The crowd sang along and roared in approval when Fisher finished singing on Karaoke Night at Bernard’s Tavern. Then he was off to a bowling alley on the south side of Columbus, just one more stop in a frenetic 27 consecutive hours of campaigning Wednesday and Thursday.
But the event was a stark reminder that in the final days of this campaign, Fisher has been reduced to singing to a handful of people while a confident Portman was speaking before enthusiastic crowds in northern Ohio and reaching millions of people with a barrage of TV commercials.
Then, with just four days until election day, Portman took Thursday off.
Portman appeared relaxed and energized Wednesday, as he wrapped up a three-day bus tour with other Republican candidates. During a rally at a restaurant in suburban Cleveland, the former Cincinnati congressman dashed from the kitchen between two lines of cheering people, slapping their hands like a quarterback being introduced at a football game.
It is the conclusion to a campaign nobody could have anticipated less than a year ago when Democrats regarded Fisher as a solid candidate who could raise the millions necessary to take on Portman, who left Congress to serve as Bush’s trade representative and budget director.
Instead, Fisher, a former state attorney general and 1998 gubernatorial nominee, was forced to spend much of his money winning a divisive primary against Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Without much money, he has aired just one statewide commercial while he joked that Portman is “on TV every 30 seconds.’’
On Wednesday, Fisher turned over to the state Democratic Party the last $100,000 in his campaign treasury and launched a game effort to get his message out — appearing at gatherings from Columbus to Cincinnati as he tried to stay awake for 27 hours.
Wearing jeans and a sleeveless Ohio State sweater, Fisher appeared relaxed as he joked with OSU students, reminding them that he “pulled plenty of all-nighters’’ as a student at Oberlin College.
“But I haven’t pulled some in awhile and I figured what better place to come to find out from people who know what to pull an all-nighter is like,’’ Fisher said. “Now keep in mind we have a reporter here. So I want to make clear that I am only interested in legal means to stay awake for 24 hours.’’
Despite a sizable lead in the polls, Portman vowed that he will campaign hard through Tuesday.
“Basically, I feel like I’m on a mission still to get as much input as I can from people about how best to turn things around and then, if I win, to go to Washington and get to work,’’ Portman said.
Mark Niquette is a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch.
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