BY SANDY THEIS
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
CLEVELAND -- Two dozen workers at the North Coast Container Corp. are taking their morning break and listening to Lee Fisher, the Democratic candidate for governor, explain his vision for Ohio.
They seem unmoved by talk of tax cuts and HMO reform.
But his promise to use only American-made steel in state building projects wins hearty applause from many of these employees, who are members of the United Steel Workers of America, and his kind words for the Cleveland Indians win over a few more.
Glenn Bennett isn't convinced. Slumped his chair, arms folded over his chest, he tells Mr. Fisher he disagrees with his opposition to casino gambling and remarks that Republican Gov. George Voinovich "is the reason we don't have casinos down here right now."
Buoyed by the swipe at the Republican governor, the Democrat who hopes to succeed him jumps in.
"OK, now you're talking. Before, you were wrong. Now you're right -- about what you said about Voinovich."
The crowd laughs. Mr. Bennett smiles.
"In me, you can have a governor who you can talk to, who is willing to say to your face that on this one we don't agree," Mr. Fisher tells him.
He calls Mr. Voinovich and GOP nominee Bob Taft "people who want to slash your benefits when you get injured on the job, they're going to stand up for the insurance companies every chance they get and they don't want to slash your property taxes. So at least I'm with you three out of four times."
With the election less than one week away and Mr. Taft ahead in the polls, Mr. Fisher's campaign is relying more and more on old-fashioned, person-to-person politics.
"I'm from retail," Mr. Fisher said after meeting with the workers. "My grandparents were in retail. Mr. Taft is Mr. Wholesale. He has his millions of dollars on TV. We can't match him on TV but we can more than match him on the streets and in the neighborhoods."
Starting in Cleveland and ending with a rally in Columbus, Mr. Fisher took his campaign to the streets, stopping along the way at a Democratic rally in Canton, joining his father for a trip to his grandparents' home and old dress shop in New Philadelphia, and speaking to party activists in Zanesville.
Hitting populist themes, he courted voters, sometimes one by one.
Executives at New Philadelphia's Sabel Inc., which manufacturers truck chassis, initially declined to tell reporters for whom they planned to vote.
After a chat with Mr. Fisher, who toured the small plant, Vice President Tom Abel conceded he's impressed.
"I'd like to hire him for the sales department," Mr. Abel said. By the end of the tour, he said he'd most likely vote for Mr. Fisher and he placed a Fisher sticker on his shirt pocket.
Yet it is the workers, not the executives, Mr. Fisher is targeting the hardest.
At union halls, Democratic Party lunches and factories, he reminds Ohio's workers he is the candidate for governor who pushed hardest -- and first -- for HMO reform. He is the only candidate promising a 15 percent property tax cut. And he sided with workers last year against a new law that scaled back benefits for some injured workers.
"My friends, the differences between me and Robert A. Taft II couldn't be bigger," Mr. Fisher told a Stark County Democratic Party luncheon. "The differences couldn't be more stark."
Voters, however, still get the bulk of their information from TV commercials, and Mr. Taft's latest spot highlights the very issues that have distinguished the Fisher campaign.
In the first commercial of the campaign that features Mr. Taft talking directly to the camera, he says he wants to be governor "to empower you to choose your own doctor and get the medical care you need. I want to lower taxes for seniors struggling to stay in their homes and for families paying for college."
When asked about the Taft campaign commercial, Mr. Fisher said he is not surprised.
"His entire strategy has been . . . to distort my record and mimic my platform."
He tells audiences not to be deceived by the Taft TV. And he tells them to go to the polls Tuesday.
"I'm absolutely convinced that a majority of the working men and women in this state believe that we're right on the issues and Mr. Taft's wrong," he told the Stark County group. "The only way that Robert A. Taft II can win this election is if the working men and women of this state stay home."
At each event, supporters are urged to take yard signs and bumper stickers, call their friends and neighbors and urge them to vote. "This election is a big deal," Mr. Fisher said.
Mr. Fisher ended his day in Columbus at a rally designed to target primarily black voters, who some polls show are among the largest group of undecided voters.
Retiring U.S. Rep Louis Stokes, D-Cleveland, Ohio's first and only black congressman, was featured speaker. Supporters said they hoped the legacy to Mr. Stokes will be an unprecedented turnout among black voters.
"We're going to do it the old-fashioned way," said Mr. Fisher's running mate, Columbus City Council President Michael Coleman, who is African-American.
Workers are blanketing Ohio's urban areas, knocking on doors to distribute literature and urging black voters to vote a straight Democratic ticket, Mr. Coleman said.
