Fisher defends Obama's Berlin stop with McCain in Columbus

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher defended U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) visit to Germany today while U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) visits Columbus today for a town hall meeting about cancer with Lance Armstrong this evening.

Fisher said Obama's emphasis on foreign policy is not entirely removed from America's domestic concerns.

“He is demonstrating, I believe, his leadership ability and capacity on a broad global scale, and this is the right time to be doing it," Fisher said. "I think it’s right to say that this is not an ‘either-or.' I think that the fact he is spending so much time abroad...should not be an indication to anyone that his first priority isn’t America’s domestic policy. But we know the domestic policy and foreign policy are intertwined more than ever before.”

Fisher said he expected Obama would visit Ohio more times than McCain by Election Day, calling the state the “epicenter” of the campaign.

Fisher was asked whether Obama's answers to questions about the surge's success will hurt him among voters. Fisher stuck to the Obama campaign's message on Iraq: if it were up to Obama, the U.S. would have never invaded in the first place.

“The vast majority of Ohioans I have talked to believe our entry into the Iraq conflict was misguided from the very start,” Fisher said. “While I think it’s fair to say that we may parse words about where we are now in terms of the surge, I don’t think we should ever forget the fact that it has been Senator Obama from day one who’s been consistent in advocating that this was not the single most-effective way to combat al Qaeda and terrorism."