Quote of the Day
“You can be working and still be dirt poor.”
- President Obama
November 6 - General Election
Josh Mandel (R) gives his concession speech to the Republican watch party about the US Senate race.
Sherrod Brown (D) has retained his seat in the US Senate and declares victory.
Secretary of State Jon Husted reports no problems in voting locations today. All of the absentee ballots have also been filed except for Fairfield Co.
Congressman Steve Stivers talks about the election at the Republican watch party.
Sheriff Zach Scott talks at the Democrat's Watch Party.
Now that the polls are closed, ballot cartridges are being filed.
Senator Rob Portman takes the stage at the Republican watch party.
US Senate candidate Sherrod Brown's campaign spokesperson - Justin Barasky - talks about his campaign.
Paula Brooks is with Anchor Carolyn Bruck live at the Democratic watch party.
Buster Douglas is at the Democrat's Watch Party and gives his views on the election.
Anchor Carolyn Bruck live at the Democratic watch party.
Former Governor Ted Strickland talks about his strong feelings about the US Senate race between Sherrod Brown and Josh Mandel.
Former Governor Ted Strickland talks about voter turnout in Ohio.
Attorney General Mike DeWine talks about provisional ballots and what happens if there is a close race.
Senate candidate Josh Mandel talks about his campaign as the Republican candidate for US Senate.
Auditor Dave Yost talks about the elections from the Republican gathering downtown Columbus.
Panel talks with Anchor Bob Kendrick about the elections in the studio.
Polls have closed and Secretary of State Jon Husted talks about all of Ohio's voters.
Anchor Carolyn Bruck live at the Democratic watch party.
Paula Brooks is with Anchor Carolyn Bruck live at the Democratic watch party.
US Senate candidate Sherrod Brown's campaign spokesperson - Justin Barasky - talks about his campaign.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Campaign 2012 packed frantic suspense to the finish Tuesday, with Vice President Joe Biden flying unannounced up next to Republican Mitt Romney in battleground Ohio even as voters across the country were deciding who would win the White House.
President Barack Obama stayed in hometown Chicago, reaching out to swing-state voters on the phones and via satellite while the other three men on the rival tickets had a high noon show-down along the shore of Lake Erie.
Romney and running mate Paul Ryan had scheduled the stop together just Monday, and Biden flew in to play defense as Romney waited on his plane for Ryan's arrival. The vice president rolled off the tarmac without comment to the surprised media traveling with him, just as Ryan's charter pulled in for a landing.
The rush for Ohio and its 18 electoral votes highlighted the importance of the state to both campaigns' victory plans. Polls going into Election Day showed Obama with a narrow lead there, and Romney said the eleventh-hour campaigning was meant to leave him with no regrets.
"I can't imagine an election being won or lost by, let's say, a few hundred votes and you spent your day sitting around," Romney told Richmond radio station WRVA earlier in the day. "I mean, you'd say to yourself, `Holy cow, why didn't I keep working?' And so I'm going to make sure I never have to look back with anything other than the greatest degree of satisfaction on this whole campaign."
Meanwhile, Americans headed into polling places in sleepy hollows, bustling cities and superstorm-ravaged beach towns deeply divided. All sides are awaiting, in particular, a verdict from the nine battleground states whose votes will determine which man can piece together the 270 electoral votes needed for victory.
Obama has more options for getting there. So Romney decided to make the late dash to Cleveland and Pittsburgh on Tuesday while running mate Ryan planned another stop in Richmond, Va.
Obama visited a campaign office close to his home in Chicago and was met by applause and tears from volunteers before he picked up a phone to call voters in neighboring Wisconsin. He told reporters that the election comes down to which side can get the most supporters to turn out.
"I also want to say to Gov. Romney, `Congratulations on a spirited campaign.' I know his supporters are just as engaged, just as enthusiastic and working just as hard today," the president said.
Romney was asked on WTAM radio in Cleveland whether he agreed that voters always get it right in the end. "I won't guarantee that they'll get it right, but I think they will," Romney replied.
It wasn't just the presidency at stake Tuesday: Every House seat, a third of the Senate and 11 governorships were on the line, along with state ballot proposals on topics ranging from gay marriage and casino gambling to repealing the death penalty and legalizing marijuana. Democrats were defending their majority in the Senate, and Republicans doing likewise in the House, raising the prospect of continued partisan wrangling in the years ahead no matter who might be president.
