From Rasmussen:

The U.S. Senate race in Ohio remains a close one.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Ohio Voters shows Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown and his Republican challenger Josh Mandel each earning 48% support. Two percent (2%) like some other candidate, and another two percent (2%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Read more at The Hill.com

• Meanwhile, WNWO-TV in Toledo reports that thanks to Treasurer Mandel’s Renew Ohio & Rebuild Ohio Programs, storm victims will be eligible for reduced interest rates in the Buckeye State.  Residents across Ohio impacted by damaging winds and severe weather during storms the weekend of June 30 could be eligible for emergency assistance in the form of reduced interest rates on loans under Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel’s Renew Ohio & Rebuild Ohio Programs.  Small businesses and homeowners who apply for bank loans for construction, restoration or cash flow for damage and hardship resulting from the recent severe weather may be eligible to receive interest rate reductions through the treasurer’s office.

• Finally, WKBN-TV in Youngstown reports that Treasurer Josh Mandel continues to keep the heat on liberal Democrat Sherrod Brown for supporting ObamaCare.  The man who wants to replace Democrat Sherrod Brown in the U.S. Senate brought his campaign to Boardman on Monday afternoon.  Republican Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel took a tour of N.E.O. Urology Associates as he continued to blast Obamacare. Mandel maintains that the national health care plan is a government takeover of health care and that it will kill job creation.  Mandel is in favor of a complete and full repeal of the Affordable Care Act and said he thinks it needs to be replaced with something better.

(AP) — Ohio Republicans have picked a first-term state treasurer as their U.S. Senate nominee and delivered easy victories to a host of GOP congressional incumbents, including House Speaker John Boehner.

Treasurer Josh Mandel easily won a four-way Republican primary Tuesday. He will face Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in November.

Veteran U.S. Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich were jockeying for the lead in a closely watched battle for a newly drawn congressional district linking Toledo and Cleveland along the Lake Erie shoreline. Kaptur had an 8-point lead with a quarter of the votes counted. Joseph “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher was trailing his opponent on the Republican side of the race.

Looks like Senator DeMint and the Senate Conservatives Fund are happy with the outcome:

Fellow Conservatives: State Treasurer Josh Mandel won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Ohio last night. He received 63% of the vote in a six-way contest. This is a major victory for freedom-loving Americans across the nation. Josh Mandel was the first candidate endorsed by the Senate Conservatives Fund this election cycle and he’s scored our first primary win. I wanted to share this exciting news and thank you for everything you’ve done to help Mandel win this critical race. Your early and enthusiastic support helped him raise the resources he needed to get his message out. Now we begin an eight-month campaign to help Josh Mandel defeat incumbent Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown. Winning this race won’t be easy. Sherrod Brown has the full backing of extreme environmentalists and union bosses. You can be sure that they will do everything they can to destroy Josh Mandel. However, I’m confident we can win if we work together to educate independent and swing voters about Sherrod Brown’s liberal record. You see, Sherrod Brown tries to portray himself in Ohio as a populist politician who fights for blue-collar families, but when he’s in Washington he sides with President Obama 95% of the time. For example, he voted five times to raise the debt ceiling, supported the Wall Street bailout, and opposed domestic energy exploration in Ohio that would create much-needed jobs. You can help Josh Mandel defeat Sherrod Brown by contributing to the Senate Conservatives Fund. You can also donate directly to Mandel’s Senate campaign using our website. Mandel gets 100% of your contribution and SCF pays for the processing and handling. Thank you again for your continued support. Together, we’re going to take our country back. Respectfully, Jim DeMint United States Senator Chairman, Senate Conservatives Fund

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said he is developing a plan to “rescue the auto industry.”

When asked about the $82 billion government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009, Mandel said in a Thursday call to The Vindicator, “Our economy has not yet been rescued. So many people are still out of work.”

GM earned its largest profit ever in 2011, two years after the bailout. GM, with a complex in Lordstown that builds the Chevrolet Cruze, made a $7.6 billion profit last year. It received $49.5 billion of the bailout money.

“I’m not saying the bailout didn’t work,” Mandel said.

