While Brunner Talks and Knocks, Fisher Makes Endorsement Locks

Both candidates for the U.S. Senate have been busy today.

Jennifer Brunner had another OpEd on Huffington Post today, calling attention to four key steps she believes congress can take to address the myriad of issues facing America's veterans. It's a smart piece worth reading and I'm hoping to cover a little more about this topic in coming days here at OhioDaily.

From the post:

Rather than simply honor our veterans once a year, we need to take the walk of all the great talk by helping to improve their lives on a daily basis. Veterans Day should be more than a celebration of the heroism and dedication of the brave women and men who have fought for our freedom; it should also be a sharp reminder that we need to confront the ongoing struggles facing veterans and their families.

For his part, Lee Fisher was announcing another regional group of endorsements, this time from the Mahoning Valley where he picked up the support of State Reps Letson, Okey and Gerberry as well as Waren Mayor Michael O'Brien and Hubbard Mayor Arthur Magee. The endorsements from the Fisher camp once seemed significant. But as time has gone by, and Brunner has dug in her heels, the whole exercise seems almost unworthy of mentioning. Fisher is outraising Brunner and clearly locking down more endorsements, but the impact, to this point, hasn't been reflected in the polls.

One thing to keep an eye on over the next few weeks is the field operation of Team Brunner. The Brunner Brigade is conducting canvass training this weekend ahead of an effort to begin reaching out to voters across the state. Does Team Fisher have similar plans? If they do, we're not hearing about them yet. The whole thing has a rather bizarre aura of history repeating. The primary, in many ways, smells like Obama v. Clinton in some of the early states with Clinton (Fisher) locking down the party insiders and relying on fundraising and paid media, while Obama (Brunner) is actually doing aggressive field work and IDing voters.

Ohio is a big state. And in November, December, and January, it's downright brutal for knocking on doors. Can the Brunner Brigade hit their canvass goals hard enough to have a meaningful impact on the outcome? For their sake, they better. Because right now, this race is Lee Fisher's to lose. Kind of like it was for Hillary.