I just about never do this, but please rec this diary! We have an awesome candidate (and Kossack!) in Brunner and she needs our help. Her Ohio primary is in May and while the candidates are tied in polls, her opponent Fisher has a lot more cash on hand. The likely Republican nominee, Rob Portman, enjoys even more of an advantage there.
Hopefully, Portman is all the motivation we need to kick this race into gear for Jennifer. In the rubric of "more and better dems," she is definitely one of the better ones.
Namely, she's the Secretary of State who had to clean up after Ken "Your registration is on the wrong card stock" Blackwell. Yeah, the guy who co-chaired Shrubya's re-election chapter in Ohio while he was overseeing elections. Yeah.
Despite her COH disadvantage, Brunner remains confident and I think her record working for the people of Ohio helps with that; she knows they know her work and I have to believe the good people of Ohio appreciate her work. It's certainly earned accolades elsewhere:
Based on recommendations provided by a bipartisan workgroup of election officials, county commissioners and voting rights advocates and the historic 2008 and 2009 election summits called by Secretary Brunner and chaired by the Brennan Center's Lawrence Norden -- the Secretary's final report makes a number of additional recommendations, including the adoption of statewide automatic voter registration and ways to make it easier for citizens to correct ministerial errors that will allow their registration and votes to be counted. The final Elections Summit and Conference report recommended the study of automatic voter registration, among other issues.
"We applaud Secretary Brunner for convening the bipartisan Elections Enhancements Workgroup, a process recommended by the Brennan Center and summit participants. The group's valuable recommendations should further bolster the Ohio Elections Enhancements Bill and promote its adoption," said Norden.
Yeah...that Brennan. Contrast that with the record of Portman, Bush's pointman on the economy. Shall we scour the tubes and see what people are saying about Portman? Too close to breakfast? I understand; all I'll say is that John McCain's "Country First" PAC is supporting his candidacy.
So, what can/should we do? First and foremost, please visit the Action Center page of her campaign site. There is info about phonebanking, house parties, all that good on-the-ground candidate organizey kind of stuff. Donations, of course, always kick arse.
And please, pretty please, if you are in Ohio, write Letters to the Editor. Please get your friends and acquaintances in other parts of Ohio to do the same. Let's fill Ohio's newspapers, rags and fishwraps with support for Jennifer. This holds for any issue at any time, of course, but right now it's all about Brunner. Like this interview:
What do you think is the big difference between you and Lee Fisher?
What seems to be happening in the race is that I'll make a very clear statement on a position that may be controversial, and then he'll usually catch up and speak in a more bland way about that issue. For instance, the Stupak-Pitts amendment that was adopted in order to get the health-bill reform passed out of the House of Representatives: I came out very strongly on it, and later [Fisher] finally made a statement about it.
On gay marriage, he started out saying he could be convinced, and once I came out strongly for it, he was for it. On the Employee Free Choice Act, I came out strongly for it, and finally, at a state-party dinner, he said in one simple sentence that he supports it.
...What's the next generation of industry that can revive the Ohio economy, and what kind of skills will Ohioans need to take advantage of that?
Ohio stands to gain greatly from bringing the public and private sector together to develop clean-energy jobs
And just because Schadenfreude never dies, I give you this funny from a Brunner diary last week:
It’s been an interesting time here at the Brunner campaign. First, the Washington Post’s "The Fix" has concluded that despite Fisher’s fundraising advantage, his campaign is "something short of impressive." Second, after Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner filed her candidate petitions, which was gathered entirely by an army of progressive volunteers, we’ve received phone call after phone call from folks pointing out that our primary opponent has hired out-of-state staff to gather his signatures.
Ha! Seems Fisher, like Portman, has something in common with McCain! That diary also features a campaign video, wherein Brunner says "they haven't been courageous in the Senate." LOL I'm not sure D.C. can handle that kind of candor!
So let's send her there to find out!