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.

A Wednesday panel discussion was the first time Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern and Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett were together since Redfern survived a coup among his membership and Bennett was brought back from retirement after GOP chair Kevin DeWine was forced out.

And it didn’t take long for Redfern to start jabbing, as he talked about what he’s been doing.

“…bringing about a two-party system here in Ohio that frankly was lacking during most of the time that Bob was chairman of the Republican Party. I’ve spent some time getting to know Mr. Bennett, Chairman Bennett.

Bennett then interrupted by saying “history tends to repeat itself in politics.”

The chairmen spent most of their time before the Columbus Metropolitan Club talking national politics. Bennett was asked if he’s pleased with Mitt Romney as the GOP presidential nominee.

“Absolutely,” Bennett said. “I think he’s…he will appeal to not only the social conservatives and the fiscal conservatives and the Tea Party people within the party, but he’ll be able to reach out and attract a number of independents.”

And Redfern said he’s also happy with Barack Obama as a president and a candidate.

“The president’s leadership and the leadership of those who joined him in the Congress have meant that more Ohioans are working today than there were in January 2009 when his hand came off the Bible.

“There are more Ohioans today covered by health care when there were when the president’s hand came off the Bible. And I think we should all celebrate that.”

Bennett countered by saying there are more people unemployed in Ohio than when Obama took office.

The unemployment rate released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services was 8.8 percent in January 2009 compared to 7.5 percent now. But that’s just one area where the chairmen have different views and use competing facts.

For example – the bailout of the automakers.

Redfern said without it, thousands would be without jobs, while Bennett said the free market needs to control the economy, not the government. Redfern said Obama is responsible for the economy and the steady decrease in unemployment, but Bennett said Obama should also take credit for huge financial problems in California and Illinois.

Bennett said he doesn’t think social issues will drive the election – he thinks the economy will.

“It’s not going to be anything else. It’s not going to be the social issues – they’re important.

“They’re important as part of your coalition. But I think when it comes right down to it, people are going to ask themselves, ‘am I better off today than I was four years ago?’ And you look at the promises that were made by the president, and almost every one of them have been broken.”

But Redfern said he doesn’t mind discussing social issues , including marriage equality and access to birth control.

“We guarantee through health care policies the right for men to seek and acquire Viagra, but we don’t allow women access to contraception. And we are having this debate in 2012, and Bob is asked rhetorically, I hope, Mike, whether he’s pleased with his nominee. I am.”

The chairmen were also asked to say something nice about a major figure in the other party. Bennett credited President Obama with the killing of Osama bin Laden. Redfern praised Gov. John Kasich for proposing what Redfern called a massive tax increase on oil and gas drillers.

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (BROO’-nur), the state’s top elections official, saved their best shots for the final minutes.

Fisher challenged why Brunner hasn’t offered to support Fisher if he wins the nomination. She says her role as Ohio’s elections chief requires her neutrality.

Brunner complained that Fisher has been disrespectful to her, calling her by her first name instead of her official title. Fisher says he meant no disrespect.

People of all ages stood outside Ohio State’s Biomedical Research Tower on West 12-th Avenue. Some held signs in support of health care reform, one man wore a shirt with Barack Obama on the front – the president’s face painted like the joker in the last Batman movie – under the picture was the word “socialism”.

That man was in a heated debate with another man who supports a reform bill.

“Where in the Bill of Rights does it say I should pay for your health care?”

Next to them…another heated debate…this one a little less civil.

“Sorry, but you’re a liar. You’re a liar.”

Inside the building the mood was much calmer – people talked among themselves in hushed voices. As U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown entered a packed room many people stood to applaud him – others, though, held their applause but stood out of respect.

While other Ohio members of Congress have shied away from town hall-style meetings because of recent volatility, Brown told the crowd he wanted to hear what they had to say.

Brown supports the proposed health care reform bill. He says it must be passed to avoid a worsening crisis.

