Senator Sherrod Brown

Ohio's Democratic senator has rallied with southwest Ohio steelworkers to highlight President Barack Obama's help for the U.S. auto industry.

Sherrod Brown tells steelworkers in Middletown that plants and jobs have been saved across Ohio.

Brown supported the auto bailout, and points to General Motors' recent decision to invest in northeast Ohio plants to build the next-generation Chevrolet Cruze. The AK Steel plant in southwest Ohio produces some of the steel for the car.

Brown had spoken out for AK Steel workers during a yearlong lockout that ended in 2007.

Republicans have been very effective in tying the slow economy to President Obama. But in Ohio, the recovery is more noticeable than most states. At the Democratic National Convention, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is urging delegates to spread that message. 

Like most Democrats at the Convention, Sherrod Brown is keen to remind people that the Great Recession began under the Bush Administration.  He told Ohio delegates that in George Bush’s last month in office the U.S. lost 800 thousand jobs.  By 2010, Ohio’s jobless rate was 10 ½ percent. 

According to the latest Rasmussen poll,  Republican challenger Josh Mandel now runs even with incumbent Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race.  WYSO's Jerry Kenney has the details.

The telephone survey of likely voters in Ohio shows Mandel and Brown each earning 44% support.  Three percent surveyed favored some other candidate in the contest, and nine percent remain undecided.

In an email to supporters, Sarah Benzing, campaign manager for Friends of Sherrod Brown credited special interest money for Mandel’s rise in the polls.

Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel plans to campaign across South and Eastern Ohio over the next two days.

His campaign says the Ohio treasurer plans to focus on energy policy in Appalachian Ohio visits.  His first stop is at a Georgetown restaurant, in Brown County.  Then he heads to Adams County, followed by other Southern and Eastern Ohio stops.  Some details were still being worked out earlier this week.

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is taking on his Republican opponent's hiring practices at the state treasury in his first TV ad of the campaign.

Republican Josh Mandel has launched his first TV ad in his quest to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

U.S. Sen. and 2008 presidential nominee John McCain is endorsing a fellow military veteran from Ohio in the
race for U.S. Senate.

McCain visited Ohio on Monday to support Treasurer Josh Mandel. McCain says the 34-year-old Republican "represents the new generation of leadership" that the senator says is needed to control spending, improve the economy and boost national security.

Mandel is challenging incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown. Brown's campaign criticizes Mandel's lack of experience and ill attention to his treasurer's job.

     CINCINNATI (AP) -     A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday finds first-term U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown running ahead of state Treasurer Josh Mandel, 46-36.