Mandel will win the Ohio Senate Seat, ONLY if he can over-come ACORN (whatever name they have now), Union fraud, and fraud in Cincinnatti, Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton, and other MAJOR CITIES. The Blue Collar dunces vote D, because of the Union backing for handouts, AND those blue collars in Ohio are mostly out of work, anyway, as the auto and steel industries have moved to Right-to-Work States, or off-shore.
For non-OH FReepers, Sherrod Brown has the very recognizable political name (Brown), and rode the wave of 'Rats into his Senate office in 2006. While in the House, he had the most liberal voting record of any member, even to the left of that loony Dennis Kucinich. I don't know what it is about Ohio voters and liberal 'Rats, but they seem to elect them, and keep them in office until they retire or die (e.g., Howard Metzenbaum). It makes no sense, because demographically, the state is still pretty much centrist, although the influx of Mexican immigrants is tilting that.