Governor of Ohio
November 3, 1998 · general election · 2 candidates with a page
The candidates
Listed alphabetically by surname. Ohio rotates the order candidates appear in by precinct, so no order on this page is the order on a ballot.
- President of Baldwin Wallace University since July 2025; previously dean of the Cleveland State University College of Law, 2016-2025.
- B.A., Oberlin College, 1973; J.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 1976.
- Chief executive officer of the Center for Families and Children, a Cleveland social-services nonprofit, beginning in 1999.
9 of 11 sections researched · 13 sources
- Attorney licensed to practice law in Ohio.
- B.A. in government, Yale University, 1963; M.A. in government, Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, 1967; J.D., University of Cincinnati College of Law, 1976.
- Peace Corps volunteer and teacher, Tanzania, 1963-1965.
9 of 11 sections researched · 18 sources
Lee Fisher
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Section | State |
|---|---|
| profile | researched |
| ballot | researched |
| positions | researched |
| claims | researched |
| record | researched |
| money | researched |
| interests | not researched |
| polling | researched |
| elections | researched |
| endorsements | not researched |
| sources | researched |
Bob Taft
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Section | State |
|---|---|
| profile | researched |
| ballot | researched |
| positions | researched |
| claims | not researched |
| record | researched |
| money | researched |
| interests | researched |
| polling | researched |
| elections | researched |
| endorsements | not researched |
| sources | researched |
The race in pictures
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Field date | Candidate | Share | Poll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1998 | Lee Fisher | 40 | Mason-Dixon and Louis Harris and Associates |
| Oct 1998 | Bob Taft | 48 | Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research and Louis Harris and Associates |
A note on our coverage
Read before the columns: where one candidate has more entries than another, this says which of the two reasons it is.
Where they stand: Bob Taft has 6 entries and Lee Fisher has 2 entries. The difference reflects the length of each public record and the depth of our research; it is not a judgment.
Jump to a candidate
- Lee Fisher: Where they stand · What they have said, checked · Record in office · Money
- Bob Taft: Where they stand · What they have said, checked · Record in office · Money
Where they stand
Their own words, by issue, with the date, the venue and the link. A paraphrase is marked as one.
Economic development
Lee Fisher
None found in the records checked
Bob Taft
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Campaigned on continuing the Third Frontier Project, a roughly $1.6 billion state technology and biotechnology/advanced-manufacturing investment program aimed at diversifying Ohio's economy beyond traditional manufacturing.
Sources: thelantern.com · nga.org
Education
Lee Fisher
None found in the records checked
Bob Taft
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Touted Ohio Reads, a K-4 volunteer literacy-tutoring program that by 2002 involved more than 40,000 volunteers, and pledged to continue 'Rebuilding Ohio's Schools,' his 12-year, $10.1 billion school-construction program.
Sources: thelantern.com · citybeat.com
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Framed education as his top priority with a focus on accountability, requiring that a high school diploma signify real, employable skills; once in office created Ohio Reads, a K-4 volunteer reading-tutoring program that grew to more than 40,000 volunteers by 2002.
Source: citybeat.com
Election result
Lee Fisher
None found in the records checked
Bob Taft
We won a decisive victory. This (year) has been the most diverse ticket in the history of the state
Source: thelantern.com
Jobs
Lee Fisher
None found in the records checked
Bob Taft
created or saved 100,000 jobs
Source: citybeat.com
Jobs and the economy
Lee Fisher
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Cast himself as a job-creation candidate, touting his record as Ohio Development Director in recruiting and retaining businesses, and pledging continued state and federal support for manufacturing and clean-energy jobs.
Sources: ballotpedia.org · en.wikipedia.org
Bob Taft
None found in the records checked
Taxes
Lee Fisher
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Centerpiece of his campaign was a proposed $1.1 billion, two-year property-tax cut, which he argued the state could afford while still increasing K-12 education funding.
Source: clipfile.org
Bob Taft
None found in the records checked
Taxes/budget
Lee Fisher
None found in the records checked
Bob Taft
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Ran on keeping the state budget balanced without new taxes and holding the line on spending, contrasting his own smaller, $150 million tax-relief package with Fisher's proposed $1.1 billion property-tax cut, which Taft's campaign said would produce a deficit.
Source: crabwalk.wordpress.com
What they have said, checked
Newest first. Each check is shown in the checker's own rating word, with their name, the date and the link.
Lee Fisher
None found in the records checked
Bob Taft
Not yet researched
Record in office
Dated actions. Any evaluation of an action is printed with the name of whoever made it and the link.
