Lee Fisher on Principles & Values

I'm just as angry at Washington insiders as you are

Portman said, "One thing we need to do is to not promote policies in Washington that he's promoting that makes it harder to get ahead in Ohio."

"In this election, you have a very, very clear choice," Fisher told debate viewers. "You can choose someone who has been on the ground in every corner of this state working to save jobs in the middle of this national recession and is just as angry as you are at the Washington insiders who caused this recession. Or you can choose my opponent, Congressman Portman, who the Washington Post calls Mr. Washington."

Portman said, "If you like the way things are going, think we're headed in the right direction, you should probably support my opponent. If you're ready for a change, if you believe there's a better way, I hope you'll join our cause."

Ohio voters are mad as hell over Republican policies

Portman, a top adviser to President George W. Bush, stuck to his main campaign theme: Fisher and the Democrats are to blame for Ohio's nearly 400,000 job losses.

Both candidates argued that other was of more of a career politician and insider, which injected energy into the debate. Fisher referred to Portman--a former corporate lawyer--as a lobbyist, Mr. Washington, a rubber stamp and the chief architect of Bush policies.

Asked by a debate panelist to reconcile such claims with his own long career as a political insider, Fisher said, "The bottom line is not so much whether you serve, it's who you serve. I think he's serving the lobbyists and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the insurance industry and Wall Street," Fisher said.