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Battle for U.S. Senate seat gets interesting
As it stands today, the March 2010 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate would pit two of the party’s more prominent officeholders against each other.
But as we’ve seen in politics a lot can change in a year.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced her candidacy Tuesday in an e-mail and online video announcement to those who’ve signed up for information on her campaign Web site.
Brunner’s announcement was e-mailed while Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher was in Youngstown to talk in general terms about how the government can help the city.
Fisher raced back to Columbus, along with Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, to officially announce his candidacy for senator.
Fisher had established an exploratory committee for the seat and planned to make his announcement shortly. Brunner beat him to the punch.
On the surface, the Tuesday evening press conference looked like a desperate last-minute attempt by Fisher to say, “Hey, I’m running too.”
But a deeper examination shows the rush announcement took away Brunner’s moment to be alone in the spotlight.
Instead of getting the headlines all to herself as well as a few additional days of free publicity, Brunner had to share space with Fisher.
Brunner is a new name to statewide politics.
She resigned as a Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge to run for secretary of state in 2006.
Despite criticism from Ohio Republican leaders, Brunner received national recognition for how she handled last year’s presidential election.
[The secretary of state’s job responsibilities include overseeing elections.]
This was a major accomplishment when you compare it to the 2004 presidential election in Ohio under J. Kenneth Blackwell, secretary of state at the time.
Fisher’s been in politics for several years.
He served as attorney general from 1991 to 1995. He was on the ballot two more times, including the Democratic nominee for governor in 1998, losing both races.
While Fisher stayed politically active, his name wasn’t back on the ballot until 2006 as Gov. Ted Strickland’s running mate.
Strickland chose Fisher because of the latter’s appeal, political connections and ability to raise money in northeast Ohio, particularly Cuyahoga County.
Strickland, the most popular and most influential Democrat in the state, has already pledged his support for Fisher over Brunner.
Other Democrats are following suit and even more will come forward to support Fisher.
For those wondering, this means the end of any chance U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan has of running for the Senate seat being vacated next year by Republican George V. Voinovich.
It was only a few months ago that Strickland publicly touted Ryan at a presidential campaign event in the Mahoning Valley as a future U.S. senator.
Apparently Strickland got caught up in the moment because he’s backing Fisher.
Ryan is smart enough to not get involved in a primary battle. Look for Ryan to endorse Fisher.
A primary between Fisher and Brunner would be bad for Democrats.
Even if both are cordial to each other, a primary would be divisive and very expensive.
In these tough economic times, even the big donors are going to be cautious with the money they’ll contribute.
That can only help Rob Portman, the leading Republican candidate for senator. Portman would also have a primary, but not face much of a challenge earning his party’s nomination.
Brunner is going to face a great deal of pressure from Ohio Democratic leaders to get out of the race.
For Brunner to stay in the race, she’s going to have to raise a lot of money in the next few months.
Most importantly, she’s going to need an endorsement from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, her political mentor and a close friend of Strickland.
Brunner talked to Brown before making her announcement. Brown hasn’t publicly said anything yet about it.
If Brown supports Brunner, we could have a very interesting and potentially explosive Democratic primary.
If Brown endorses Fisher or stays out of the race, Brunner is done and would be wise to seek re-election next year as secretary of state.