Lee Fisher proves once again he is all about himself. I’ve got good sourcing telling me that Fisher sent a letter to ODP chair Chris Redfern requesting the ODP endorsement. Twelve days before early voting starts, and about 6 weeks before the primary. If that’s not a sign of a pathetic campaign in big trouble, I don’t know what is.
If ODP knows what’s good for it, the executive committee which meets on March 24 to decide this issue will refuse that request. If not on principle, then there are plenty of reasons to avoid what would be a blood letting for the next 6 weeks. It is way too late in the game for a statewide candidate who hasn’t even gotten the endorsement of his own county party to come begging for help. This party was cruising to a quiet primary allowing the voters to decide who our US Senate candidate would be, united for a tough general election against a Republican Party well on its way toward its own collapse.
Now Lee Fisher wants to have a blood bath. Well, he’s gonna get it. I will refer you to Jennifer Garrison, Lee. We are in the process of getting the lists of every member of the executive committee, and if that committee votes on March 24 to create a screening committee, we’ll get that list too.
Yesterday was a bad day for the Lee Fisher campaign. Their first mailer hilariously hit mailboxes including Jennifer Brunner’s Rosie the Riveter logo. But that wasn’t the big news. I attended and voted in the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats May 4 primary endorsement meeting for Jennifer Brunner last night. At least 60% (the threshold for endorsements) of the rest of the Stonewall Democrats present did too. Which means Jennifer gets a major endorsement in Lee’s home county.
The US Senate race last night was the most hotly debated race on the May 4 ballot, but in the end, there was a real sentiment that Lee Fisher can’t win in the fall against Rob Portman, among the people who know Lee best. In Lee Fisher’s home county, the largest bloc of Democratic primary voters in the state, there is at least one significant constituency willing to put its credibility behind that sentiment, and fight to get Democrats a winning candidate.
Jennifer was there, and Peggy Zone Fisher attended for Lee, which I think made a difference, particularly given something that Peggy noted about Lee’s record. Strangely, Peggy touted a hate crimes bill which Lee claims to have helped pass back in the early 90’s in response to a cross burning incident in Collinwood. Peggy said that back then, LGBT rights weren’t in the bill, but if it were introduced today, LGBT rights would be in it. The confusion in the room was palpable – it was as if Peggy wanted to point out that no one has ever heard Lee Fisher utter a single word about gay rights until he got into this primary.
It’s one thing to show up at gay events your whole career and tell people what they want to hear, quite another to put gay rights on your public agenda, draw a line, and defend that line against all comers. Tellingly, despite Don’t Ask Don’t Tell being debated at the federal level in public hearings in the Senate in which Lee Fisher wants to sit as I write this, not one word on DADT is in Lee Fisher’s first mailer. Should there be? Um….yeah. Or at least his surrogate could have mentioned it while asking for Stonewall’s endorsement last night.
This endorsement was not taken lightly by the voting members present, or the board. The best news for me from this meeting is that the LGBT community in Ohio is really beginning to flex its muscle in the Ohio Democratic Party, and locally in Cuyahoga County, where gay votes really matter on election day. We can thank Jennifer Garrison for that. There is a sense of confidence which I have not seen before, a recognition of the power LGBT unity can bring to bear on major decisions about our party’s ticket and direction, and a weighty understanding of the responsibility that comes with it. Rob Rivera, president of Cleveland Stonewall Democrats, noted that CSD will be putting this influence to work as the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party begins to pick up the pieces and rebuild. Good.
Jennifer Brunner has that endorsement behind her. Now go make us proud, Jennifer, and win this primary. We got your back.
So Lee Fisher has raised all this money. It’s less than 2.5 months to election day. Every poll has him within the margin of error or tied with Brunner.
I bounced between airports and being locked in a hotel room shooting video most of last week, so I watched from afar as Lee Fisher plant TJ Johnson, who no one has ever heard of, made it to the ballot for the US Senate primary. And if you don’t believe TJ Johnson is a Lee Fisher plant, you’re just a damn fool.
I’m hearing that TJ Johnson is quite close with former Lee Fisher campaign manager Marc Gaunce, current Progress Ohio board member. You’ll remember Gaunce from his recent check bouncing. TJ Johnson used to work for Lee Fisher, Gaunce has been on every Lee Fisher campaign anyone can remember, right up until this year’s primary, and no one ever heard of TJ Johnson before filing day. Call me crazy.
Dayton Daily news picked up an AP story which sniffs it, and basically declares it doesn’t pass the smell test. It is no small task to file the required 1,000 signatures to run for US Senate. Lee couldn’t do it himself with volunteers – he has been paying staff to do it, right up to the filing deadline. Johnson could not have done this on her own. Here’s Johnson’s pathetic Youtube announcement, and her equally ridiculous campaign website….you tell me if this looks like a campaign capable of collecting 1,000 signatures statewide without significant help from another interested party.