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Person | Date | Kind | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fisher (D) | 1981 | office | Ohio House of Representatives |
| Fisher (D) | 1983 | office | Ohio Senate |
| Fisher (D) | 1991-01 | office | Attorney General of Ohio |
| Fisher (D) | 2007-01 | office | Lieutenant Governor of Ohio |
| Fisher (D) | 1991 | action | 1991 (action): As Ohio Attorney General (1991-1995), his office ran 'Operation Crackdown,' shutting down more than 150 drug houses statewide and winning a |
| Fisher (D) | 1998-10 | ruling | 1998-10 (ruling): The Ohio Elections Commission ruled that a Taft ad about Fisher's record as attorney general, claiming Fisher cut crime-fighting personnel b |
| Fisher (D) | 2010 | action | 2010 (action): As Lieutenant Governor and Director of the Ohio Department of Development from January 2007, Fisher's office oversaw state job-retention and |
| Taft (R) | 1977 | office | Ohio House of Representatives, 65th District |
| Taft (R) | 1981 | office | Hamilton County Commissioner |
| Taft (R) | 1991-01 | office | Secretary of State of Ohio |
| Taft (R) | 1999-01-11 | office | Governor of Ohio |
| Taft (R) | 1998-10 | action | 1998-10 (action): A Taft campaign ad quoted a Cleveland Plain Dealer article as saying 'Taft didn't raise the taxes' regarding his time as Hamilton County com |
| Taft (R) | 1999 | action | 1999 (action): Launched the Third Frontier Project, a long-term state investment in biotechnology, advanced-manufacturing and technology-sector job creatio |
| Taft (R) | 1999 | action | 1999 (action): Took office amid the DeRolph v. Ohio school-funding crisis, in which the Ohio Supreme Court had already ruled the state's school-funding sys |
| Taft (R) | 1999 | statement | 1999 (statement): Ohio's unemployment rate rose from 4.2% in January 1999, when Taft took office, to 5.7% by July 2002 -- a 35.7% increase versus a 19.1% nati |
| Taft (R) | 2000 | action | 2000 (action): Backed the Clean Ohio Fund, a $400 million bond program voters approved in a 2000 ballot issue, for brownfield cleanup, farmland and green-s |
| Taft (R) | 2001-12 | action | 2001-12 (action): Addressed a projected $1.2 billion (growing to a reported $1.9 billion) two-year state budget shortfall, produced by the national recession, |
Lee Fisher
-
2010 · action
As Lieutenant Governor and Director of the Ohio Department of Development from January 2007, Fisher's office oversaw state job-retention and business-attraction efforts through a period in which Ohio lost approximately 382,000 jobs, driven primarily by the national recession; his 2010 opponent's campaign cited the losses against him given his direct responsibility for state job retention and attraction.
Source: factcheck.org
-
October 1998 · ruling
The Ohio Elections Commission ruled that a Taft ad about Fisher's record as attorney general, claiming Fisher cut crime-fighting personnel by 15% from 1991-1994, had used a mismatched baseline and miscounted staff, and separately found the same ad's claim that 'Ohio's police' endorsed Taft improper since only the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police had done so; the commission issued a reprimand.
Ohio Elections Commission, October 1998, 5-2 vote:
showed reckless disregard for the truth
· the sourceSource: clipfile.org
-
1991 · action
As Ohio Attorney General (1991-1995), his office ran 'Operation Crackdown,' shutting down more than 150 drug houses statewide and winning a National Innovation Award from the Council of State and Local Governments; he was the first Ohio Attorney General to personally argue cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the Ohio Supreme Court.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Bob Taft
-
December 2001 · action
Addressed a projected $1.2 billion (growing to a reported $1.9 billion) two-year state budget shortfall, produced by the national recession, primarily through spending cuts, draws on the state's rainy-day fund, and reallocation of tobacco-settlement money, signing budget-balancing legislation in December 2001; critics said he had failed to adequately build up the rainy-day fund earlier in his term.
Sources: citybeat.com · en.wikipedia.org
-
2000 · action
Backed the Clean Ohio Fund, a $400 million bond program voters approved in a 2000 ballot issue, for brownfield cleanup, farmland and green-space preservation, and urban revitalization.
Source: thelantern.com
-
1999 · action
Took office amid the DeRolph v. Ohio school-funding crisis, in which the Ohio Supreme Court had already ruled the state's school-funding system unconstitutional (further rulings came in May 2000 and September 2001); per CityBeat's review, his sole initial education initiative was the comparatively modest Ohio Reads program until repeated unconstitutionality rulings forced the larger 'Rebuilding Ohio's Schools' construction plan.
Cincinnati CityBeat investigative review:
vehemently fought any increase in school spending
· the sourceSources: citybeat.com · bricker.com
-
1999 · statement
Ohio's unemployment rate rose from 4.2% in January 1999, when Taft took office, to 5.7% by July 2002 -- a 35.7% increase versus a 19.1% national increase over the same span, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited by Cincinnati CityBeat, which called his ads' jobs claim misleading because it counted only gross job gains.