“As good as our medical research in this country is we’re spending way too much money and not getting enough money for what we’re spending,” Brown said.

About forty minutes into the forum the senator opened up the floor for question and comments.

One man said the federal government is good at creating a deficit and poor at running a business. And he questioned the timing of the bill and raised the issue of public trust in the government.

“Is this really the right thing is this economic environment to possibly cause more job losses, and possibly cause more budget deficits in this economy? And I just want to leave with just one last statement. The founders reminded us, a government that’s big enough to give you everything you want is large enough to take everything away,” he said.

But Marianne Steger from Hilliard supports the health care reform bill. She urged Senator Brown to continue to support a public option because in her words the “private system has failed”.

“And people who want to beat up on government, you’re beating up on veterans, you’re beating up on military people, you’re beating up on doctors and folks, and schoolteachers, police officers. Government does a lot of good things in this country and when the private market fails we need government to step in and give us an option that will not turn us away,” Steger said.

While many in the crowd became passionate while sharing their comments, Senator Brown remained reasonably calm. But a woman’s question about why insurance companies could be audited or penalized as part of the bill struck a chord with the senator.

“If an insurance company gets audited and there is a, there is a long profligate list of abuse by this insurance company you’re damn right they should be punished,” Brown said.

One woman expressed to Senator Brown her concern over a single payer system. Brown followed up with this:

“The president doesn’t support single payer so uhm.”

Several in the crowd questioned that statement. “Well, I’ve heard…Unlike the rest of you I’ve actually asked him that question,” the senator replied.

After the forum Becky Rayner said she and her husband just lost their health insurance and they cannot get private insurance because of pre-existing illnesses.

“I was just reassured. And thing were put more in a better understanding. And I’m more for it now than I was this morning,” Rayner said.

Melanie Leneghan did not get into the meeting but she stuck around anyway to hold up her signs.

“One says Obamacare, immoral, lies, lies, lies, we don’t want it’. The other says what’s your hurry’,” Leneghan said.

Like many others, Leneghan’s concern is a government run health care system. When Leneghan was told Senator Brown said the President does not support a single-payer system she pointed to her sign.

“Lies, lies, lies. They know darn well that if they put this plan into place private insurance will go out of business,” she said.

Comments like these will not likely be the last as the health care debate continues during the congressional recess.

Debate topics ran the gamut, from the recent economic bailout bill to the energy crisis to negative campaigning.

Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy is in her second run for Capitol Hill. She narrowly lost to Republican incumbent Deborah Pryce in 2006. Kilroy, a Franklin County Commissioner, said she would have voted for the bailout bill.

“We need to move in quickly to eliminate and put more over sight and more regulation so the risky behaviors on Wall Street and the banking industry that has brought us to this crisis come to an end,” Kilroy said. Republican Steve Stivers, a state senator and an Iraq war veteran, said he had serious concerns about the bailout bill and never said if he would have voted for it. He offered other ideas to fix the economy.

“I think we have to get this economy back on track, and jobs and economic development are our first priority. That starts with making sure we focus on innovation, retool our workforce development programs,” he said.

Independent candidate Don Elijah Eckhart, who said he would not have supported the bailout bill, said he wanted to balance the Federal budget.

All three candidates said they support energy independence, but they had different ideas about how to achieve it.

Stivers wants to invest $110 billion over ten years in renewable energy research. And he said he would pay for it with mineral rights from off-shore drilling. But he also supports auto manufacturing reform.

“We need to encourage our domestic automobile manufacturers in fact require them to raise the mile per gallon standard,” Stivers said.

Kilroy said Americans will start taking a proactive approach to the energy crisis when government shows them, for example, choosing a fuel-efficient car over an SUV makes more sense.

“We give those tax credits for purchasing a fuel-efficient vehicle. And we work with employers and parking lots so people can use their plug in hybrid,” she said. Eckhart said solar and wind power have more potential to solve the nation’s energy problems. And he supports clean coal technology.

