Jennifer Brunner : The Velvet Inferno Begins Burning the Script

When you're in a state like Ohio - big, but not too big - you hear things a lot of different ways. Sometimes, you hear nice comments about someone. Other times you hear nasty comments. Rumors. Scandals. Exaggerations. Misquotes. You name it.

Very rarely do you hear a line about someone that just about everyone else repeats.

With Jennifer Brunner, there have been two lines - one from people who know her, and another from people who really know her.

The line from the people who know her goes like this : "Jennifer Brunner is such a wonderful person. I'd hate to see her lose this primary. She's very good at what she's doing and we should all be so grateful to have her as Secretary of State. The problem is that she's too nice. Rob Portman would destroy her."

The line from the people who really know her goes like this : "God help these f___ers if they don't take her seriously. She's a wonderful person. Don't get me wrong. She's caring and compassionate and I'd walk through fire for her. But God help these guys if they cross her. She's got ice water running through those veins and she'll take you down a brick at a time or blow your whole house down."

And that's from the people who not only really know her, but from the people who really respect her.

This afternoon, the DC publication Hotline ran a story that's chock full of every side story we've heard over the last six months, but could never repeat or report. At long last, the story about the behind the scenes look at the Jennifer Brunner for U.S. Senate campaign is playing out. In part, because Jennifer Brunner doesn't care what the establishment thinks anymore.

Most notably is the story about her meeting with DSCC Chair Bob Menendez who, according to Brunner, told her (reported by Hotline, but heard in strikingly similar detail from two unconnected sources to OhioDaily last month) that he "didn't want to see a Democratic candidate at the end of the primary with zero dollars," and he followed up that his organization would go into the state to work against a candidate perceived as "being negative in the primary or not raising enough money."

Brunner said she responded: "If you do that, the women of Ohio will never forgive you." Menendez, she said, retorted: "I know you're not scared of me, and I'm not scared of you."

I have to admit something. The version I heard wasn't quite that nice. The versions I heard of this story (and two similar meetings with other men over the last year) made me more than a little excited to see a woman candidate, in a state dominated by males, not only standing up to condescending threats, but literally shaking up the men to the point of their curling up in the fetal position.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about wanting to see Jennifer Brunner rise up a little:

"Fisher is incredibly bright, thoughtful and articulate. Brunner has some sharp elbows and a set of brass knuckles sitting in her coat pocket. Just once, I'd like to see both candidates switch tactics for a few days, show us their other sides, and give us a taste of what else they're made of.

Today, she did just that. Fisher's supporters may dust it off as a desperate candidate running short on time and low on fuel. There's some truth to that. Jennifer Brunner wouldn't be swinging for the fences with an eight run lead. But I look at today as more of a warning shot to the sexist players in our own party, the Portman campaign and the members of the U.S. Senate who think they'll have another wallflower to push around. This girl don't play that game.

Things are getting serious in the Senate these days. Now more than ever, we need someone there who isn't about playing nice. We need someone who gets shit done. Jennifer Brunner is someone who has and does. I'm glad she's playing to win in this race. Hopefully, win or lose, progressive Ohio women will stop settling for being around power and start taking, very seriously, the steps needed to take control of the power.

You don't do it by knowing your place or playing a role. You do it by burning the rule book with internal fire.

UPDATE : Other takes on this include Russo at Kos, Plunderbund, and BSB