Posted on 10/16/2012 6:44:35 AM PDT by Eagle of Liberty
CLEVELAND - The candidates in the combative campaign for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat faced off for the first time.
Incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican challenger Josh Mandel met at the Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland on Monday afternoon for the first of three debates.
In the first few exchanges, Brown and Mandel traded barbs.
"He hired political cronies to try to do his jobs," Brown said of Mandel.
"He has failed for the middle class. He has failed for our state," Mandel said of Brown.
The two candidates traded jabs and debated over several issues, including health care, the economy and the auto bailouts.
"I'm not a bailout senator. He's the bailout senator," Mandel said.
Brown responded, "To be against the auto rescue, that boggles my mind."
There were also heated comments regarding stimulus money, and which man would be better for the middle class.
Republicans seeking to gain Senate seats are targeting Brown who won a surprise victory six years ago, making this race one of the most costly and closely watched U.S. Senate races in the country.
Brown has accused Mandel of being more concerned about running for a higher office than doing his job as state treasurer. Mandel has countered that Brown is a career politician who is too liberal for the state.
Both campaigns and outside groups have spent millions flooding the air waves with campaign ads that have taken on a nasty tone leading up to the Nov. 6 election. A study by the Wesleyan Media Project found that $6 million was spent on more than 10,000 ads in the state during the last three weeks of September alone.
Polls have shown that Brown has an edge in the state, but the race remains tight.
Brown, 59, has been in politics since 1974 when he became the youngest state representative in Ohio history. He later was elected secretary of state and to Congress.
Brown was a big supporter of the auto industry bailout and President Barack Obama's federal health care law.
Mandel, 35, was elected to statewide office in 2010. He'd been a Cleveland-area city councilman and state legislator. He has called for fiscal conservatism and criticized Brown's support of the health care overhaul.
Mandel, a Marine veteran who served two tours in Iraq, has faced criticism throughout the campaign for hiring friends and political operatives into his state office and missing official state duties.
Full video of the debate is at the link!
No bias there at all! That's why they left out Mandel's excellent reply to such a typical rat tactic.
He pointed out how qualified his team must have been because of the things they've already accomplished, and said he'd stack his team up against Brown's team of incompetents any day! I think Mandel tore brown a new one. That's why we''re not hearing any talk about who won the debate.
Based on the neutral headline in today’s very pro-Democratic Cleveland Plain Dealer — ‘’In first of three scheduled bouts, Senate hopefuls come out swinging’’ — I’m forced to believe Josh Mandel won the debate.
The best quote from Sherrod Brown the Plain Dealer, which supports Brown, could find to highlight was the banal, ‘’Unlike Josh Mandel, I trust Ohio women to make their own health-care decisions,’’ while they highlighted Josh Mandel’s zinger to Brown, ‘’You’ve had 20 years to try and solve these problems. That is a record of failure.’’
Since very few people actually listened to the debate, the Plain Dealer’s front-page highlights must have helped Josh Mandel.
Let’s hope someone on Mitt Romney’s campaign staff, which is focusing so much time and energy in Ohio, reads today’s Plain Dealer front page and adapts Josh Mandel’s statement for use by Romney in tonight’s debate: ‘’You have had four years to try and solve these problems. That is a record of failure.’’
If such a Romney quote were to be highlighted tomorrow on every newspaper in America’s front page, Romney will win. Otherwise, Big Bird or some equivalent nonsense will again dominate America’s news media in the post-debate discussions. But Romney has to SAY it.
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