Senator Sherrod Brown

A new poll indicates President Barack Obama's lead in Ohio has dwindled, but he is getting strong support from women.

The Quinnipiac University/CBS News poll released today put the Democratic president ahead of Republican Mitt Romney 50 percent to 45.  Obama led 55-40 among women and Romney 51-44 among men.  Romney led independent voters 49-42 percent.

Romney had more support among white voters, while blacks were heavily for Obama in the poll.  A Quinnipiac survey Sept 26 had shown Obama with a 10-point lead.

Ohio’s candidates for U.S. Senate squared off yesterday in the first of three scheduled debates.

The debate was similar to the largely negative ad campaign being over the airwaves as incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown and state Treasurer Josh Mandel hurled criticism at each other. 

Brown pointed to the endorsements he’s received from newspapers like the Plain Dealer, Akron Beacon Journal and Youngstown Vindicator, saying they don’t trust the way Mandel runs the treasury. 

This election season the nation's eyes are on Ohio - and not just the presidential battlefront. They're also watching the hot contest between Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Josh Mandel. It's one of a handful races that could determine whether the Democrats hold onto their slim majority in the U.S. Senate. Like most campaigns the candidates are either short on details or sing only one song about what they'd do to fix things. That's particularly true on the issue of taxes. Bill Rice of Ohio Public Radio Station WCPN reports.

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.