The forecast for Election Day promised dry weather for much of the country, with rain expected in two battlegrounds, Florida and Wisconsin. But the closing days of the campaign played out against ongoing recovery efforts after Superstorm Sandy. Election officials in New York and New Jersey scrambled to marshal generators, move voting locations, shuttle storm victims to polling places and take other steps to ensure everyone who wanted to vote could do so.
In New York City, authorities planned to run shuttle buses every 15 minutes Tuesday in storm-slammed areas to bring voters to the polls. In Ocean County along the New Jersey coast, officials hired a converted camper to bring mail-in ballots to shelters in Toms River, Pemberton and Burlington Township.
"This is the happiest vote I ever cast in my life," said Annette DeBona as she voted for Romney in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. The 73-year-old restaurant worker was so worried about not being able to vote that she called the police department several days in advance, as well as her church, to make absolutely sure she knew where to go and when.
Renee Kearney, of Point Pleasant Beach, said she felt additional responsibility to vote this Election Day. The 41-year-old project manager for an information technology company planned all along to vote for Obama, but said her resolve was strengthened by his response to Sandy.
"It feels extra important today because you have the opportunity to influence the state of things right now, which is a disaster," Kearney said.
Election Day came early for more than a third of Americans, who cast ballots days or even weeks in advance. An estimated 46 million ballots, or 35 percent of the 133 million expected to be cast, were projected to be early ballots, according to Michael McDonald, an early voting expert at George Mason University who tallies voting statistics for the United States Elections Project. None of those ballots were being counted until Tuesday.
Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, were among the first voters Tuesday in at a polling place in Greenville, Del., Biden's home state. Smiling broadly, Biden waited in line with other voters and greeted them with a handshake. Outside he sent a message to people across the country who may encounter crowded polling places. "I encourage you to stand in line as long as you have to," he told television cameras.
The Obamas voted last month in an effort to encourage supporters to vote early. The men on the GOP ticket each voted with their wives at their side Tuesday morning in their hometowns - Romney in Belmont, Mass., and Ryan in Janesville, Wis. - then headed to meet in Cleveland for some retail politicking at restaurants and other unannounced stops. The last-minute nature of the swing made it too difficult to arrange a big public event, but their hope was their joint visit would get local news coverage that might translate to more support.
Romney and Ryan visited a campaign office in in Richmond Heights, Ohio, to thank volunteers. "This is a big day for big change," Romney said." The pair then stopped at a nearby Wendy's for quarter-pound hamburgers.
Ten miles to the west, Biden stopped at the Landmark Restaurant lunch counter and apologized for the commotion caused by his entourage. He told diners in one booth he understands they just came to get some spaghetti "and Joe Biden shows up."
Both sides cast the Election Day choice as one with far-reaching repercussions for a nation still recovering from the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression and at odds over how big a role government should play in solving the country's problems.
"We can make sure that we make even greater progress going forward in putting folks back to work and making sure that they've got decent take-home pay, making sure that they have the health insurance that they need, making sure we're protecting Medicare and Social Security," Obama said in an interview broadcast Tuesday on "The Steve Harvey Morning Show." "All those issues are on the ballot, and so I'm hoping that everybody takes this seriously."
Romney argued that Obama had his chance to help Americans financially and blew it. "If it comes down to economics and jobs, this is an election I should win," Romney told Cleveland station WTAM.
With both sides keeping up the onslaught of political ads in battleground states right into Election Day, on one thing, at least, there was broad agreement: "I am ready for it to be over," said nurse Jennifer Walker in Columbus, Ohio.
The election played out with intensity in the small subset of battleground states: Colorado, Iowa, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Romney's late move to add Pennsylvania to the mix was an effort to expand his options, and Republicans poured millions into previously empty airwaves there.
In the campaign's final hours, voters around the country echoed the closing arguments of the two presidential candidates.
Jim Clark, a 42-year-old computer administrator from Topeka, Kan., is a registered Republican who voted for Obama in 2008, seeking change. But he voted Tuesday for Romney after losing a full-time job two years ago and working temporary assignments since then.
