Poll Shows Democrat Brown Leading Ohio Senate Race

     CINCINNATI (AP) -     A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday finds first-term U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown running ahead of state Treasurer Josh Mandel, 46-36.

A university poll released last month gave Brown a 48-35 lead in what's expected to be a high-spending, hotly contested race important to Democratic hopes of keeping control of the Senate.

The latest polling indicates Brown is running well ahead of theRepublican among independents, by 46-28, and with women, 48-31.   They are running evenly among male voters.

The phone survey of 1,246 Ohio voters was taken March 20-26 and has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.