by visiting jenniferbrunner.com.

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Brunner in National Journal

Read the full article here.

It is, of course, worth a read through. Here are some of the juicy details:

The Buckeye State, Brunner noted, is expected to lose 2 congressional districts after the '10 Census, and she said each party can expect to shed one. For that reason, Brunner said that when she met with Space, he "admitted his endorsement of Fisher had to do with the governor's potential role in determining which districts would be eliminated after the census."

Getting play like this in a national magazine is nothing but good for the Brunner campaign. It is further proof that she has not been written off, and people are paying attention. Her feisty attitude is also proof that she is not planning on leaving the race anytime soon, and she is willing to put her political career on the line for this.

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More of the Interview

Here is the second half of the Jennifer Brunner's interview at Plunderbund:

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How Lee Fisher decides what he stands for

"Time after time, Lee Fisher only takes a position after hearing what Brunner has said on the topic and he almost always takes essentially the same position." Read more good insight here.

We have seen it a lot in this campaign. Jennifer Brunner takes a position, and details it fully and articulately. Two or three days later, the Fish comes out with a short statement that states that his position is the same, without much explanation. The most recent examples are obviously the troop surge in Afghanistan and the Stupak Amendment. I think that it is almost a certainty that if Jennifer Brunner were not in the race, the Fish never would have bothered to let us know where he stood on these issues. That's not leadership.

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"I came away from this experience realizing how authentic she is."

Following their interview with Jennifer Brunner on her Afghanistan policy, Eric is up with a post detailing his reactions over at our favorite blog to link to. The highlights:

I came away from this experience realizing how authentic she is. I don’t get an ounce of phony vibe that is prevalent among elected officials and candidates alike that I’ve met. I’m sure as a politician she can pour that stuff on, but none was to be found on Thursday. She has this weird combination of toughness and kindness...

Jennifer is the real deal. There’s a reason the old guard is scared shitless. There is a reason her grassroots support is so wide and bottom up. I hear stories of people raising their own money and printing their own promotional materials to support her. None of this stuff will show up on a financial report, but it shows up in the hearts and minds of voters.

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The Afghanistan Interview

On Friday, Jennifer Brunner did an interview with bloggers from Plunderbund, who had been critical of her position opposing the troop increase in Afghanistan.



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Lee Fisher's worthless endorsements

Harry Reid! David Plouffe! Man oh man, the Fish seems well on his way being the Democratic nominee, doesn't he? Well, in the words of Lee Corso, "Not so fast my friends!" Plunderbund has a good post up on the subject:

I know I’m not the only Democrat who thinks that Harry Reid’s support has some downside (after all, currently polling shows Reid getting blown out of the water in his re-election campaign next year in Nevada.) The Fisher campaign's website conspicuously omits any reference to Senate Majority Leader Reid’s support.

This is the same campaign website that’s been updated to continue to shamelessly promote the endorsement of David Plouffe, even though Plouffe’s company is a paid political consultant to the Fisher campaign.

Have you also noticed that while the Old Media has been quick to point out Fisher’s money and endorsements, they never mention the fact that Fisher has been dropping in the polls while Brunner has been rising? Funny how the polling in the race started to get ignored the second it stopped favoring Fisher, isn’t it?

Brunner talks jobs

This video, via Progress Ohio, is from WUPW in Toledo. While Lee Fisher is touting endorsements from his own consultants, Jennifer Brunner is talking about an issue that matters to you.

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Brunner will defend her Afghanistan position tomorrow

Jennifer Brunner made news recently when she spoke out against sending more troops to Afghanistan. Folks on both sides of the aisle and supporters of all candidates have accused her of "flip-flopping" on the issue. Well, tomorrow morning, she is going straight into the beast to defend herself. She will be doing an interview over at Plunderbund at 10 am. I will share my own thoughts afterwards.

UPDATE (Tuesday, 10:17 am): So, I guess that's not actually happening.

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A different kind of campaign

There seems to be basically two ways that a politician can go about running for a big office. They can take the safe road, and only take positions on simple, non-controversial issues. This is the road that Lee Fisher is on. His website lays out his positions in terms that almost every Democrat can agree on, and avoids the more hot button issues such as gay marriage, etc. He came out against the troop surge in Afghanistan and the Stupak amendment only after he realized that those had became mainstream Democratic causes. Running a campaign this way is an insult to the people who actually pay attention, but it is smart politics.

Another, less politically wise option for candidates is exemplified by Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who wants to be President in 2012. Pawlenty, and many other Republicans, are overly eager to take a position on everything. When Obama bowed in Japan, they were out with a statement. When Obama wanted to have a beer with Gates and the Cambridge police officer, they were out with a statement. Every single debate that comes up in Congress, they put out a statement, as if what the Governor of Minnesota (or the former Governors of Arkansas and Massachusetts, etc.) thinks matters to the people of every other state. Doing this shows nothing but a desperation to stay relevant.

And then there is what Jennifer Brunner is doing. Rather than simply releasing statements, she puts forth thoughtful, well-informed, detailed proposals on matters of policy. And she does so not only on topics that are politically advantageous, but on ones that she believes in, from her opposition to the troop surge to her opposition to capital punishment. Perhaps Jennifer Brunner is the underdog because she is not nearly as shrewd of a politician as Lee Fisher. But that is exactly the reason that she will make a better United States Senator.

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You can feel the momentum

Jennifer Brunner is gaining more and more steam every day. As is often the case, the blogosphere was on the bandwagon first. See this post from Tim Russo at Plunderbund:

In the past week, two things happened which further proves that Jennifer Brunner will be our US Senate nominee in 2010. Lee Fisher pandered to the base on Afghanistan, proving to us all that he believes he has a primary, and the GOP yawned, attacking Brunner over Afghanistan instead.

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Brunner: Recycle Bailout Money for Infrastructure Jobs

How does this woman keep coming up with all of these ideas? In an email to supporters and blog post, Jennifer Brunner proposes using leftover bailout money to improve Ohio's terrible infrastructure, creating new jobs in the process:

Instead of borrowing more money and digging our deficit hole deeper to fund
nation-building activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress should invest a
substantial portion of the unspent TARP funding on nation-building here at home.
And we can start by rebuilding our infrastructure, state-by-state. Here in Ohio,
investing in our aging highways, bridges, and water and sewer systems will make
our lives safer while creating jobs for tens of thousands of Ohioans who want to
work.

What good ideas have Fisher or Portman had lately?

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