Between them, Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown and his Republican challenger, Josh Mandel, have raised some $20 million towards the fall campaign. And Brown notes that does not include millions in spending by Superpacs on attack ads aimed at him. 

“When people outside the state come in and spend $5.1 million dollars in attack ads, more than any state in the country, we’re going to fight back and we’re not going to lay down and let Karl Rove and some of his sleezy friends have their way. My opponent flew over sees to raise money from payday lenders. I mean, we have received 30,000 donations from 24,000 people (and)  I’m proud of that, there’s no defensiveness about that at all.” 

Mandel couldn’t be reached for comment. But a Web ad released by the 34-year-old who’s been state treasurer for 16 months, provided some clues on how he plans to spend some of his money.

 “...Grandson of a soldier and a blue colar laborer, Josh Mandel served two tours in Iraq and came home to protect our tax dollars…”

The first quarter finance reports for the two campaigns show Brown has nearly $6.3 million in reserve, and Mandel has nearly $5.3 million.