Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown emphasized the need to keep college graduates in Ohio on a conference call with university media Wednesday.

“One of the missions I have as a senator … is, you know, how we make our state more livable, more attractive, more open to people your age so when you graduate, you stay,” Brown said, noting that a large number of college graduates choose to leave Ohio.

“In 2008, only about 60 percent of bachelor’s degree-holders and 55 percent of graduate degree-holders still lived in Ohio three years after graduating from an Ohio institution of higher education,” he said. “Fifty-eight percent of Ohio college students say they plan to leave the state after graduation.”

Brown said it’s a widespread misconception that “Ohio falls short in offering job opportunities, career advancement and social life.”

Four Ohio cities were highly ranked in BusinessWeek’s “Best Cities for New College Grads.” Based on the average salaries of their residents, unemployment rate and cost of living, Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton and Cincinnati were ranked ninth, 17th, 20th and 23rd, respectively.

Brown also emphasized the importance of the 3C “Quick Start” Passenger Rail Plan, a high-speed railroad that would connect Ohio cities, including Cleveland, Columbus, Springfield, Dayton, Riverside, Sharonville and Cincinnati.

“We are the largest, most congested population in the country that’s not served by rail in those four cities,” Brown said, adding that the railroad would create manufacturing jobs in Ohio.

The $400 million railroad project would create an estimated 255 immediate jobs and 8,000 indirect jobs in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation website. It would also run near 40 colleges and universities and be accessible to more than 220,000 students, a Department of Transportation analysis concluded.

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, the Democratic senatorial candidate, said he supports the railroad.

“It’s embarrassing that when you travel to Asia or Europe, you see how much more advanced their transportation system is than ours,” Fisher said. “It’s inexcusable.”

Republican senatorial candidate Rob Portman rejected the idea, saying the proposed design would be out of date before it was built.