But Mandel said he “respectfully disagreed” that it saved the American auto industry.

Justin Barasky, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democrat incumbent who Mandel would face in the November general election if the latter wins Tuesday’s Republican primary, mocked the state treasurer’s comments.

“Mandel’s claim to be putting together a plan to rescue the industry is a laughably candid example of how completely clueless he is as to what’s going on with Ohio’s middle class and how he’ll say anything to get elected,” Barasky said.

Brown was a vocal proponent who voted for the auto bailout, which saved thousands of jobs in Ohio, Barasky said.

The first primary election for U.S. Senate will occur in Ohio two weeks from today. Voters can send a true conservative fighter to Washington by nominating State Treasurer Josh Mandel.

Josh Mandel is not only the strongest conservative in the race, he also has the best chance of defeating Democrat U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown — ranked the most liberal politician in the Senate.

We looked for a suitable candidate to take on Sherrod Brown for nearly six months last year. Several names were floated, but nobody stepped forward until a young, former U.S. Marine answered the call.

Josh Mandel was not recruited by Washington; he was drafted by the grassroots in Ohio. And over the past eight months, he has shown the strength voters are looking for.

In fact, when House Speaker John Boehner — another Ohio Republican — cut a deal with President Obama to increase the debt limit without balancing the budget, Josh Mandel courageously opposed it.

This kind of principled independence is exactly what our nation needs today, but it stands in stark contrast to Sherrod Brown’s blind support for President Obama’s liberal agenda.

If Josh Mandel is nominated by Republicans in Ohio to face Sherrod Brown next November, it will be one of the biggest political showdowns in the country.

The race will pit a young conservative leader with the principles and determination to restore America’s greatness against a liberal, career politician who has supported the policies that gave us sky-high unemployment and over $15 trillion in debt. Consider the contrast:

[list type="tick"] [li]

• Brown voted FOR the Wall Street bailout. Mandel opposes it.

• Brown voted FOR the $787 billion stimulus bill. Mandel opposes it.

• Brown voted FOR President Obama’s government takeover of healthcare. Mandel supports full repeal.

• Brown voted FOR the Cash for Clunkers program. Mandel opposes it.

• Brown voted for FOR union intimidation using “card check” elections. Mandel opposes card check.

• Brown voted AGAINST permanent repeal of the death tax. Mandel supports full repeal.

• Brown voted AGAINST the earmark moratorium. Mandel supports a permanent ban.

• Brown voted AGAINST defunding Planned Parenthood. Mandel supports defunding it.

• Brown voted AGAINST the Balanced Budget Amendment. Mandel supports it.

• Brown SUPPORTS cap-and-trade legislation that will destroy jobs. Mandel opposes it.

• Brown SUPPORTS raising the debt limit. Mandel opposes it.

[/li] [/list]

On issue after issue, the choice is clear. Josh Mandel fights for freedom while Sherrod Brown fights for debt and dependency. Voters in the Buckeye State can replace Sherrod Brown next year with a true conservative leader who will stand up to the big spenders in both political parities, but that can only happen if the voters know they have a choice.

That is why the Senate Conservatives Fund needs your support to tell the voters in Ohio about Josh Mandel and make certain they know the truth about Sherrod Brown.

Josh Mandel is not as well-known as Sherrod Brown, but he’s gradually gaining on him. When we endorsed Mandel last year, he trailed Brown by more than 15 points. But a recent Rasmussen Reports survey shows Mandel trailing by just 4 points.

We can win this race, but we must work together.

Please make a contribution to the Senate Conservatives Fund today to help us push Josh Mandel across the finish line in the Republican primary election on Tuesday, March 6.

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.

Respectfully,

Jim DeMint
United States Senator
Chairman, Senate Conservatives Fund

This page has had serious issues with the way Josh Mandel seemingly puts election to higher office above every other consideration — from completing the jobs voters elected him to do, starting in Lyndhurst City Council eight years ago, to his judgment in allowing gutter attack ads against his Democratic opponent in 2010 when he was running for his current job as state treasurer.

Even so, none of the four opponents arrayed against him in the statewide Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Sherrod Brown has managed to mount a serious run at the nomination.

