The Fitzgerald campaign continues to self-destruct.
Joe Vardon of the Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Ed Fitzgerald’s top campaign staff has had enough and are leaving the campaign.
Top employees are preparing to leave Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ed FitzGerald’s campaign, multiple sources have told The Dispatch, choosing to part ways with a candidate who has been bludgeoned by bad headlines all month relating to personal choices he has made.
Campaign manager Nicholas Buis, communication director Daniel McElhatton and press secretary Lauren Hitt are the three FitzGerald staff members preparing to transition away from the campaign, according to sources who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive campaign issues that FitzGerald himself has not announced.
None of these folks are even from Ohio. If I were them, I’d be steaming mad at Fitzgerald. They came from another state to work on his campaign, only to find out he’s a train wreck of a candidate.
I don’t blame any of them for leaving. They have reputations to uphold, and there are other campaigns around the country where their services could be better used.
Good luck finding someone to replace them.
Update: Vardon is now reporting that advisors Aaron Pickrell and Louis Capobianco are also quitting the campaign. The whole team is falling apart. They were the only legitimate advisors that Fitzgerald had.
And then there’s this:
Sources said a meeting of Democratic Party elders was held last week to discuss the right course of action for the party over the campaign season’s final weeks, including whether FitzGerald’s money should go toward a negative ad against Kasich or to help the party boost its organizing and get-out-the-vote effort for down-ticket races. Aides and consultants who have been working for FitzGerald could be repositioned to help other Democrats try to salvage their races.
That sounds an awful lot like the Ohio Democratic Party is conceding the governor’s race altogether.
Fitz’s money could go to help the other candidates? That sounds even worse, like Fitzgerald is all but ready to stop his campaign altogether.
Could we be on the verge of seeing Fitzgerald drop out?