Source: citybeat.com
-
1999 · action
Launched the Third Frontier Project, a long-term state investment in biotechnology, advanced-manufacturing and technology-sector job creation, which ultimately dispersed $681 million and was credited with generating $6.6 billion in economic impact and roughly 41,300 jobs by 2009.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
-
October 1998 · action
A Taft campaign ad quoted a Cleveland Plain Dealer article as saying 'Taft didn't raise the taxes' regarding his time as Hamilton County commissioner, omitting the word 'himself' from the original text; the Fisher campaign sought and briefly won a Franklin County Common Pleas restraining order, which the Ohio Supreme Court vacated on jurisdictional grounds without ruling on the ad's accuracy.
Ohio Supreme Court, State ex rel. Taft-O'Connor '98 v. Franklin Cty. Court of Common Pleas:
the Ohio Elections Commission, not a common pleas court, has exclusive jurisdiction over false-statement election claims
· the sourceSources: caselaw.findlaw.com · clipfile.org
Money
Totals and donors exactly as filed with the FEC or the Ohio Secretary of State, each figure with its filing link.
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Status |
|---|
| None found in the records checked |
Lee Fisher
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Status |
|---|
| None found in the records checked |
Totals as filed
None found in the records checked
Top donors, as filed
None found in the records checked
Outside spending
None found in the records checked
In-state share
Not yet researched
Bob Taft
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Status |
|---|
| None found in the records checked |
Totals as filed
None found in the records checked
Top donors, as filed
None found in the records checked
Outside spending
None found in the records checked
In-state share
Not yet researched
The result
Bob Taft · certified 1998-11-03
| Candidate | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Bob Taft | 1,678,721 | 50.0% |
| Lee Fisher | 1,498,956 | 44.7% |
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Sources
Data from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0: 1998 Ohio gubernatorial election · Lee Fisher · 2010 United States Senate election in Ohio · Bob Taft · 2002 Ohio gubernatorial election · Thomas Noe
- 1998 Ohio gubernatorial election · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- Lee Fisher · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- Lee Fisher · Ballotpedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- 2010 United States Senate election in Ohio · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- Fisher For Ohio - 2010 cycle (itemizer, FEC data) · ProPublica · accessed 2026-09-21
- A Record Jobs Loss · FactCheck.org · 2010-09 · accessed 2026-09-21
- Ohio Senate: Portman (R) Leaps To Commanding Lead Over Fisher (D) · Rasmussen Reports · 2010-10 · accessed 2026-09-21
- Fisher, Taft attack each other's records in new ads · Clipfile.org · accessed 2026-09-21
- Taft TV ad found in violation of election law; Campaign promises to focus on positive · Clipfile.org · accessed 2026-09-21
- CNN AllPolitics Election '98 -- Ohio 1998 Polls · CNN · accessed 2026-09-21
- https://www.bw.edu/news/2025/02/baldwin-wallace-university-names-lee-fisher-10th-president
- https://ballotpedia.org/U.S._Senate_election,_Ohio,_2010
- Bob Taft · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- 2002 Ohio gubernatorial election · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- It's four more years for Governor Taft · The Lantern, Ohio State University · accessed 2026-09-21
- Taft's Ads Give Misleading Picture of His Record · Cincinnati CityBeat · accessed 2026-09-21
- Poll: Taft approval rating reaches historic low · Cleveland19 · accessed 2026-09-21
- Taft Admits Ethics Violations · The Washington Post · 2005-08-18 · accessed 2026-09-21
- Ohio governor fined for ethics law violation · NBC News/AP · accessed 2026-09-21
- Bob Taft · National Governors Association · accessed 2026-09-21
- Scandal rocks Ohio governor's race · WorldNetDaily · accessed 2026-09-21
- Thomas Noe · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- State ex rel. Taft-O'Connor '98 v. Franklin Cty. Court of Common Pleas · Ohio Supreme Court, via FindLaw · accessed 2026-09-21
- Judge says Taft's ad can stay on the air; Fisher requests lifting of order · Clipfile.org · accessed 2026-09-21
- https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2006/2006-Ohio-6525.pdf
- https://crabwalk.wordpress.com/1998/10/03/fisher-taft-attack-each-others-records-in-new-ads/
- https://www.bricker.com/insights/resources/key/Chronology-of-the-DeRolph-v-Ohio-School-Funding-Litigation
Quick answers
When was the 1998 Governor of Ohio election?
The election for Governor of Ohio was held on November 3, 1998.
Who ran for Governor of Ohio in 1998?
On the ballot for Governor of Ohio, in surname order: Lee Fisher (Democratic), Bob Taft (Republican).
Who won the 1998 Governor of Ohio election?
Bob Taft won the election for Governor of Ohio. Results as certified: Lee Fisher 44.7%, Bob Taft 50.0%.
Cite and data
Cite this page as:
Cracked Buckeye, "Governor of Ohio, 1998", https://crackedbuckeye.com/election/1998/governor/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].
How to cite · Report a correction · Built 2026-10-31