Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel trailed Democratic senator Sherrod Brown early in the year, but now Rasmussen has them running neck-and-neck. Mandel seems to have enjoyed a bump coming off of his primary victory.

The latest telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Buckeye State finds Brown and Mandel each with 43% support. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and another 11% are undecided.

It's enough of a move to draw Michael Barone's notice, as part of the good news he sees as a good week for the GOP so far. A former Marine, Mandel ran well state-wide in 2010. Barone pronounces him "a real contender" now. Mandel was also Marco Rubio's first endorsement of 2012, that via the Weekly Standard.

Most didn't expect it to close up quite so quickly. That's a very good sign for Josh Mandel.

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