"I'm just ready for a change," Clark said. "It's tougher for me, personally. The economy has not improved."
Lauren Clay, 28, a doctoral student in disaster science and management, voted for Obama.
"He has a done a really good job given what he was handed four years ago," she said.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player to see ABC Political Reporter Cokie Roberts talk about the importance of Ohio in the presidential election.
NORTHEAST COLUMBUS -- Central Ohio voters were up early Tuesday morning to kick off election day.
The first voter arrived outside the Aladdin Shrine Center near Easton at 4:45 a.m.
A line was already starting to snake around the building by the time polls opened at 6:30 a.m.
"We were all joking about the line and how impressive it was that it wrapped around the building several times," said Lindy Whitson, who voted about a half hour after the polls opened. "There wasn't any animosity because the lines were so long."
Most voters at the Aladdin Shrine Center told ABC 6/FOX 28 News they would wait however long it took.
"Being able to vote allows me to have that freedom of speech, you know, be a part of democracy the way we have," said Stephen Warren, who voted not long after the doors opened. "I feel strongly about that."
Similar lines were spotted at Driving Park Rec. Center in East Columbus, where a steady stream of voters was still coming in at 9:00 a.m.
It's just been wonderful to be here and see these people so enthused about voting," said Onita Streets, a 91-year-old Driving Park voter.
Two hours earlier the line at Driving Park stretched throughout the building, and included 60 people stuck waiting outside.
Driving Park and the Aladdin Shrine Center didn't experience any voting problems.
It could be a different story in other voter locations.
Ohio is considered the greatest swing state of the 2012 Presidential Election with President Obama and Mitt Romney running neck and neck.
The combination of a close race in Ohio and a close race nationally means there is a possibility that the race could be too close to call before tomorrow.
I'm still worried about what the outcome is going to be," said Preston Stevenson, who voted early at the Aladdin Shrine Center. "I don't think we will know for awhile. I'm just worried about the state of the country and the children."
Voting ends when the polls close statewide at 7:30 p.m.
If you have experienced problems at the polls this year, or want to send a picture please email the ABC 6/FOX 28 Newsroom at vote@wsyx6.com.
ABC 6/FOX 28 also has a Vote 2012 Helpline staffed with volunteers to answer your questions.
The number to the Vote 2012 Helpline is (614) 821-9799.
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REPORTERS: Mike McCarthy and Ashley Yore
WEB PRODUCER: Nick Bona
Barack Obama's campaign representative Bob Gibbs talks about election day.
Mitt Romney's campaign representative Scott Jennings talks about election day.
Governor Romney's final push on Election Day
President Obama's final push on Election Day.
COLUMBUS -- With hours and minutes to go before polls open, the questions are flooding into local Board of Elections offices.
Questions like: where do I go? What do I bring? Will there be long lines?
ABC 6 On Your Side took those questions to election officials who are expecting the unexpected.
"We put extra poll workers out there, we put extra machines out there," Franklin County's Dana Walch said. "We think the voters will have a great experience when they go to the polls."
Both major presidential campaigns are gearing-up for a close race and getting their legal teams in action in case another miscount, like the one in 2000, would occur; with a major focus on Ohio.
While things do occasionally "hiccup" on election day, Walch says the crews in Franklin County are more than prepared to handle what election day throws at them.
"Will there be something at some polling location somewhere in the county? Of course there will be," Walch said. "There will be some issue with a long line somewhere or a voting machine that went down; that's why we put extra workers out there and have extra machines that run on battery power if the power goes out."
The polls are ready, now it's up to the voters.
Unlike early voting or voting absentee, voters must bring some sort of identification on election day:
A license or photo ID.
A military ID.
Or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check, or other
government document that
shows the voter's name and current address.
If you cannot supply any of those three, you may still cast a provisional ballot with your social security number.
NORTHEAST COLUMBUS -- Central Ohio voters were up early Tuesday morning to kick off election day.
The first voter arrived outside the Aladdin Shrine Center near Easton at 4:45 a.m.
A line was already starting to snake around the building by the time polls opened at 6:30 a.m.
"We were all joking about the line and how impressive it was that it wrapped around the building several times," said Lindy Whitson, who voted about a half hour after the polls opened. "There wasn't any animosity because the lines were so long."