-Snip-

But Mandel, at 34 the youngest in the field, is the candidate with the money, the official party backing, the name recognition, the track record as a winner and the political experience — he served several terms in the General Assembly before becoming treasurer — to credibly oppose Brown.

Mandel will win the nomination, as he should, despite his flaws. He is intelligent, driven and a ferocious fundraiser. If the Republicans wish to mount a serious campaign to unseat Brown, the one candidate in this field with a chance is Josh Mandel.

A spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party blasted Sen. Sherrod C. Brown, (D-Ohio), the hypocrisy one of the Senate’s strongest advocates for higher taxes being delinquent in his District of Columbia property taxes.

Brown should have more understanding for taxpayers, said Christopher Maloney, a spokesman for the Ohio GOP. Brown is up for election this face and his Republican challenger will be Josh Mandel, the state’s treasurer.

“It’s shameful that Sherrod Brown is intent on increasing taxes upon small business owners and families in Ohio, while he evades them in Washington,” Maloney said.

“The fact that Sherrod Brown neglected to pay his taxes speaks to the larger issue that after 38 years in government he is out of touch with the everyday struggles and responsibilities of Ohio families,” he said.

National Republican Senate Committee spokesman Jahan Wilcox, said, “It’s ironic that at the same time he’s trying to raise taxes on small business owners in Ohio, Sherrod Brown himself cannot even pay his own taxes on time.”

Brown is the same man, who supports raising the estate tax, which forces many Ohio family owned businesses and farm either shut down or sell out of the family.

“With so many families struggling from the failed tax-and-spend policies of Barack Obama and Sherrod Brown this just reiterates why we need to overhaul the current system to ensure that it’s fair and simple for every Ohioan,” he said.

Brown was overdue $892.74 for the property taxes due on his Seward Square condominium, located roughly a half-mile behind the Capitol as Feb. 4, according to the DC Office of Tax and Revenue database. The unit is valued in the database at $222,280.

A payment was paid Feb. 8, said a clerk at the city’s tax office.

Brown made the payment the same day an Ohio-based reporter called Brown’s office to ask about the delinquency. The reporter was told that there was no money due.

The payment left a balance of $11.71, said the clerk, who would not discuss what fines, penalties were charged to Brown’s account.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel says he reduced his office’s budget by $1.2 million after identifying cost-cutting measures through a comprehensive review of office operations.

Mandel, a first-term Republican running for the U.S. Senate, released results of the review Tuesday. He said it led him to discontinue buying or using promotional giveaway items with the treasurer’s name on them, and reduced or eliminated spending on promotional materials and advertising.

He says the office also is using technology more wisely to save money and modernizing banking practices as a result of the review.

Treas. Josh Mandel (R), “whose cross-country fundraising jaunts have provoked criticism from opponents, has a top-dollar, hometown fundraiser on his calendar this month. … A Jan. 27 luncheon at the downtown Union Club is billed as Mandel’s ‘first Cleveland event of 2012′ in an invitation signed by” Eaton Corp. CEO Sandy Cutler. For $1K, supporters “can receive a general admission ticket for the lunch.” For $2.5K, “donors can also attend a private, pre-lunch reception with Mandel and Cutler.”

Cutler “is well-known in civic circles. He is a past” chair of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, “the region’s chamber of commerce. And he was a leader in the successful effort three years ago to replace” the Cuyahoga Co. commissioners with a charter government.

Cutler, in the letter: “He honorably served two tours in Anbar Province, Iraq, and is now serving as our state treasurer. … Under Josh’s conservative leadership, his $4 billion local government investment fund received the highest possible credit rating from Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch recently issued their highest rating for Ohio’s short-term general obligation bonds.”

Mandel, Cutler writes, “was drafted into this race by a strong mix of Republicans, Democrats and independents, and we are proud that he is stepping forward to once again serve his country.”

Cutler “does not directly attack” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in the letter. “But he closes, with the assistance of another military metaphor, by encouraging recipients to ‘join me in supporting Josh in this next mission to steer Ohio and America in a starkly better direction’” (Gomez, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1/10).