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Fisher: I’ll win the race
YOUNGSTOWN
Though he trails by double-digits in most polls for the U.S. Senate with less than a month before Election Day, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher says he’ll win the race.
“I don’t think there’s any question that the wind is in our face,” Fisher, a Democrat, told The Vindicator editorial board Wednesday. “I know that. But I’ve done this before.”
Fisher said he “was given zero chance to win” when he ran in 1990 for attorney general against Republican Paul E. Pfeifer.
“I was way behind in the polls,” he said.
But Fisher won that race by 1,234 votes in one of the closest elections in the state’s history.
Fisher ended up on the losing side in close races for his 1994 re-election bid for attorney general and in 1998 for governor.
Fisher said he expects the U.S. Senate race against Republican Rob Portman to be close despite polls showing the race isn’t competitive. The latest poll, by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, released Wednesday has Portman winning by 19 percentage points.
“I’m somebody who is always the underdog and always fights for the underdog and never gives up,” he said. “We think that when it comes down to it, the grassroots organization [of my campaign and the Ohio Democratic Party] and what I think is a far more compelling message wins the day.”
In response, Jessica R. Towhey, Portman’s campaign spokeswoman, said: “Lt. Gov. Fisher told people to hold him accountable for job creation, and then sat there asleep at the switch while the state lost 400,000 jobs, with nearly nine out of every 10 jobs that have left Ohio in the last four year going to other states. It’s no wonder Lt. Gov. Fisher’s campaign is losing credibility and supporters nearly as fast as the state has lost jobs. Ohio’s on the wrong track, falling behind the rest of the country, and voters are getting behind” Portman.
Portman has more campaign money than Fisher, $8.88 million to $1.27 million as of June 30, and has aired eight television commercials since the primary compared to one for Fisher.
Fisher doesn’t discount the importance of television commercials, but said with TiVo and other digital video recorders that allow TV views to skip commercials, as well as other forms of communication, including newspapers and the Internet, there are other ways for candidates to get their message to voters.
“We’ve actually gone to a place now where grassroots has become more effective and not less effective,” Fisher said referring to door-to-door campaigning. “If you knock on someone’s door, they can’t TiVo you.”
During his interview with The Vindicator, Fisher said Portman is being irresponsible when he talks of repealing the national health care bill.
Rather, Fisher said, there should be improvements to the bill.
Fisher said: “I would respect my opponent if he said, ‘You know what? There are some things in this bill I don’t like. Let’s amend it and improve it.’ That’s not what he’s doing. He’s doing the demigod [Republican] party-line approach and saying, ‘Let’s start all over again.’”
Fisher said the bill needs to be improved and include a public option as well as the elimination of taxing health-care benefits.