LIMA -- U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown got to test out some homemade ice cream, meet with area residents and do a little bit of campaigning during a stop in Allen County on Saturday.

Brown, D-Elyria, is looking to unseat Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, this November. Brown said he's confident he can win if enough money rolls into his campaign to make up for the $20 million he said DeWine plans to spend.

"I wouldn't have run for this if I didn't think I had a reasonably good chance of winning. I'm going to win this race if we raise the money," Brown said.

Brown visited with about 40 people at an ice cream social at the home of Wes Runk on Saturday, watching as pies were auctioned off to benefit his campaign. Among those he met was Liesl Sondheimer, a 98-year-old Jewish survivor of Nazi Germany who said she's the county's oldest Democrat.

"I want to talk to her some more. Have you heard her story?" Brown said before learning that Sondheimer's story is well-known in the area.
Brown said he believes now is the time to switch to the Senate because more can be accomplished there. He wants to guide the country toward a new trade system, saying programs like the North American Free Trade Agreement simply haven't helped anyone.

"We need trade agreements that protect our communities that help to grow jobs in this country, and that means building worker standards, environmental standards, food safety standards into these agreements so they raise prosperity into those countries," Brown said. "If they stay poor, they're not buying anything from us."

U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown unveiled a sprawling economic platform for his U.S. Senate bid yesterday, blending trade restrictions, small business support, prescription-drug costs, and college affordability, and vowing to make Ohio "the Silicon Valley for alternative energy development."

Mr. Brown is a Democrat from Avon who is challenging U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine (R., Cedarville) in one of the nation's most-watched Senate races. He launched a two-day "Road to Change" tour yesterday at the University of Toledo.

His speech merged several familiar Brown campaign themes, including a call to revamp international trade pacts to protect American workers, a proclamation that manufacturing will "rebuild this state," and digs at pharmaceutical companies, Wall Street, cheap labor in China, and President Bush.

"For too long, we have been told that our manufacturing base is a lost cause," Mr. Brown said, adding a moment later: "We've been led to believe that our future is no longer in our hands. Well I don't buy that, and neither do Ohio families."