Lee Fisher Wants More Than Dann's Old Gig

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: Ohio Government
• Date: May 23,2008

I have always loved speculating on who is going run for what office and when. I also have often said and opined that our Lt. Governor / Director of Development Lee Fisher is using his current position as a springboard for something he considers better and more worthy of his greatness. Thursday the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Fisher stated in no uncertain terms that he does not want the vacant AG job, one that he held from 1991 through 1995. From the article:

And he's not looking to switch tracks now, he said. "I loved being Attorney General of Ohio. But I love being Lieutenant Governor and Director of Development even more," he said. "I really love what I'm doing." Does that mean he has no interest in replacing Dann? "That means no," he said. Even if Strickland asked? Even if Strickland asked, he said.

I have long shared my belief that Fisher wants to run for Senate against George Voinovich in 2010. Ohio Democrats are going to be lining up and trampling each other over in an effort to get that nomination. They saw how bad DeWine did in 2006 against Sherrod Brown, not the world's greatest candidate to say the least. They will see Republicans lose more Senate seats in 2008 regardless of what happens in the race for the White House. And they know Voinovich is not held in high regard by many Ohio Republicans (one of many examples here). Fisher will be in the drivers seat if he wants the nomination. There would be a fight if someone else wanted it (maybe Tim Ryan for one), but Fisher starts out as the favorite. However, Fisher took a big political gamble when he decided to take Strickland's offer to be both Lt. Governor and head of the Director of State Development department. When Ohio fails to create jobs, that can be pinned on Fisher as Director of Development in an election. (For the record I bet it will end up being Treasurer Cordray as the Dem nominee for the Dann tainted office - but he won't be appointed in the interim, allowing Strickland to appoint his successor if he wins it).

So why doesn't Fisher want the AG job? No one knows how that election is going to play out. Will Dann's tenure have an effect on the race? McCain and Obama will be on the ballot the same day. Fisher can't risk running for AG and losing when he would still be an officeholder when things gear up for the 2010 Senate race, which will probably be Spring/Summer 2009. Plus, Fisher has a mixed record when he has run statewide. (See after the jump for his track record.) Fisher has to also hope that Strickland is the VP nominee and wins so he can become governor, in which case he would either run for that job again or have an even higher profile to use to run for Senate.

(Previously I wrote about Fisher using his current job as it relates to his future job here and here and here on my own site).

Interesting to go back to look at the past state election results at Brunner's page….1990 for instance. Jim Petro loses a run for state auditor. Stephanie Tubbs Jones ran for Ohio Supreme Court? Funny to go back and look at some of the races I saw commercials for as a kid.

Regardless, I think we all know one person in Columbus hoping Strickland is the VP nominee and leaves town.

Previous Lee Fisher Runs for Statewide Office: Before he latched on to Strickland for the 2006 Ohio Republican Massacre, he wasn't exactly a statewide power, but he was no pushover either. As I previously mentioned, Fisher was elected Attorney General in 1990, but fell in 1994 to Betty Montgomery. In 1998, Fisher lost to Bob Taft in his race for Governor. A split record…throw out 1994 (GOP year) and 2006 (Democrat year) and Fisher is 1 for 2 in his statewide bids. In 1990 he beat Republican Paul Pfeifer by 1200 votes out of just over 3,360,000 votes. In 1994 he lost to Montgomery by around 90,000 votes - but got more votes than any Democrat statewide that year. In 1998 when he lost to Taft he ran ahead of other state Democrats again. I don't care to look at the 2006 page on the Secretary of State's page site. I still remember that night pretty clearly.

Glass City Jungle discusses the Fisher as AG rumors as well.