The careful, deliberate steps which have defined the early days of the 2010 Democratic Senate Primary here in Ohio are about to become more pronounced and at a faster pace.
OhioDaily has confirmed that EMILY’s List, the Washington DC-based women’s political powerhouse, has deployed staff to Ohio to assist Jennifer Brunner in her increasingly probable bid for the United States Senate. According to a credible source, staffers will hit the ground in Columbus this weekend.
Since it’s founding in 1985, EMILY’s List has helped elect 79 pro-choice Democratic women members of Congress, 15 senators, 9 governors, as well as hundreds of women to state and local office. They also played an important role in supporting Jennifer Brunner in her run for Ohio Secretary of State in 2006.
Because of their familiarity with the would-be candidate and their recent success in Ohio helping elect Betty Sutton, Mary Jo Kilroy, and Marcia Fudge, this action by EMILY’s List has the potential to blossom very quickly. While we have not been able to obtain specifics on what role EMILY’s staff will play in assisting Brunner in these next few days and weeks, it will almost certainly center around fundraising.
EMILY’s early engagement in this race will likely push fence-sitters one way or the other depending on their assessment of this news. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Zack Space, Marcy Kaptur, Peter Lawson Jones or Tim Ryan can carve a large enough piece of the action to become viable, but each prospective candidate will likely weigh this information (or already has), with their own unique perspective and come to their own conclusions. But, as recent Ohio history has shown, early money IS indeed like yeast.
Buckle up and stay tuned to OhioDaily for more on the 2010 Senate Race.