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Source: The Columbus Dispatch, OhioAug.mini storage 11--Josh Mandel still is talking about shop class.As a Republican U.S. Senate candidate crisscrossing Ohio last year, Mandel sought support by pressing an idea that wasn't exactly at the forefront of most political rhetoric and ideology -- that Ohioans should recommit themselves to providing vocational training at the high-school level.He also touched on other, more-obvious themes as he barnstormed the state in 2012, among them his unmitigated support for fracking and lower taxes.Now it's 2013 and Mandel is still the state's treasurer, having lost to Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in a campaign during which Mandel was defined early as an eager politician who spent too much time on the road instead of attending to his duties as treasurer.There is no campaign for Mandel to run until his re-election bid next year, yet he still is touring the state, talking about things like taxes, energy and especially shop class. The question, of course, is why? These are policy issues that are fit for a Senate campaign speech but seemingly fall outside the purview of his role as treasurer.But Mandel doesn't see it that way. He calls it "leveraging the leadership of my office." He calls it governing."One of the problems with a lot of politicians is, they get elected to office and they disappear from the public and no one can access them," Mandel told The Dispatch during one recent barnstorming trip. "I am the opposite. I take pride in being accessible to the people of the state. I am trying to hold as many public gatherings as possible, so people can shake my hand, look me in the eye, and ask me a question."Since the end of January, Mandel has been on a coordinated schedule of more than 50 trips across the state, many of them billed as "economic-development roundtables" with local government officials and business leaders. At these meetings, he hands out a folder thick with information about his treasurer's office, highlighting items like his popular STAR Plus program, an investment pool for local governments that has eclipsed $1 billion in short time and is producing high yields. Mandel opens each meeting talking about STAR Plus and other initiatives -- like putting more of the state's spending on the Internet. Then, he asks for feedback on how he could do better or how state government as a whole could improve.The conversation almost always evolves into a broader policy discussion stretching in some cases beyond his role as treasurer -- someone once asked him whether he thought the legislature and governor would ever restore local government funding. The audience, typically between 10 and 25 people, often gives Mandel the highest praise for talking about things like ... shop class."I was impressed by his push for blue-collar jobs," said Rick Wanner, owner of Wanner Metal Worx, where Mandel held a recent meeting in Delaware."Just by him talking about the need for vocational training, it kind of brings the issue to the forefroself storaget ... and if that leads to more jobs and more people bringing home paychecks, then it does affect him as treasurer."So interactions with Wanner would be reason enough for any politician, let alone Mandel, to continue with this kind of travel. But there could be others, though Mandel rejects the suggestion.Mandel's negatives were higher than his favorables in Quinnipiac University polling as Election Day neared last year, and in 2010 he widely was criticized for negative campaigning in his defeat of then-Treasurer Kevin Boyce. During his recent Delaware meeting, Mandel told the more than a dozen people there that Boyce "was one of the state's best treasurers when it comes to financial literacy training."Mandel pays for these trips with campaign money. His treasurer's campaign has spent $6,500 on gas, $3,800 on food at restaurants, more than $6,000 to "reimburse" campaign aides for travel and $15,000 to buy a vehicle during the first seven months of this year out of the $1.2 million Mandel raised.Not all of that spending was used for trips as treasurer, but Mandel said he hasn't billed any of his food or fuel costs to the state. In fact, he said, his office sold the cars that were allocated specifically for use by treasury officials.Also, pictures from the meetings Mandel holds -- and the restaurants he attends nearby the events -- often appear on his campaign Twitter account.The tone was set in the Brown-Mandel race last year when it was revealed that Mandel had skipped the first 14 monthly meetings of the Ohio Board of Deposit -- which he chairs. Mandel now says missing those meetings was a "mistake," and his staff said he hasn't missed one since Feb. 23, 2012.So after what happened in 2012 and what's to come in 2014, when Ohio has no Senate race, you could say it is either a brilliant or puzzling strategy of political rehabilitation for Mandel to take to the road this year."I think Sherrod's campaign was very successful in painting him as being in too much of a hurry," said Joseph T. Deters, a former Republican state treasurer who is now Hamilton County prosecutor. "Obviously that was an easy target for the (Senate) campaign. The best politics in the world is running a good office. Josh is running his office well, and he's doing good stuff; the politics will take care of itself."After Mandel's meeting in Delaware, he headed south to another one in Circleville. He had two more scheduled in Chillicothe and New Boston after that.As the county treasurers, bankers, a county commissioner and business representatives in Circleville peppered Mandel with questions about interest rates and small-business lending, Mandel commented to the group about the value he sees in these meetings."I can do these all day, every day and we still wouldn't get to enough people," Mandel said.@joevardonCopyright: ___ (c)2013 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) Visit The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) at .dispatch.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