Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/ohio-republican-senate-seat-in-jeopardy Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Though Ohio's two-term Senator Republican Mike DeWine has insisted in his campaign that he is an independent force, his ties to President Bush may cost him his re-election to the Senate. Recent polls show Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown widening his lead over DeWine. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Gwen Ifill has our Ohio report.SEN. MIKE DEWINE (R), Ohio: How are you? OK, what did you have, a little sauerkraut there or… OHIO RESIDENT: Sauerkraut Sunday. SEN. MIKE DEWINE: Sauerkraut Sunday? GWEN IFILL: In any other election year, Republican Senator Mike DeWine would not have to be hunting for votes at the Waynesville, Ohio, Sauerkraut Festival. OHIO RESIDENT: Potatoes, sauerkraut, olives, cheddar cheese… SEN. MIKE DEWINE: Good to see you. Thank you for inviting me. GWEN IFILL: But this is no ordinary year for DeWine or for Ohio. Corruption scandals, a depressed state economy, a divided Republican Party all have combined to cast significant storm clouds over DeWine's political future.So why is this race so close? SEN. MIKE DEWINE: The race is close because Ohio's a competitive state. I mean, look at the last couple of presidential campaigns. We were a state that for years elected John Glenn, Howard Metzenbaum at the same time we were voting for a Republican presidents and sometimes Republican governors. When I was elected, I was the first Republican to be elected to the Senate in a quarter of a century. So it's a competitive state. GWEN IFILL: But it wasn't so hard for you last time. SEN. MIKE DEWINE: No, but obviously we have different situations today. You know, we've had scandals in the statehouse in Washington or in the statehouse in Columbus, and that's been a problem. The president's popularity is certainly not what it was. The Republican governor's popularity is not where it should be. So there are issues there.