Swing State

Tonight, I had the privilege of seeing the Cincinnati premiere of the political documentary "Swing State." The screening was a part of a fundraiser for the Hamilton County Democratic Party, which is still celebrating their well-deserved victories at most positions across the ballot. The film was directed and produced by Jason Zone Fisher, who is the son of the current Lt. Governor of Ohio Lee Fisher. I have seen quite a few political documentaries in the past two years, but this film took a very different, more personal approach to the campaign than any other documentary.

Jason had just graduated from the Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse right before the 2006 election cycle heated up, so it made sense for him to film his father's run for office from his vantage point. This view consists of two major aspects: the first being the national significance of the Ohio governor's race and the other being the personal toll it takes on the family. On the first aspect, the race attracted many of the top Democrats and Republicans in Ohio and the country, which gave Jason a very easy starting point for obtaining interviews. Many of these leaders which include an introduction from Madelaine Albright, President Clinton, President-Elect Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, the late Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, Al Gore, Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards, and Jerry Springer, talk about the national importance of this gubernatorial race in determining the future of the Democratic party and the 2008 election. Well those efforts paid off handsomely with Obama carrying the Buckeye State in 2008 led by Aaron Pickrell, who was the campaign director for Strickland/Fisher in 2006.

What was much more interesting about the film was the personal tale of Jason seeing his father becoming a workaholic in trying to become Lt. Governor. Lee Fisher ran for governor in 1998 as Ohio Attorney General, but was defeated in a close election by Bob Taft. Therefore, Lee was even more determined to win in 2006, but he made clear changes. First of all, he wanted to make all of his fundraising calls from his house in the most comfortable fashion possible. For the final six months of the campaign, about 10 people lived in the Fisher house in Cleveland helping out the fundraising effort while Lee often worked into the wee hours of the morning. There is even one scene in the movie where the viewer sees Lee checking his e-mail after midnight shirtless, proving how useful and stressful having the office at home truly was. By the end of the movie, you can understand the true toll a campaign takes on a family, and why I would never want to run for office. I advise anyone running for office with a family to see this movie before doing so, and I greatly respect the people who choose to run despite familial considerations.

The movie also does an effective job at telling the story of Ted Strickland vs. Ken Blackwell battle. Jason shows the infamous debate clip with Mr. Blackwell accusing Mr. Strickland of being a NAMBLA supporter and other clips that tell how the Democrats recaptured the Governor's Mansion. However, you would have no idea that Ted and Lee won by 25 points from the film. The viewer sees many of the problems with Ken Blackwell, but it never mentions just how poorly he did at the ballot box.

After the screening, Jason and Lee took a series of questions from the audience, and they were very open about all questions. Afterward, I went up to Jason and bought a DVD, which he kindly signed. We talked about screening the movie at Tufts when he is in Boston later this winter/spring, and I would love to have Jason show the film and have a q&a session with Tufts students. After talking to Jason, I got a chance to have a chat with Lee about the current state of politics in Ohio. My own mother use to work with Lee on Jewish causes back in the 80s, and he surprisingly remembered her. It turns out that Lee was the only candidate that ever got my dad to vote in a primary in his 30 years living in Ohio (including Hillary/Obama). Lee seems very upbeat about the Democrats political progress from the November's results, which a newly Democratic state house. On a side note, one of those new representatives Connie Pilich (OH-29) was in the audience, and she is going to be a great new voice in Columbus. It was very nice for me to finally get to congratulate Connie in person, and we know that she has a lot of work ahead in Columbus.

Another question, I got to ask Lee was about his former opponent Ken Blackwell's run for RNC chair, which appears to be gaining momentum (there will be a future post on Blackwell's run closer to the RNC election). Lee described Blackwell as an extreme social conservative even within the Republican party, and that his election would further reduce the GOP. He said he was rooting for Ken to win since "It would only help the Democratic Party" in the future. After signing the cover, we parted ways, but not before a strong call to return to Ohio to help with the 2010 re-election campaign (which will be harder than 2006 and especially so in Southern Ohio if Rob Portman runs). I'd call it a good night.