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Article published: Apr 4, 2006
Coble wins fifth term as Columbia mayor

Columbia Mayor Bob Coble overwhelmingly won a fifth term Tuesday.

With 54 of 57 precincts reporting, Coble had 65 percent of the vote, compared to 32 percent for advertising executive Kevin Fisher and 3 percent for businessman Joe Azar.

Fisher was the first major challenger for Coble since he took office in 1990. Fisher spent $90,000 on television ads hammering Coble and ran on the slogan "Change is good."

Coble responded with $80,000 of his own ads. They never mentioned Fisher's attacks, instead focusing on the mayor's accomplishments in office and calling him "The Man for the Job."

Turnout was bigger than usual, with nearly 13,000 votes cast before the final precincts reported.

An affable lawyer many call "Mayor Bob," Coble said he wanted to return to the mayor's office to continue to push what he calls a positive vision for Columbia's future. Crime is at record lows and the population and home ownership rates are rising in the past 16 years, he said.

Coble flirted with a run for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2004, but dropped out before the primary.

With three precincts left to report, Coble had 8,401 votes - his biggest total in five elections. Fisher received 4,204 votes and Azar had 410 votes.