“We want to make use of all kinds of clean energy technologies. And we need to promote those with a good level of research and development to make that happen,” Eckhart said.

And the candidates addressed the ones plaguing the 15th district. Those against Stivers say he’s a former bank lobbyist beholden to banking interests, and say he opposed predatory lending reform. Ads against Kilroy criticize her decisions as a county commissioner, specifically accepting union contracts that were not the lowest bid.

Kilroy defended the decision to hire union workers for the new Huntington ball park even though they were not the cheapest.

“The companies in question broke Ohio law, and didn’t disclose that as they were requested to on their application, lied on their application, and so we moved on to the next lowest bidder,” she said.

Stivers, who worked at Bank One for seven years, touted the number of jobs he helped create while he was there. Stivers defended vote against a state predatory lending bill.

“The only enforcement mechanism was to let people sue and so what happens is when you get sued you can victimize 20, 30, 40 or 50 more people while you’re being sued so it really was not the right approach,” Stivers said.

The Columbus Metropolitan Club and WOSU sponsored debate.

Many were volunteers with the non-partisan group which is calling on candidates to address two issues in particular – health care and financial security. WOSU’s Christina Morgan reports

After the 90-minute discussion, five of the spectators told WOSU the debate had not changed their minds. Connie Wright of Columbus remained undecided, saying she likes both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and would like to see them on the same ticket.

Michael Wright favors Barack Obama, but is not opposed to Hillary Clinton. Wright says he can’t wait until President George Bush is out of the White House.

Wearing a Barack the Vote button, Ora White said she’s talked with a number of African Americans who say Clinton and Obama are the same. She disagrees, saying Obama knows what it is like to work his way up from the bottom.

Upper Arlington resident Earl Goldhammer said he was impressed by both of the Democratic candidates, but says he wanted to hear more about the economy.

NBC co-moderator Tim Russert asked Obama if he’s waffling on an earlier pledge to accept federal funding for the fall campaign. Obama said if nominated, he’d sit down with the Republican winner and make sure whatever is done is fair to both sides.

Russert asked Clinton about the her tax returns. She says she’ll release them if she becomes the nominee, and possibly sooner.

Republican challenger William Todd and Democratic Incumbent Michael Coleman met Wednesday for the only scheduled debate of the campaign. The performance of Columbus Public Schools was a major point of contention.

Columbus attorney Todd has filed suit against the school district, alleging unfair and inequitable education among schools in the city school district. He calls for an evacuation of students from poorly performing schools.

Todd says while Mayor Coleman does have an office of education, it has spent only $7 million in eight years – in Todd’s words, a “miniscule effort” compared to the $660 million annual budget of the city school district. Todd thinks the mayor’s office should take over the Columbus public schools. Coleman says a mayoral takeover is just a slogan, and “slogans don’t help kids.”

Coleman points to what he calls practical partnerships between the city and the school district. Those include an after school program for 6,600 children, mentors in schools, summer jobs for 2,000 young people and a stepped-up truancy effort which Coleman says has helped to increase the district’s attendance rate to 93 percent.

OSU University Relations Vice President Curt Steiner said the school applied first and analyzed later.

“While this would be a very good thing for Columbus to do and Ohio State to host, that money at this time should be spent on something more lasting some more permanent improvements to the community and not just a one time event,” Steiner said.

OSU would have had to come up with about $4 million to put on the debate which would’ve been co-sponsored by NPR and PBS. While Steiner said the university has the capability to raise the money there are other issues at hand like finding its own permanent president.

“Right now we’re in transition in leadership. We have not hired a new president yet of Ohio State. And with a site visit that would have to be held now we just were not in a position to set this above other priorities over the university or the community without a permanent president,” Steiner said.

But Ohio could still host a debate. The University of Cincinnati is also in contention. Steiner said UC has already begun to raise funds and has its community behind them. The Commission on Presidential Debates will announce in October where the debates will be held.