Brunner Down, But Not Out

By Erin McPike

OH Sec/State Jennifer Brunner (D) has vowed to keep her SEN campaign alive until the May primary and even made it to DC on Wednesday for a fundraiser with an Afghanistan veterans group.

But, Brunner conceded in an interview, she will continue reporting below-average fundraising numbers at the end of this quarter. "It will look like I won't at the end of this quarter," she said when asked whether she will be able to run a credible paid media campaign.

Brunner replaced her finance team earlier this year in an effort to beef up fundraising, but she has since decided to "roll with the punches." She said she realized that with all of the institutional support going to LG Lee Fisher (D), she's been forced to run a grassroots campaign, and she thinks it's going well.

"I started my law practice out of the corner of my bedroom," she said. It eventually grew to 32 people. "When you start a small business, you have to run things as lean and mean as you can. I think donors appreciate when you don't waste their money."

The DSCC has all but written her off, however, and the establishment has turned to Fisher. In fact, Brunner said when she spoke with DSCC Chair Bob Menendez in Sept., he first told her 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."

(For their part, the DSCC points out they elected 4 new women in the last two cycles that they actively recruited and with NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, MA AG Martha Coakley and MO Sec/State Robin Carnahan, they've got another 3 this cycle.)

Fisher is also winning the endorsements battle. He has the support of Gov. Ted Strickland (D), as well as several Dem members of the Ohio congressional delegation, including Reps. Tim Ryan, Zack Space and Charlie Wilson.

The Buckeye State, Brunner noted, is expected to lose 2 congressional districts after the '10 Census, and she said each party can expect to shed one. For that reason, Brunner said that when she met with Space, he "admitted his endorsement of Fisher had to do with the governor's potential role in determining which districts would be eliminated after the census."

Update: Space's office denies the charge. "With all due respect to Secretary of State Brunner, Rep. Space never said that at all. What [Space] told her was that while he has the utmost respect for her, he believed that ... Fisher's efforts to bring about new economic development and jobs is precisely what Ohio needs at this moment when the national economy has devastated Ohio's workers and industries," campaign spokesman Brent Parrish said in a statement emailed to Hotline OnCall.

Brunner also said several mayors backing Fisher told her they were doing so to protect money headed to their cities.

And though Rep. Marcia Fudge (D) is neutral in the primary, Brunner said Fudge told her that she would make a better candidate than Fisher.

Brunner stressed that it's not just about money or endorsements, though, and reiterated that she just wants to win voters. "I'm doing well in polling," she offered.

Indeed, Quinnipiac's trend lines show her having closed a gap this fall against Fisher. In its latest survey of 394 RVs, taken 11/5-9 with a 4.9% error margin, Fisher led 24%-22%, after having led by 9 points in mid-Sept.

The DSCC points out that some recent polls have showed Fisher polling better against ex-Rep. Rob Portman (R), the likely GOP nominee.

Brunner's most potent possible ally, EMILY's List, has been notably absent from the race. She said it's been a while since she spoke with the organization.

"They discouraged me from running because the governor was supporting Fisher," she explained but said she doesn't understand why they would stay neutral in a primary where they had a decent chance of electing a woman who already holds statewide office to the Senate.

But Brunner has also suffered from bad press throughout the year for ethics flaps, along with Dem strategists crowing that her campaign is dysfunctional.

She has had to defend herself after she transferred 2 campaign employees to her official office. One had skills better suited to the official office, she said, and the other was replaced on the campaign by a consultant. "I know it probably looks odd," she said, but she insisted that neither one is involved in the campaign now.

But Brunner said the onslaught of negativity and attacks from within her own party is not demoralizing.

"I had lots of death threats last year," she said, referring to the role she had to play in overseeing the emotionally (and racially, she said) charged '08 presidential election in OH. "For 7 weeks I was supervised by the highway patrol," she said, pulling out her "souvenir," a highway patrol badge. "I was sued 15 times in 8 weeks by the Republican Party."