Strickland to pick Fisher as running mate

Former Ohio Attorney General Lee Fisher will be named Thursday as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland's running-mate, sources told the Enquirer today.

Fisher, who lost to Gov. Bob Taft in the 1998 race for governor, becomes the first gubernatorial nominee to run as lieutenant governor since 1834, said one Democrat close to Strickland's campaign.

By selecting a running-mate from Cleveland, the U.S. congressman from Scioto County balances his ticket geographically while siphoning votes from his primary opponents, both of whom live in Cleveland suburbs: state Sen. Eric Fingerhut of Shaker Heights and former state Rep. Bryan Flannery of Lakewood.

The annoucement will be made at a 9 a.m. news conference Thursday in Cleveland. The pair will later appear at an afternoon news conference in Columbus.

In the years since his loss to Taft, Fisher has been president and CEO of the Center for Families and Children, Cleveland.

During an Associated Press conference for editors and reporters on Jan. 5, Strickland hinted that he might pick a minority or woman as a running-mate.

The fact that Democrats encouraged state Rep. Barbara Sykes, an African-American from Akron, to run for state Auditor may have been planned this week to take some heat off Strickland for picking another white male.