CLEVELAND, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, got an early birthday present with his victory over two-term Republican Sen. Mike DeWine in the midterm elections.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting Wednesday, Brown, who turns 54 Thursday, had defeated the incumbent DeWine 56 percent to 46 percent. Ohio voters apparently rejected DeWine's claims of independence from national Republican leaders in Washington on the war in Iraq and he was hurt by factory job losses in the state, the Cleveland Plain Dealer said.
"Today in Ohio, in the middle of America, the middle class won," Brown, a seven-term congressman, told supporters late Tuesday at Cleveland Public Auditorium. "And because of progressive principles, mainstream progressive values, as Ohio goes in '06, so goes the nation in '08."
