The Dispatch – Last Monday, Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel flew to Washington for a series of fundraisers. The same week, his Democratic opponent, Sen. Sherrod Brown, was helping guide the farm bill through the Senate.

It was exactly the type of distinction that Ohio Democrats have been trying to highlight as they fend off Mandel’s spirited challenge: The earnest and hard-working U.S. senator against the youthful first-term state treasurer whose ambition is so great that he takes time off from his job to raise money.

“There’s a clear contrast between Mandel, who appears to be at best a part-time treasurer, and Sherrod Brown, who is trying to be a full-time senator,’’ said Dennis Eckart, a former Democratic congressman from Cleveland and a longtime Brown ally.