Better Late Than Never, Lee Fisher Going Grassroots on Marathon Day Tour

Submitted by Anthony Fossaceca on Tue, 10/26/2010 - 4:33pm.

When a campaign is low on funds, but still needing the earned media coverage it can no longer buy, they're often forced to get creative and come up with new ways to pull a little more local coverage their way. It's no different in the U.S. Senate race where Democrat Lee Fisher is facing a seriously uphill battle in the closing week. Almost every published poll has Fisher down by double digits.

But of course, that doesn't mean you pack up the tent.

This is politics. And everyday can be a game changer. While you can't count on a critical mistake by your opponent, you want to put yourself in the best position to win if that mistake comes. The Fisher campaign seems ready to fight to the finish line and hope for a few breaks.

Tomorrow, the campaign launches their "Ohio Never Sleeps" tour of 27 straight hours of campaigning. Fisher kicks his tour off at the CWA/NAACP Candidates Forum at 6:15pm Wednesday before heading through some Franklin County stops en route to a finish on Thursday night at the Tri-County Regional Labor Council event in Akron at 7:30pm. Along the way, Fisher will be meeting with College Dems, singing karaoke, bowling, greeting UAW workers in Cleveland, riding on public transportation, and more.

Candidates often times take a lot of grief for these types of tours and events. But you know what? I'll defend any candidate who does something, no matter how silly or unconventional. It's easy to sit back and say "what the heck are they doing?" But when you've got a shoestring budget left (and we will have a long discussion late next week about HOW this campaign got to this point), I'm just happy they're out there trying to do whatever it takes to reach the voters.

Why didn't he do it in the summer

Submitted by Anastasia Pantsios on Tue, 10/26/2010 - 6:28pm.

like Eric Fingerhut did? The problem for me is that Lee Fisher was not supposed to be a candidate like Fingerhut, radically underfunded compared to his opponent. For a year all we heard was what a great fundraiser Lee is. When the money didn't materialize, he should have hit the road immediately — like last July, or last June. The problem now is that many people have early voted and there really isn't time to catch up without an epic collapse on Portman's part. And I said months ago — and I've been right so far — that the one candidate on the GOP slate who is NOT going to make a big mistake is Rob Portman. Almost every Democrat I have talked to who has met him likes him and says he's very warm and personable and doesn't evade people who don't agree with him like Kasich.