When it comes to taking credit for a state?s economy, Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich sounds a lot like Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Ohio?s unemployment rate is 7.2 percent, below the national average. The Buckeye state is faring better than its neighboring Midwestern?states.?It?s a swing state and both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are making repeated stops in Ohio?to woo voters in hopes of winning the state?s 18 electoral voters. No Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio. And Obama strategists believe Romney can?t win without it.
At every stop, Obama touts the auto bailout, which he says saved thousands of jobs. We reported about the race for Ohio today. And as we reported, Kasich is trying to blunt Obama?s appeal by saying that the auto bailout didn?t really produce that many jobs. According to the Kasich, he ? not Obama ? deserves credit for 120,000 new jobs since he took office in 2011. He says most of the new jobs were the result of government initiatives by his administration that parallel Gov. Rick Perry?s approach in Texas ? state incentives for companies to locate and expand. It?s a tough sell in northeastern Ohio, where GM and Chrysler plants were saved and auto-parts makers are still in business. As for Perry, he?s spent millions of taxpayer dollars in Texas to subsidize select businesses to come to Texas or to expand operations ? an approach that Kasich has tried.
Things are better in Ohio, but still not great. As I traveled the state last week, I ran across a lawyer, Bruce Stevens, in Bowling Green who put things into perspective. Stevens says he?s happy that Obama did the auto bailout, but he?s voting for Romney anyway.
?When I came out of law school in ?99, things were booming. Everyone had credit cards or they have home equity loans, but they had cash. I had people who literally knew they were going to get a divorce, they would go get a home equity loan, get about $10,000 ? here?s $5,000 for your attorney, here?s $5,000 for mine. Let?s fight this out. They were literally doing that. Those were the good days. I?d get a $5,000 cash retainer for a good divorce. That?s not happening anymore.?
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