Brunner, a former Franklin County common pleas court judge, is running against Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat.
The winner of the primary will face Republican Rob Portman, a former Cincinnati-area U.S. House member, in November. Incumbent Republican Sen. George Voinovich will retire at the end of his term.
A poll from the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston, released on Friday, showed Fisher leading Brunner 55-27 percent among likely Democratic primary voters, with 18 percent undecided. A Quinnipiac University poll released earlier in the week shows Fisher ahead 41-24 percent.
“Those numbers are very soft,” Brunner said. “As far as I’m concerned the race is still wide open.”
Brunner has been traveling the state in a used silver school bus – bought on eBay for $2,050 and dubbed the “Courage Express.”
Campaign finance reports that showed Fisher had $1.8 million on hand after the first quarter of the year, compared to just $79,131 for Brunner. Fisher has launched two TV ads while Brunner has put up no TV ads. Fisher lined up Gov. Ted Strickland’s endorsement and campaign donors early on.
Brunner said Friday she did not take any money from CEOs or political action committees from banks that received bailout money from the federal government.
She spoke briefly about her plans to take charge on quality of life issues like women’s health care, her excitement about new biofuel technologies that she hopes will bring sustainable jobs to Ohio, and her anger over big banking’s betrayal of the middle class. She also fielded questions from supporters about health care, education and jobs.
“There is a huge potential opportunity for us here,” she said about clean energy technologies she’s seen on an Innovation Tour of the state. “We need a senator who’s going to support Ohioans in these endeavors.”
W
illiam Hershey, Columbus
B
u
reau, contributed to this article.
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Katie Wedell
at (937) 225-2124 or kwedell@coxohio.com.
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