May 4, 2012

SandBoxBlogs: The Hill/Ballot Box "Ohio a hot swing-state battleground for Obama, Romney and Speaker Boehner"

Josh Lederman:
"There are few better examples than Ohio of how national economic trends have had a tangible effect on everyday Americans — and of the contrast between the two parties on how to move forward.

Heavily dependent on manufacturing and automobiles — Democrats claim that one in eight jobs in Ohio depend on the auto industry — Ohio suffered some of the worst effects of the economic recession. Now that things are starting to pick up, both parties are eager to claim credit.

“We don’t have to criticize Mitt Romney. I just hand out copies of the Detroit Free Press editorial he wrote where he suggested Detroit go bankrupt,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern told The Hill. “That is not a talking point that will resonate in places like Toledo and Columbus.”

Unemployment in Ohio hit 10.6 percent in August 2009 and stayed there for the rest of the year. Since the start of 2010, the rate has been slowly declining, and has fallen to 7.5 percent — almost a full percentage point lower than the national average.

But Republicans claim Obama carried Ohio in 2008 thanks to the immensity of what he promised the state, and argue that Ohio voters won’t be fooled twice. They point to the defeat of former Gov. Ted Strickland (D) in 2010 by Gov. John Kasich (R), and the five House Democrats they tossed out of office the same year. 

“The president is going to discover he really has a nightmare opponent in Ohio: himself in 2008,” said Bob Bennett, who took over the Ohio Republican Party in April. “Everything Obama promised to do and be for in Ohio, he’s really discarded....”  (Read more? Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

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