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Cincinnati
Enquirer…
Brown, Mandel
offer sharp contrast on economy
Senate candidates' plans are extremely different
By Deirdre Shesgreen
Sep. 2, 2012
WASHINGTON — Ask Ohio voters what this election is about, and the
answer could not be more clear: the economy.
Ask Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and Republican state Treasurer Josh
Mandel about the best way to spur job creation and jump-start economic
growth, and their answers could not be more different.
Brown is an old-school populist and self-styled defender of the little
guy. He says the path to economic prosperity is cracking down on unfair
trade practices by China, passing a five-year farm bill that would help
struggling livestock producers and corn growers and investing in
American infrastructure.
Spending federal dollars on roads, sewer systems and schools, Brown
said, “would put people to work directly and set a foundation for a
more prosperous, efficient economy.”
Mandel is a tea party-backed conservative who has hewed carefully to
the GOP line. He says the smartest way to rev up the economy is to
unravel federal regulations that hurt American businesses, lower taxes
for individuals and businesses and “aggressively and responsibly” drill
for oil and gas.
Mandel said that “blue collar” workers across the state have complained
to him about “over regulation in Washington being a job killer for our
state.”
Their competing messages come as Ohio is making a hard-fought comeback
from the devastating recession that began at the end of 2007 and is
still gripping the nation. Ohio’s unemployment rate in June was 7.2
percent, about a percentage point lower than the national average.
A Quinnipiac University poll taken at the end of July found that 33
percent of Ohio voters believed the Buckeye state’s economy was getting
better, while 26 percent said it was getting worse. Ohioans had a
bleaker view of the broader national economy, with 26 percent saying it
was getting better and 39 percent saying it was getting worse. It’s
clear that economic questions will drive voters’ choices, said Peter
Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling
Institute…
Read the rest of the story at the Cincinnati Enquirer
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