But here’s the thing. If the Brunner victory dynamic takes hold, which it will, this race isn’t going to be that close – it certainly won’t be close enough for a few dozen votes peeling off to some random female name on the ballot to cost Brunner the race. Women are not voting for Jennifer because she’s a woman – they are voting for Jennifer because she is a hero who is also a woman.
Before you say, “wait, TJ Johnson is black, too!” May I remind you that Brunner is just as much of a hero to the black community, in fact, moreso. Brunner’s appeal is a message driven dynamic. This TJ Johnson joke of a candidacy is a tactical dynamic. Message beats tactic, every time. The two demographic groups who may peel off for a random black woman ain’t gonna peel off of Jennifer Brunner.
I’m quite certain this is not the last we’ll hear about this.
Latest issue of the Independent is about to hit the streets, here are more pieces from this edition – I have a blurb on the District 3 county council race’s conflict of interest extravaganza, and one on the Lancer event with Jennifer Brunner. James has a piece on Bill Mason covering up his texting habits (could use a lawyer!), and one on Bill O’Neill’s run against Steve Latourette.
At some point, the dollar signs which Lee incessantly throws in everyone’s face will start to dwindle. Lee came out with a bang, and in the next quarter, his numbers dropped. Next quarter, they’ll drop some more. And then the next. By the end of 2009, Lee will be on a precipitous glide path. The proverbial wad has been shot.
Brunner, however, because of her performance in 2008, has a message that has already taken hold in the national blogosphere. She is a hero for national progressives. They’ve already got her back. My guess is that by December, national progressives online will take a long hard look at what a Fisher loss to Portman in 2010 will mean for Barack Obama in 2012, and Brunner’s online haul will ignite. There is no worse story line for Barack out of Ohio in 2010 than that a BUSH ADMINISTRATION TRADE OFFICIAL won the Ohio Senate seat. Once national progressives take their look, they will start pushing Brunner. Hard.
That December “long hard look” happened, and now, it’s taking hold. The problem with a campaign relying on viral online mojo is that this viral nature is unpredictable. At the risk of patting myself on the back too hard, you can’t predict it any better than I did in July. But it wasn’t that hard to predict – Brunner’s campaign is on the launch pad in February precisely as anyone with a brain would expect it to be, and precisely as it needs to be for Brunner to win.
In the meantime, Lee Fisher has spent about $1 million, and has gone nowhere. This is how Lee Fisher always campaigns – he raises a lot of money, then proceeds to flush it down the toilet. Lee hasn’t even filed yet – a lot of his money is being spent on paid staff to collect those signatures. Where the rest of the money has gone, who knows, but it hasn’t led to any traction on the ground, or movement in the polls. Lee is either treading water or going backward.
So here’s another prediction. If this momentum online continues for Brunner, and there’s no reason to think it won’t, by the end of March, she will be at fundraising parity with Fisher. To continue the momentum, Jennifer needs to keep pushing online, and start taking visible shots at Republicans.
Sarah Palin is teed up for Jennifer – I can imagine Jennifer on MSNBC saying that Palin is putting the cause of women in politics back a generation by embodying every stereotype imaginable by using a cheat sheet written on her hand like she’s a cheerleader needing to be reminded of the word “spirit”, cue the school cheer. It’s laughable, and perfect for Jennifer to punch.
Thank God Jennifer Brunner filed for this US Senate seat.
Which must make Jennifer Brunner’s campaign jump for joy. Here’s Anthony’s take on the firing of Geri Prado.
Furthermore, the move was less about the primary and more about the larger picture, specifically focusing more energy, focus, and resources to a battle with Rob Portman in the fall. There will be skeptics who claim Fisher is worried that Brunner is polling too close and the move of Prado to Howser is out of panic that the race is slipping away. I’m not sure I agree with that interpretation, only because I don’t think Team Fisher is overly concerned about Brunner at this point.
Here’s how I think this Geri Prado thing went down. Lee told Prado he wanted to focus on Portman, we’re losing ground to Portman, not raising enough money, blah blah blah. Prado told Lee, dude, you have a primary on May 5 against Jennifer Brunner. Lee showed Prado the door. Prado happily walked through it, knowing that if Lee is this deluded, he’s a dead man walking anyway.
