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CANTON — The campaign trail teaches candidates to improvise, and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher always tries to be a good student.
That’s why Fisher took it in stride last week when a luncheon gathering with Mayor William J. Healy II and other local Fisher supporters at Esber’s Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge bumped up against a surprise birthday party at a nearby table.
Fisher and friends joined in singing “Happy Birthday” but not before the lieutenant governor gave birthday boy Glenn Daugherty, who turned 70, an autographed campaign bumper sticker.
“Real nice,” said Daugherty, who nonetheless is undecided in Tuesday’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary between Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
Although he has a 17-point lead over Brunner in the Quinnipiac University poll, Fisher urged supporters here and at a later stop at UAW Local 1112 near the Lordstown GM plant to remember that there are voters like Daugherty out there.
“I’m not presumptuous. I’m not arrogant,” Fisher, 58, said in Lordstown, where Gov. Ted Strickland joined him.
His 1,234-vote squeaker of a victory against Republican Paul Pfeifer in the 1990 attorney general’s race fuels Fisher’s caution.
Still, the campaign almost has the feel of an incumbent seeking re-election.
This is Fisher’s fifth statewide race, and the loyal Democratic allies he has made along the way, plus a big edge in campaign fundraising, clearly are assets in the primary.
“I would have backed Lee unless he were running against my husband,” said Nancy Reinbold, 52, clerk of courts for Stark County, which includes Canton. Reinbold, Fisher’s Stark County coordinator, says she’s been a fan of his “for about 25 years.”
Some relationships span two generations. Stark County Democratic Chairman Randy Gonzaelz, 55, and his son Kody, 28, both back Fisher.
“He connects well across a wide range of people,” said Kody Gonzalez. “It doesn’t matter if you’re 18 years old or 60 years old.”
The question is how much further Fisher’s support extends beyond officeholders and Democratic operatives.
He lost a re-election bid for attorney general in 1994 and the governor’s race in 1998 before his 2006 comeback as Strickland’s running mate.
Even at the union local in Lordstown there was a Brunner backer among those welcoming Fisher and Strickland.
“I know that she’s been reaching out to the Latino community. That’s important to me,” said Armando Labra, 43.
Strickland’s endorsement and Fisher’s emphasis on creating jobs and bashing unfair trade clearly made him the choice of most everybody else.
“I stand by people who protect my pocketbook,” said Bill Adams, 47.
Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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