Most voters at the Aladdin Shrine Center told ABC 6/FOX 28 News they would wait however long it took.
"Being able to vote allows me to have that freedom of speech, you know, be a part of democracy the way we have," said Stephen Warren, who voted not long after the doors opened. "I feel strongly about that."
Similar lines were spotted at Driving Park Rec. Center in East Columbus, where a steady stream of voters was still coming in at 9:00 a.m.
It's just been wonderful to be here and see these people so enthused about voting," said Onita Streets, a 91-year-old Driving Park voter.
Two hours earlier the line at Driving Park stretched throughout the building, and included 60 people stuck waiting outside.
Driving Park and the Aladdin Shrine Center didn't experience any voting problems.
It could be a different story in other voter locations.
Ohio is considered the greatest swing state of the 2012 Presidential Election with President Obama and Mitt Romney running neck and neck.
The combination of a close race in Ohio and a close race nationally means there is a possibility that the race could be too close to call before tomorrow.
I'm still worried about what the outcome is going to be," said Preston Stevenson, who voted early at the Aladdin Shrine Center. "I don't think we will know for awhile. I'm just worried about the state of the country and the children."
Voting ends when the polls close statewide at 7:30 p.m.
If you have experienced problems at the polls this year, or want to send a picture please email the ABC 6/FOX 28 Newsroom at vote@wsyx6.com.
ABC 6/FOX 28 also has a Vote 2012 Helpline staffed with volunteers to answer your questions.
The number to the Vote 2012 Helpline is (614) 821-9799.
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REPORTERS: Mike McCarthy and Ashley Yore
WEB PRODUCER: Nick Bona
Watch the video player above as President Obama makes his final push for central Ohio votes the day before the election.
COLUMBUS -- President Obama is campaigning at Nationwide Arena with Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen Monday afternoon.
Mitt Romney will be attending a Victory Rally at Landmark Aviation at Port Columbus Airport. He will be joined at this event by The Marshall Tucker Band. Doors open at 4 pm and the event begins approximately 6:30 pm.
ABC 6/FOX 28 has the most political reporters to bring coverage all through Election Day.
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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
Watch the video player to see and interview from GDC with Senator Sherrod Brown (D)
Watch the video player to see a phone interview with Senator Rob Portman (R)
COLUMBUS -- Ohio is shaping up to be the big prize in this year's
presidential election... but how is the state handling all the
attention.
ABC 6/FOX 28's Mike Kallmeyer's with Ohio Secretary of
State Jon Husted to answer that question.
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player to see Secretary of State Jon Husted talk about the election November 6, 2012.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Five days before the election, Republican challenger Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama vied forcefully for the mantle of change Thursday in a country thirsting for it after a painful recession and uneven recovery, pressing intense closing arguments in their unpredictably close race for the White House. Early voting topped 22 million ballots.
Republicans launched a late push in Pennsylvania, long viewed as safe for Obama. The party announced a $3 million advertising campaign that told voters who backed the president four years ago, "it's OK to make a change." Romney and running mate Paul Ryan both announced weekend visits to the state.
A three-day lull that followed Superstorm Sandy ended abruptly, the president campaigning briskly across three battleground states and Romney piling up three stops in a fourth. The Republican also attacked with a tough new Spanish-language television ad in Florida showing Venezuela's leftist leader, Hugo Chavez, and Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela, saying they would vote for Obama.
The storm intruded once again into the race, as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed the president in a statement that said Sandy, which devastated his city, could be evidence of climate change.
Of the two White House rivals, Bloomberg wrote, "One sees climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our planet; one does not. I want our president to place scientific evidence and risk management above electoral politics."
The ever-present polls charted a close race for the popular vote, and a series of tight battleground surveys suggested neither man could be confident of success in the competition for the 270 electoral votes that will decide the winner.
The presidential race aside, the two parties battled for control of the Senate in a series of 10 or more competitive campaigns. The possibility of a 50-50 tie loomed, or even a more unsettled outcome if former Gov. Angus King of Maine, an independent, wins a three-way race and becomes majority-maker.
Obama's aides left North Carolina off the president's itinerary in the campaign's final days, a decision that Republicans trumpeted as a virtual concession of the state.