What planet is Lee Fisher on? There is plenty of polling showing Lee has a race, there may even be polling showing Lee behind Brunner. Jennifer Brunner filed weeks ago, Lee has yet to file. ODP is not going to endorse. The Cuyahoga County Democratic Party didn’t endorse, Lee’s own home county party. Brunner’s field operation is running across the state, and Lee doesn’t even have a field operation. Tomorrow, Jennifer Brunner is going to be welcomed with open arms by one of Cleveland’s legendary African American institutions, in the heart of Lee Fisher’s base. Huge chunks of Lee’s former fundraising base in Northeast Ohio are now Jennifer Brunner’s fundraising base. Brunner is starting to get traction in the national netroots. If this isn’t a primary, I don’t know what is.
Looks like Lee is ignoring Bill Clinton’s sage advice, which Bill repeats like a mantra, regarding what happens when you look past your next election. You lose your next election. Lee’s next election is in 3 months, against Jennifer Brunner. Lee is completely ignoring that.
Thank God Jennifer Brunner filed for this US Senate seat.
As everyone in Cuyahoga County politics knows, The Lancer, the legendary African American community hot spot in Cleveland for decades, burned down recently. George Dixon is re-opening The Lancer in a space across the street with a big event tomorrow, and Jennifer Brunner will be a guest of honor. I’ll be attending.
Thursday, February 4, 2010 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
The Lancer Restaurant 7804 Carnegie Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44103
This event is filled with symbolism. The Lancer has been at the center of African American politics in Cleveland for decades. Its destruction was mourned throughout the state. That George Dixon is making a herculean effort to re-open this quickly says a lot about the resilience of this city and the black community in Cleveland.
Jennifer Brunner is a hero among African Americans in Cleveland for her work as Secretary of State. No segment of the Democratic Party more appreciates her efforts to clean up Ohio elections, and specifically Cuyahoga County elections, than Cleveland’s black community. Brunner is well on her way to locking up this segment of the Cuyahoga County Democratic primary electorate.
That Lee Fisher will not be at this event, in his home county, at a location which he likely passes almost daily on his way home to Shaker Hts., says a great deal about Lee Fisher’s campaign. The black community in Cleveland has a long memory, especially within the Democratic Party. To this day, you will hear people repeat their shock at watching Bill Mason and Pat O’Malley shout down Stephanie Tubbs Jones at the ODP chair election in December, 2005. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Lee Fisher is tied to all of that, not just through his endorsement of Issue 6 last fall, taking sides with Bill Mason against practically every black elected official in Cuyahoga County, but through Lee’s own relationship with ODP, the perception that Lee is an ODP darling, and the reality that Lee Fisher’s career is defined by disengagement with his own home county Democratic Party.
Another rec’d diary. If Brunner gets one of these bumps every two weeks or so, the cumulative momentum will bring her campaign to parity with Lee Fisher on fundraising well before election day. That, on top of much else, will mean Lee Fisher is done.
After a year or so of treading water on the online fundraising front, Jennifer is starting to cook with gas. Pretty soon, she’ll have crossed a tipping point, past which every single thing she writes online will raise money in large amounts.
The entire Ohio Democratic Party is teed up to put your political career to rest, with dignity and grace. Your own home county party is ignoring your race, to the point that you had to have paid staff collecting signatures at last weekend’s executive committee meeting. The writing is on the wall – you’re behind, you know it, you’re gonna lose, and so you have a choice to make.
Lee, you can go out gracefully, putting up a good fight the whole way, and perhaps one day fool everyone into thinking you might be worth another statewide shot. Whoop. Eee. Or, you could spend all that loot you crow on and on about in a failed scorched earth effort to give us the honor of watching you lose one more time to a Republican. We know you’re thinkin’ about it. You’ve been doin’ it on the sly for a year.
So go ahead.
Dare ya. For a couple reasons.
First, it will send Jennifer Brunner’s online fundraising through the flippin’ roof. Jennifer is a hero in this state, it’s the main reason she’s been able to survive your backroom threats already. One veiled threat from the DSCC chair Bob Menendez basically made Brunner’s payroll in December. If you go scorched earth, Lee, every penny you spend doing so will yield Jennifer 10 times that amount. So there’s that.
Second, it will backfire in the electorate, big time. See “hero”. If you go negative on Brunner, Lee, every Democrat in Ohio will have all the reason in the world to salt the earth over your political grave so you never spring up again. If you think Ohio Dems are just itchin’ to give you another shot, going negative will prove to you otherwise so fast, you’ll have a hard time showing your face among Democrats anywhere in this state without people refusing to shake your hand. They’re basically there already.
So do us all a favor, Lee. Throw that corporate money of yours against the wall like vomit, see if it sticks. Just a little free advice.
Thanks to Adrienne, a regular commenter here, for stepping to the plate and helping Jennifer Brunner with a diary at Kos. This is how it’s done, folks. Engage, online, now. And don’t stop until Jennifer Brunner is our nominee. Then take a nice long break, and get right back at it.
