[img_assist|nid=1783|title=U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=175|height=221]Vermont's Independent junior senator, Bernie Sanders, is getting some publicity-in Ohio.

According to a Sunday report by WKYC, a television station based near Cleveland, Ohio's senior senator Republican George Voinovich, is trying to paint Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama as a socialist by tying his record to Sanders'.

"There's a guy in the senate, Bernie Sanders who brags about being a socialist," WKYC quotes Voinovich as saying. "And if you compare Barack Obama's record with Bernie Sanders' record, they're not too far apart."

Also on Sunday, Obama received the endorsement of Republican and former Secretary of State Colin Powell on NBC's Meet the Press.

In Vermont, the most recent polls show that Obama has a sizeable lead over his challenger U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). A Rasmussen poll from last month reported Obama with 60 percent of the Green Mountain State's support, to McCain's 36 percent.