Yet Romney's team omitted Ohio and Wisconsin from a list of battlegrounds where they claimed narrow advantage.
The Republican National Committee ad in Pennsylvania aired earlier in other areas of the country. Far less aggressive than many of the GOP attacks on the president, it said Obama took office promising economic improvement but had failed to deliver. "He tried. You tried. It's OK to make a change," says the announcer.
Republicans said the decision for Romney and Ryan to campaign in the state reflected late momentum, while Democrats said it was mere desperation.
Romney and his allies also made late investments in Minnesota and Michigan, states that went comfortably for Obama in 2008 but poll much closer four years later.
In a possible boost for Obama, government and private sources churned out a spate of encouraging snapshots on the economy, long the dominant issue in the race. Reports on home prices, worker productivity, auto sales, construction spending, manufacturing and retail sales suggested the recovery was picking up its pace, and a measurement of consumer confidence rose to its highest level since February of 2008, nearly five years ago.
Still, none of the day's measurements packed the political significance of the campaign's final report on unemployment, due out Friday. Joblessness was measured at 7.8 percent in September, falling below 8 percent for the first time since Obama took office.
Unemployment alone explained the competition to be the candidate of change, the slogan Obama memorably made his own in 2008 and struggles to hold now.
"Real Change On Day One," read a huge banner at Romney's first appearance of the day, in Roanoke, Va., and the same on a sign on the podium where he spoke in Doswell.
"This is a time for greatness. This is a time for big change, for real change," said the former Massachusetts governor, a successful businessman who says his background gives him the know-how to enact policies that will help create jobs. "I'm going to make real changes. I'm going to get this economy going, from day one we're making changes."
He and his running mate also poked at Obama's proposal to create a Department of Business by merging several existing agencies, including the Commerce Department, and the Republican campaign released a television ad on the subject.
"I don't think adding a new chair in his Cabinet will help add millions of jobs on Main Street," jabbed Romney.
To dramatize his economy-based appeal, the Republican challenger also stopped by Bill's Barbecue, a decades-old restaurant in Richmond that closed its doors during the long recession. Walking inside past the "Do Not Enter" signs, he asked owner Rhoda Elliott what had happened.
"Usually when we have a small hiccup in the economy, they go from the white cloth, which is Morton's and those, and then they - we're the next step, and so we usually fare pretty good. But this one lasted so long they went down the next step, and that's where it is right now," said Elliott.
"Yeah. Yeah. Taco Bell," Romney interjected, offering an example of a more down-market option.
Obama seemed intent on making up for lost campaign time after a three-day turn as hands-on commander of the federal response to Sandy, although aides stressed he remained in touch with the administration's point man, FEMA Director Craig Fugate, and local officials.
One day after touring storm-battered New Jersey with Republican Gov. Chris Christie, he walked off Air Force One in Green Bay, Wis., wearing a leather bomber jacket bearing the presidential seal and promptly lit into Romney.
In the campaign's final weeks, his rival "has been using all his talents as a salesman to dress up" policies that led to the nation's economic woes. "And he is offering them up as change," Obama said.
"What the governor is offering sure ain't change. Giving more power back to the biggest banks isn't change. Leaving millions without health insurance isn't change. Another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy isn't change. Turning Medicare into a voucher is change, but we don't want that change," he said.
The president's campaign went up with a new ad featuring Collin Powell endorsing the president. "I think we ought to keep on the track we're on," says the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was secretary of state under President George W. Bush.
Officials said the ad would run in 10 states, including Minnesota, one of the states where Romney and his GOP allies launched late advertising.
A separate Obama commercial had a more limited exposure - and a harsher message. Aimed at voters in Michigan and Ohio, it cites independent fact-checkers and top executives from Chrysler and General Motors to rebut Romney's recent ads that suggest auto jobs are moving to China from the United States.
Both campaigns invested heavily in early voting, and more than 3.1 million had already been cast in Florida alone. None will be counted until Election Day.
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Reporter: Adam Aaro
Web Producer: Ken Hines
WASHINGTON, DC -- President Romney and Vice President Biden? It may happen if the upcoming presidential vote ends in a 269-269 Electoral College tie.
