Sen. Brown endorsing, Unity bounce?

My favorite of the 2006 Congressional freshmen and champion of organized labor, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown from Ohio is endorsing Obama for president. Brown had remained neutral throughout the Clinton-Obama primary fight.

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Newsweek finds Obama has a 15-point lead over McCain in their latest poll.

A new NEWSWEEK Poll shows that he has a substantial double-digit lead, 51 percent to 36 percent, over McCain among registered voters nationwide.

In the previous NEWSWEEK Poll, completed in late May when Clinton was still fighting him hard for the Democratic nomination, Obama managed no better than a 46 percent tie with McCain.

Most pollsters up to this point have had him in the 3-7 point range.

Maybe it's a fluke or it could be the start of a larger trend of Democrats uniting now that the divisive primary race is over.

But worth noting.

Photos:
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) speaks during an appearance with the United Steelworkers International and the Sierra Club to endorse Barack Obama for president Friday, June 20, 2008, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. listens during a meeting of Democratic Governors, Friday, June 20,2008, at the Chicago History Museum in Chicago.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A real "Support the Troops" bill

One of my favorite senators, Ohio's Sherrod Brown, plans to introduce legislation this week to help sufferers of post-traumatic disorder.
It would require additional regulations before personnel who suffer from service-connected PTSD and traumatic brain injury are discharged by the defense department.

Brown's bill would:

- Require the Department of Defense to supply detailed explanations of the consequences of discharge status on federal benefits and services.
- Require notice of the right to legal counsel before discharge.
- Instruct Departent of Defense to release the number of upgrade reviews the Discharge Review Board performs for each service, along with the number of upgrades actually granted.
- Require Department of Defense to test for PTSD, TBI and related conditions, and prohibit less than honorable discharges in cases where service members test positive.
- Provide additional protection by waiving the statute of limitations on discharge appeals, for individuals suffering from service-connected PTSD or TBI.

Source: Mansfield News Journal

Winning Ohio

In the latest "Editor's Cut," Ohio's Sen. Sherrod Brown, who ran one of the tightest campaigns in the country last year, talks to The Nation's Katrina Vanden Heuvel about how Clinton and Obama can win the state's upcoming primary.

I will not endorse before the Ohio primary. I'm weighing what my state does, that's certainly part of it. Also, my conversations with both Barack and Hillary, and with Governor Sebelius calling for Barack, and with Bill Clinton calling for Hillary, and Dick Durbin – all the people who have called for them, in addition to talking directly with the candidates… [we] talk about trade, talk about a populist, progressive message in Ohio, talk about privatization and anti-privatization, and all the things they need to do around tax and trade policy.

Photo: Sherrod Brown, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator of Ohio, campaigns on the steps of the Lawrence County Courthouse on Oct. 31, 2006, in Ironton. Photo by Lori Wolfe/ The Herald-Dispatch