Click the play button above to hear more from Sen. Brown and a local homeowner who had to fight to keep her home.

That could bode well for Ohio.

Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman are among the 20 senators who will be taking the closest look at everything from taxes to trade agreements, Medicare, Social Security and the overall economic well-being at the United States.

University of Kansas political scientist Burdett Loomis edited a book called “The U.S. Senate: from Deliberation to Dysfunction.” Despite the title, he says the Senate has been a more bipartisan and functional place than the House in recent weeks, and having Portman and Brown on the key committee is a bonus.

“I do think that you’ve got two very different senators but both senators are smart, and I think can work to the advantage of Ohioans across the board. And in that sense, I think you’re very lucky,” Loomis says.

Loomis says much of the advantage may be behind the scenes, but expects key interests of the Buckeye state – such as the auto industry – will get attention from the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

This race that would make history started quietly. Incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, long known as a veteran liberal lawmaker, started his campaign for a second term with almost no fanfare. State treasurer and conservative Republican Josh Mandel made his announcement at the Akron Press Club in March with some lines that became standard fare for his stump speeches.

Right now these partisan politicians in Washington are driving our country off a cliff. Sherrod Brown is behind the steering wheel. We cannot wait another six years to turn this country in a different direction.

Just five days later, Mandel bested five other GOP contenders and won the nomination handily.

But for months, both had been raising big money. Mandel stepped up the visibility of his campaign by bringing in Republican rock stars such as former presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, rumored to be on Mitt Romney’s short list for vice president.

“We need to change the majority leader – we need to change who’s in charge in the Senate. It does us no good to win the White House if Harry Reid is still in charge in the Senate,” Rubio said.

Mandel also appeared with Romney several times.

But some criticized Mandel for running a campaign with lots of high-profile help, but few ideas.

Meanwhile, Brown took some hits for not stumping enough with the candidate at the top of the Democratic ticket. Brown often said – as he did in January – that his schedule kept him from appearing with President Obama.

I’m glad to appear with him; it’s nothing like that. It’s just – they’ll make politics out of anything. And I support what he’s trying to do on job creation and will continue to.

All along, the money was piling up – both the dollars raised by the candidates, and those spent by outside groups and so-called Super PACs.

The race was one of those targeted as a potential win for Republicans. The issues in the campaign – the economy, trade, the auto bailout – were briefly touched on in commercials that started out nasty and in some case arguably false, and only got worse.

“Josh Mandel – he’s become the candidate of the big lie,” one ad claimed.

“Sherrod Brown – living by different rules than us” declared another.

Those angry ads set a tone that carried over into the three debates in October between Mandel and Brown. The first was at the City Club of Cleveland, the second a few days later in Columbus.

Mandel: “The folks we’ve hired into our office are qualified professionals, and I believe their record speaks for themselves. (boos) Let’s talk about the record.”

Brown: “He has the nerve and encouraging his friends to ask questions about term limits when he clearly has no regard for any of that. (boos, cheers and applause)”

Mandel: “Senator, you are a liar.”

Brown: “Josh Mandel, as we know, has trouble telling the truth.”

Brown ended up getting endorsed by nearly every newspaper in Ohio – some of which declined to back him when he ran in 2006, in what had been the most expensive U.S. Senate race in Ohio history.

Though Mandel had been the number-two statewide vote getter for the Republicans in 2010, Brown beat him by 326,000 votes. But Brown had just 50% of the vote – Mandel had 45%, and third-party candidate Scott Rupert brought in 5%. On election night, Brown sounded physically spent.

This race was never about me or my opponent. It was about the veteran in Columbus. It was about the waitress in Waverly. It was about the steelworker in Yorkville, the auto parts worker in Lima, the small businessman in Marietta, the farmer in Waldo.

The Brown-Mandel contest was the third most expensive Senate race in the country in 2012 – not far behind those in Massachusetts and Virginia, with the candidates and the outside groups spending $76.2 million.

At the downtown Columbus Hilton Sherrod Brown struggled for his voice after turning back challenger Mandel.

“Today in Ohio, in the middle of America the middle class won.” Says Brown.

Brown parlayed his support for the bail-out of GM and Chrysler and some anti China campaign rhetoric into a five point victory. He withstood 50-thousand attack ads from what he called “secretive, out of state forces” to gain victory.

Republican Mandel sought to turn Brown’s three decades in public office against the incumbent. The Iraq War veteran told supporters “This was a David and Goliath type fight.” But,Mandel delivered a short, low-key concession about mid-evening.

“I’m proud of the effort we put forth. And I think we put forth everything we could in sweat, honor and integrity.” Said Mandel.

With Brown’s win Ohio keeps the status quo in its congressional delegation. A democratic senator, a republican senator and a republican majority house delegation.

Take this exchange on passing a balanced budget starting with Brown:

“The talking points that Josh has are ‘didn’t pass a budget, didn’t pass a budget.’ But the facts are we passed a budget control act, which has the force of law, which cut $2 trillion in spending and is making a difference in getting our budget under control.”

