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Democrat rivals struggling to raise profiles before election

Senate contenders Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner have little name recognition among Democratic voters.

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By Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Bureau Updated 10:50 PM Saturday, April 17, 2010

It’s the biggest race in the May 4 election, yet with little more than two weeks to go Democrats Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner are struggling with name recognition.

Their own.

Fisher and Brunner are vying to run against Republican former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman in the November election for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring George Voinovich.

Despite running statewide before — in Fisher’s case four times — both candidates are known to fewer than half the likely Democratic primary voters. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 60 percent of those voters said they don’t know much about Fisher, and 65 percent said they don’t know Brunner.

“They’re just not well known ,” said Quinnipiac’s Peter Brown . “In a situation like this, the candidate with the most money — assuming he or she uses it wisely — has the advantage. You can buy name recognition.”

If Brown is right, then Fisher has the advantage . He reported a campaign war chest of $1.8 million and started TV ads April 14 to tell voters about his track record. Fisher bought $33,000 in ad time on Time Warner cable and spent more on broadcast channels.

Brunner, who last reported less than $61,000 in her campaign account, doesn’t have enough money to buy a nano-second of statewide TV time . Instead, she is traveling the state in a used school bus that the campaign bought for $2,050 off eBay and volunteers painted silver. She posted a 90-second Web ad on YouTube last week, saying Fisher is running a negative campaign despite saying publicly that he wouldn’t go negative.

Both candidates say they want Ohio Democrats united come May 5, the day after the election.

Staff Writer Lynn Hulsey contributed to this report.

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