Washington Post: Ohio GOP candidates come out on top

The Washington Post released their list of fundraising winners and losers from across the country. Ohio twice gets a mention, and both are bad news for Democrats:

Winners

John Kasich: The Republican former Ohio congressman raised more than $5 million for his gubernatorial campaign in just six months, an astounding showing that coincides with his rise in polls testing him against Gov. Ted Strickland (D). While Strickland's $2.8 milion raised during the same period was far less than what Kasich collected, the incumbent has a whopping $6.1 million in the bank, compared with $4.1 million for Kasich.

Interestingly enough, it looks like Kasich may have had the best per month fundraising average in the entire country after this most recent report. By raising $758k per month, he even bests Crist's average by nearly $100k. Pretty astounding. Additionally, if the next six months go just as well as the past six months, that COH advantage of Strickland's will be gone with the wind.

Losers

Lee Fisher: Fisher, Ohio's lieutenant governor and the odds-on favorite for the Democratic Senate nomination, put together a very disappointing final three months of 2009 -- raising $780,000, a total dwarfed by the $1.4 million that former congressman and Bush administration budget chief Rob Portman (R) raised over the same period. Fisher, who has almost the entire Democratic establishment behind him, should do far better.

If this makes Lee a loser, imagine how that makes Jennifer Brunner feel.

Props to the Portman campaign for once again dominating fundraising in the Ohio Senate race.

We all know money alone doesn't win elections, but it sure as hell helps.