Fisher, Portman forge ahead to meet deadline

By David Skolnick

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher’s campaign manager said the ability of the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate’s to raise $780,000 during the final three months of last year “reflects the campaign’s growing momentum.”

But a campaign spokeswoman for ex-U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, the leading Republican candidate for the same seat, dismissed Fisher’s fund-raising amount, calling it “anemic.”

With the amount raised between October and December, Fisher has raised more than $3.25 million for his Senate bid.

“In the midst of a terrible recession, the generosity of Ohioans in every corner of our state has been truly humbling,” said Geri Prado, Fisher’s campaign manager.

The 2009 fourth-quarter campaign-finance reports for U.S. House and Senate candidates running in the May 4 primary must be filed by Jan. 31 with the Federal Election Commission.

Two weeks before the deadline, Fisher’s campaign sent an e-mail to reporters about the amount of money he raised.

When asked about how much was spent in the last quarter of 2009 and the amount of money in the fund as of Dec. 31, a Fisher spokesman said the campaign is “still crunching numbers.”

The amount Fisher raised in the last three months of 2009 was up from the $621,390 he raised between July and September of last year.

It fell short of the $1,011,673 he raised in the first three months of 2009 and the $911,888 he raised between April and June.

However, Fisher raised more money in any of the four quarters in 2009 than Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, also running for Senate as a Democrat, raised overall in the first nine months of last year.

Brunner raised $582,660 in the first nine months of the year and had a $111,896 campaign-fund surplus as of Sept. 30.

In comparison, Fisher had $1,598,616 as of Sept. 30.

In response to Fisher’s fourth-quarter fund-raising number, a Portman campaign spokeswoman said the amount is “anemic” and shows that the lieutenant governor’s “campaign is struggling.”

Portman’s fourth-quarter report isn’t done, said Jessica R. Towhey, his campaign spokeswoman.

But “it will show that our campaign once again has very significantly outraised [Fisher] by improving on our efforts last quarter,” she said.

Portman’s campaign raised $1,310,706 in 2009’s third quarter. Overall, Portman raised $6,231,323 for the Senate race and had $5,146,788 on hand as of Sept. 30.

Towhey mocked Fisher, calling him the “Ohio job czar.” Towhey’s comments played off statements Fisher made last week to The Vindicator.

Fisher told the newspaper last week that his resignation about 11 months ago as head of the Ohio Department of Development is beneficial toward his work on the economy in a state with a high unemployment rate.

“In some ways, it’s a benefit,” Fisher said, because it’s “freed me up to do more work.”

When asked for examples, Fisher said most of the projects involved “confidential negotiations,” and he isn’t “allowed to discuss them at the time.”

Auto dealer Tom Ganley is challenging Portman in the Republican primary. Ganley said he plans to spend millions of his own money to get elected. He joined the race July 1 and raised $147,574 through Sept. 30.

A Rasmussen Reports poll shows Portman with a 7-percentage-point lead over Fisher and a 3-percentage-point lead over Brunner. But the poll, conducted Tuesday by telephone of 500 likely voters and released Thursday, has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points, thus making both matchups statistical dead heats.

skolnick@vindy.com