Portman Domination.

Rob Portman had some bad news for Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner yesterday.

In the first quarter of 2010, Portman raised $2.35 million. That's an increase of nearly 40% on his previous high of $1.7 million raised.

Even more intimidating, Portman has $7.6M on-hand.

For reference, at the end of 2009, Lee Fisher only had $1.8 million on hand. Jennifer Brunner had $10.83 in food stamps.

Even worse news for Lee? There's a rumor going around that this latest quarter was his worst yet - raising even less than the 700k or so he raised at the end of 2009.

Of course, that didn't stop the Lieutenant Governor from this silly charge:

Fisher charged that much of Portman's money is coming from lobbyists and political action committees "in Washington, D.C., who have worked with him for two decades."

But Fisher, too, has accepted money from PACs and lobbyists. Asked about the difference, Fisher said he will not raise as much from such sources because they have already sided with Portman.

"The fact that they already are, in many cases, giving the maximum contribution indicates that my chances of getting money from Washington insiders are not very good," he said. "I will more than match in dollar-for-dollar from people in Ohio from all walks of life."

Other than getting called out by the Plain Dealer on PACs and lobbyists, Fisher is also wrong about getting money from DC. In fact, 80% of all that Portman has raised has come from within Ohio. Impressive stuff. And a lot of that can be traced back to Portman's recently completed effort to meet & greet his future constituents in all 88 counties in Ohio. I wonder if that's something Fisher has done in the four years he's served as Lieutenant Governor.

Finally, we're now learning that Fisher jumped the gun on his ad buy and has gone up today in Columbus, rather than the weekend as originally planned.

I guess with the Brunner school bus (which is bound to breakdown any day now) hounding him and Portman's obnoxiously good fundraising numbers, Lee sorta freaked out and jumped the gun early.

But at the end of the day, this story is about Portman and his total and absolute domination.

Dollars = confidence in the candidate and his/her ability to win.

That's why Brunner and Fisher have had such a hard time raising money and Portman has so far dominated.

For perspective on how well Portman did this quarter, note that Sen. Barbara Boxer, an entrenched Democrat incumbent in the majority, competing in a tight race, and in the largest state in the union, raised only $50k more than Ohio's GOP Senate candidate. That is impressive.

Portman is well on his way to absolutely dominating in the Fall.