I signed Lee Fisher’s petition today at the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting for May 5 primary endorsements, happily. I’ve always wanted to see a primary in this race, we’ve got one, no reason not to sign. But it does strike me as odd that the so-called “inevitable” candidate is still collecting petitions, with paid staff, at his own home county’s primary endorsement meeting, where the party refuses to endorse him. Fun.
The meeting was fairly drama free, except for two races. In the Ohio State Senate district 23 primary, the county party had to go to a separate vote of the district’s members to decide not to endorse, a victory for State Rep. Mike Skindell, who is facing a Bill Mason backed dude named Celebrezze – classic, bullshit, name-based politics trying to kneecap a very good legislator in Mike Skindell, and it failed. Plus, there’s some dude named Mottl from Parma in the primary, which splits the Parma name-voters, so I like Skindell’s chances. Go Mike!
In the Ohio House district 10 primary, apparently Roosevelt Coats is on some weird kamikaze mission to challenge incumbent Robin Belcher, no idea why. Coats had someone try to move from the floor on HD-10 to do something (not endorse? couldn’t tell), but the lack of a quorum from the district scuppered that. Coats was in the lobby trying to gather signatures for god knows what, I half expect him to end up in my race for county council!
And then there’s Bill Mason, who in a ghostly fashion, wandered up to the stage toward the end of the meeting to ask why the county party wouldn’t endorse in the auditor’s race for David Pepper. The parliamentarian said the county party had received “guidance” from ODP not to endorse in this race. Mason, leaning on the top of a chair in the front row of the auditorium, dressed in what looked like his pajamas and blue jeans, wondered, “why?” Pepper is unopposed in this primary, but he isn’t an incumbent, like the other statewides the county party endorsed. The parliamentarian repeated they’d received guidance from ODP on the race, and said the county party could call a meeting at another time if things changed. Then Mason wandered back to his seat.
I’m betting this was Lee Fisher inspired. My guess is that Mason wanted to force a Pepper endorsement to then piggy back from that to move from the floor that if the party was going to endorse non-incumbents in statewide primaries, they should hold a vote for the endorsement in the US Senate primary.
Whether or not that’s the case, it is telling that Mason failed in both the battles he chose to fight today, in a room he should have been able to control, given how dead and dying the county party seems to be right now. Rather pathetically, too.
Anthony gets Lee at the Barack Obama event in Elyria – why couldn’t Lee be at the Barack Obama event last year in his hometown of Shaker Hts? I digress – and Lee does what Lee does best. Talks a lot, says precisely nothing.
In particular, Lee would not answer any process questions on health care, i.e., should the House just pass the Senate bill as is, or start over, or push through with reconciliation, or do something else. Process questions are the ONLY questions remaining on health care, and Lee just blah blahs his way past the opportunity to show leadership. Typical.
Then Lee does some bizarre dance about who the outsider would be vs. Rob Portman, claiming the outsider mantle because he’s lived in Ohio, and Portman’s lived in DC. Um….Lee Fisher is an outsider? Does Lee really think anyone will believe that? I guess it must make you feel like an outsider when after 30 years in politics your home county Democratic Party isn’t going to endorse you tomorrow at Euclid High School, or ODP won’t endorse you, but really? There’s no outsider on the ballot if Lee Fisher faces Rob Portman in the fall.
Lee blathered on about jobs….I don’t know who is running Lee’s message, but talk about the toughest assignment of this entire cycle – having Lee talk about jobs without reminding everyone that Lee put himself in charge of….jobs. Lee is so vulnerable on the issue, he’s asking people for suggestions…on jobs. Lee’s candidacy is a walking, living, breathing, off-message contradiction. Lee doesn’t even have to open his mouth for voters to know it. And when he does open his mouth, he makes it worse.
Ohio’s two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates – Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner – shared the stage at a forum here Wednesday night, but the 90-minute session had the feel of separate events.
And of course, Lee’s campaign arm….er….I mean the Hamilton County Women’s Democratic Caucus, parroted Lee’s own talking points verbatim.
“I want to remind you – this is not a debate,” Quinlivan said. “Repeat after me – this is not a debate.”
On the internets, we call that a ROFLMAO. Lee’s first priority was to keep Jennifer Brunner from filing, that happened yesterday. Lee’s second priority was to get the ODP endorsement, that isn’t happening, in fact, Lee’s own home county Democratic Party isn’t going to endorse Lee. Lee’s next priority was to not share a stage with Jennifer Brunner, and that happened last night, over the pathetic attempts of his stalking horses within HCWDC.
Thank God Lee Fisher will not be our nominee in the fall.