“Do you have a budget control act around your kitchen table, or a budget control act in your small business?” Mandel responded. “No, that’s ridiculous. It’s Washington speak. We have budgets, we manage our households with a budget, we manage our small businesses with a budget. But unfortunately in Washington, these politicians think they can live by a different set of rules than us.”

The two also debated Social Security, Medicare, the auto and bank bailouts, the federal tax code and abortion. On that issue Mandel said he’s against all abortions except if the mother’s life is at risk.

He also accused Brown of having extremist views on the issue and supporting abortions in the ninth month of pregnancy. Brown responded with incredulity on that point then said he trusts Ohio women to make their own health decisions.

With just two weeks until Election Day Mandel unveiled his plan at an orthopedic private practice in Westlake. Point one of the plan is to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which has been a centerpiece of his campaign.

“Some people call it Obamacare, some people call it the Affordable health care act. I call it what I believe it is: the federal government takeover of healthcare,” Mandel said.

Several of the rest of Mandel’s ten points are principles that Republicans in general have applied to health care, such as tort reform, allowing patients cross state lines to buy insurance, encouraging medical savings accounts, and giving Medicaid block grants to states. Others you don’t hear so often, such as giving a tax deduction for health insurance to those who must buy it on their own. Mandel says that would help people get coverage for pre-existing conditions – although he doesn’t say how.

“The way to provide coverage for pre-existing is not to have the federal government take over the health care system. It’s to change the tax code to make it more friendly to small businesses and to people who are self employed, and more friendly to workers who may want to move from job to job.”

Democratic incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown’s campaign calls the plan “slogans over substance.”

Spokesperson Sadie Weiner said it would do little to expand access to health care, and repealing the Affordable Care Act would have immediate repercussions.

“Big insurance companies can kick you off your plan if you get sick. Those same big insurance companies can refuse to cover you if you have a pre-existing consition, and millions of young adults would be kicked off their parents plans when they graduate and begin looking for a job if Josh Mandel has his way on this.”

The two candidates will have their final debate of the campaign Thursday night in Cincinnati.

Incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican challenger Josh Mandel debated Monday at an event in Cleveland.

Early in the debate, Brown took Mandel to task for signing an anti-tax pledge that could prevent him from striking deals in Washington necessary to close business tax loopholes.

Mandel called Brown a “bailout senator” and said the economy is worse off in many areas than when Brown took office six years ago.

Click here for extended debate coverage by WKSU’s Kevin Niedermier.

The candidates will meet in two more debates – in Columbus on Thursday, and in Cincinnati on Oct. 25.

But, Denison University political scientist Paul Djupe says candidates take risks when raising trade issues.

“It really cross-cuts, I mean you’ll hear free-trade democrats, you’ll hear free trade republicans, and you’ll hear protectionist  democrats and protectionist republicans, so the politics don’t add up very easily here.”  Says Paul Djupe

Figures from the Ohio Department of Development illustrate the cross cut. Last year, Ohio exported 2-point-7 billion dollars worth of materials to China….but, imports from China to Ohio topped 11-billion dollars.

Brown purposefully links China trade to Ohio’s loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs between 2001 and 2011.

“We do chemicals in Ohio, we do foundries, we do steel.”

Brown makes his point while addressing workers at a southside Columbus foundry. He touts his legislation to sanction Beijing for using currency controls to help China compete with Ohio factory and assembly workers.

“And when you see a country cheat on its currency, it basically means when you sell into that country you have a 20 percent disadvantage. When they sell into our country and compete with us, they have a 20 percent, basically, bonus.”  Says Brown.

Republican Mandel dismisses Brown’s effort to sanction China.

“I think the current legislation is misguided, meaningless, and has no teeth whatsoever.”

Mandel says diplomatic pressure toward China would be more effective in the bi-lateral tug of war for manufacturing jobs.

“Unfortunately the trade deficit with Sherrod Brown in Washington has gotten worse, and worse, and worse. And so I believe he has no credibility and no footing whatsoever to introduce legislation.” Says Mandel.

Mandel and Brown today will get further chance to address China trade, jobs, and the economy later at a Cleveland City Club debate. Later this week they’ll debate in Columbus.

The poll published Monday by The Columbus Dispatch shows the first-term Democratic senator leading Mandel, the state treasurer, by 49 percent to 39 percent. In the first Dispatch poll Aug. 26, the two were tied at 44 percent.

The mail poll of 1,662 randomly selected likely Ohio voters was taken from Sept. 19 through Saturday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

The transformation in the Senate contest parallels that of the presidential race in Ohio, which went from deadlocked in the Dispatch survey to a 9-point margin for President Barack Obama.

Mandel said Tuesday that Congress should pass term limits to help weed out career politicians and inject new ideas into Washington. He faces incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown in November.

Brown was elected to the U.S. House in 1992, where he served until he was elected senator in 2006.

Brown told voters in 1992 that he supported a 12-year limit on congressional service, but he exceeded that limit in 2004 when he was re-elected representative.

Brown’s campaign spokesman called Mandel’s term-limit pledge “a total joke.” Justin Barasky said Mandel promised to serve a full, four-year term as state treasurer when he was elected in 2010 but he’s campaigning for the Senate.