GOVERNOR'S RACE Strickland to announce Fisher as running mate

The former attorney general ran for governor eight years ago.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, was to announce today that Lee Fisher will be his lieutenant governor running mate.
Strickland, of Lisbon, D-6th, and Fisher, a former state attorney general, were to disclose this decision today at press conferences in Cleveland and Columbus, a senior campaign adviser told The Vindicator.
Strickland's campaign declined to comment on the Fisher decision Wednesday.
Fisher had considered running for governor this year and in 2002 but opted not to pursue either race.
He ran for governor in 1998, losing to Republican Bob Taft in the most expensive gubernatorial race in the state's history.
Taft received 50 percent of the vote in that race with Fisher getting 45 percent, and two other candidates splitting the remaining 5 percent.
Fisher's running mate in the 1998 election was Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, who planned to run for the Democratic nomination in the May primary but withdrew from the race in November.
Current position
Fisher serves as president and chief executive officer of the Center for Families and Children, a Cleveland-based nonprofit organization that offers programs, counseling and assistance to lower-income families and children.
"Fisher is a strong political name and a good choice," said Paul Sracic, a Youngstown State University political science professor.
Fisher has strong name recognition in Ohio from his three statewide races, he said.
"This helps because Strickland has never run statewide and has limited statewide name recognition," Sracic said. "I'm a little surprised Fisher is willing to take the job because it would be more reasonable to see him run for governor."
Fisher's decision shows the state Democratic Party is unifying behind Strickland, Sracic said. Strickland already has the endorsement of 26 county Democratic Parties and numerous labor unions and organizations.
Fisher lives in Cuyahoga County, the state's largest county and the county with the biggest concentration of Democratic votes in Ohio.
It is also the home county of the two other declared Democratic governor candidates: state Sen. Eric Fingerhut and former state Rep. Bryan Flannery.
With Fisher on the ticket, Strickland will be able to cut into the support Fingerhut and Flannery were expecting from their home county, Sracic said.
Fisher served one term in the Ohio House, and spent eight years in the state Senate before being elected attorney general in 1990. He lost his re-election bid in 1994 to Republican Betty Montgomery.
Montgomery, the state auditor, announced Tuesday she would get out of the governor's race and instead run for attorney general this year.
Fingerhut only recently declared his candidacy for governor and hasn't announced a running mate. Flannery's running mate is Frank Stams, an Akron insurance broker.
skolnick@vindy.com