Obama, Romney battle to win Ohio’s electoral votes

>>> the buckeye state has been at the center of the past three elections. and in november, ohio could decide who wins the white house yet again. president obama and mitt romney are barn storming ohio . they made 16 visits there so far this year. and the two campaigns have spent at least $22 million in an effort to win the state 's 18 electoral votes .

>> manufacturers have started investing in america again. including right here in ohio .

>> if you want to see the results of his economic policies, look around ohio , look around the country, and you'll see a lot of people are hurting.

>> ohio over the next five months, this election will take many twists and many turns.

>> ohio is going to make the difference. ohio , i need you to help me become the next president of the united states .

>> democratic senator sherry brown of ohio joins me now. thank you so much for being on the program, sir.

>> good to be with you. thanks, luke.

>> in 2010 , bill clinton said these comments at the die owinga community college , i want you to listen and we'll talk about it on the other side.

>> the democrats are saying something like this. look, we found a big hole that we did not dig. and we didn't get out of it in 21 months, but at least we quit digging. don't go back in reverse. give us two more years. if it doesn't work, you have another election in two years, you can vote us out then.

>> well, obviously, they voted a lot of democrats out in 2010 . you guys shrunk in number. why do you and president obama deserve some more time, considering the economy has not necessarily grown at the rate of which has been promised before when the stimulus went forward?

>> well, of course we want the economy to grow faster. it's all about job growth in our state . but look at it this way. from 2000 to 2010 , we lost 5 million manufacturing jobs in our country. we have gained back since 20105 hundred thousand of those jobs, not enough, but because we have done the auto rescue, which clearly saved the state from depression. the auto industry all across my state is growing, is producing jobs. not just in the auto plants, but in the whole auto supply chain. the president and at our urging has enforced trade law in a way that presidents hadn't done since ronald reagan . we have a new steel mill in youngstown, producing steel and tires and other products because we're enforcing trade law . i was at the international trade commission yesterday to argue for stronger enforcement. if we pass our china currency bill, which was the largest bill -- jobs bill that passed the senate bipartisanly last year, that will help level the playing field . we're doing better. we've got to do better than we're doing. but ohio 's unemployment rate has dropped three points since president obama took office. so we're seeing progress, and we don't want to go back to what mitt romney is offering.

>> on your -- your race is interesting, because the gentleman you're running against, mr. mandel, has a tremendous advantage in terms of outside money . if you look at it, groups associated with him have had $8.3 million spent. 4 to 1 money advantage. your outside group is only about $1.7 million. mr. mandel has had numerous gaffes that have been reported by the ohio media. are you at risk of becoming sort of the first big-name politician to go down squarely because the citizens united decision?

>> well, first, i'm not going to lose. but second, this is -- a perfect example when you have outside secret money, more than $8 million. we figure it comes from the oil companies , because they know -- we figure it comes from wall street , because they don't much like what i've tried to do on breaking up the banks and on consumer protection and all. we don't know. but this is an example where it's entirely money that's kept this race at all even close. it's not that-that close now. but it's all because of outside money . i have -- i'm organizing a group of people online. we've had 150,000 people sign up at sherrodbrown.com to fight back not just against my race, but against this incredible amount of money from billionaires and oil companies and large insurance companies and drug companies that really are trying to buy our political system in a way that gives new meaning to the term buy america.

>> one thing that you've been hit with is your failure to pay taxes on a condo in washington, d.c., 2006 , 2007 , 2011 . can you assure the voters of ohio that right now you're in good standing with the irs?

>> sure, i was late a couple times. i have a 400 square foot condo, costs less than $100,000 in washington, a place on capitol hill . i was late a couple times. i paid the small penalties because it was a small amount of taxes. i moved back in ohio from lorraine to avon and got lost. there is no excuse. but i've always paid my taxes. i always will, of course.

>> and last but not least, you pull very well 51% to 37% over josh bandell. obama is 48-42 in our ohio nbc poll. as a progressive democrat , and we have to wrap this up quickly, how do you pull so well in a state like ohio better than the president when you are arguably a lot more progressive?

>> voters know i'm on their side, i fight for manufacturing,it fight for jobs, i fight for middle class kids and working kids going to college by freezing interest rates on the subsidized stafford loans. i'm fighting for health care . they know what's what i get up and do every day in my state and for my state .

>> senator sherrod brown , thank you very much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it.