Watch the video player above as ABC 6/FOX 28's Mike Kallmeyer shows us how the unlikely scenario might play out.
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player to see how both campaigns locally are pushing for their candidates with just 6 days left until the election.
MARION -- Just days before the presidential election, one Ohio voter said she had a problem with a voting machine.
Joan Stevens of Marion votes every election. Stevens voted for Mitt Romney Monday, but Barack Obama's name lit up on the screen instead. After three tries and talking to a poll worker, her selection went through.
"I vote for Romney and the other gentleman came up. She [the poll worker] said, 'it's been cantankerous all morning," Stevens said.
ABC 6/ FOX 28 contacted the Marion Ohio Board of Elections. Poll workers said that Stevens was the only voter who reported any problems, and they referred ABC 6/ FOX 28 to Dominion Voting Systems, the company that provides the machines.
A Dominion Voting Systems spokesperson said Stevens' case is highly unusual, and they haven't heard of this happening to anyone else this election.
After the problem was reported, a technician re-calibrated the voting machine just to make sure it was working properly.
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Reporter: Jen French
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
COLUMBUS -- There is light at the end of the tunnel. There is relief in sight. One more week and all those political ads go away.
But not everybody dislikes the ads. There is one group of people in Powell, Ohio that make their living on them. They are The Strategy Group for Media -- the largest producer of political spots in the nation.
The firm has 245 clients this election season, and can crank out up to 125 political ads in a week. Creative Director Alex Tornero says there's an art to the ads. "We only have about 75 words in a 30 second script to communicate a message."
Strategy Group founder Rex Elsass says, "We are the largest political media firm, Republican or Democrat by any standard in terms of volume."
The firm represents Republicans only -- from 38 states. They do everything from concept to production, and even media buying, or placing the spot in it's desired market.
Elsass says what they do isn't easy, and that television is the most effective way to communicate a message. As he says, "TV is theater."
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Vice President Joe Biden heaped praise on the Federal Emergency Management Agency and leaders in East Coast states damaged by superstorm Sandy as he left central Ohio Tuesday afternoon.
âThis is the way itâs supposed to work,â Biden said on the tarmac at Port Columbus Airport.
He also praised the âfocusedâ leadership of President Barack Obama, on whose behalf Biden was supposed to campaign in two Ohio towns Tuesday.
Instead, Biden spent the morning communicating with Washington from Columbus.
âI wish you guys could have been on the phone with all the governors,â Biden told reporters who gathered on the tarmac.
âUniformly they were incredibly grateful to [Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig] Fugate and the president,â Biden said as he sidestepped a question about Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romneyâs position on FEMA.
Hurricane Sandy returned Romneyâs primary-debate response to a question about funding the agency to the news cycle.
At the time, the former Massachusetts governor indicated he would consider cutting back funding for FEMA and rely on state and local governments or private companies in the disaster situations.
Spokesman Chris Maloney said late Tuesday, Romney believes help from the federal government and FEMA are important but, âAs the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities.â
Biden told reporters heâd return to the campaign trail in Florida Wednesday, but he doesnât believe anybody has thought about how the storm will affect the outcome of the election.
Obama spent Tuesday in Washington, D.C. and is expected to tour storm-ravaged New Jersey Wednesday.
An Obama campaign rally is planned for Friday in southwest Ohio.
Click here to hear the Vice President's full remarks from Port Columbus.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- The hurricane that battered the East Coast Monday wreaked havoc on presidential campaign schedules further west.
President Barack Obama did not appear with former President Bill Clinton in Youngstown, Ohio as planned, sending Vice President Joe Biden on his behalf.
Republican nominee Mitt Romney appeared in Avon Lake, Ohio as planned, but canceled events in Wisconsin and Florida schedule for Monday evening.
The Romney campaign also chose to cancel an appearance in Findlay, Ohio on Tuesday. As of 5:30 Monday evening a scheduled event in Kettering was on hold.
Vice President Joe Biden will no longer appear in Ohio and Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
Ohio Dominican University political rhetoric professor Jim Schnell said, in a race so close, every chance to rally voters can make a difference -- but both candidates did the right thing by canceling events.
“I see this as working in his favor,” Schnell said of President Obama, who has been seen repeatedly doing the job he is trying to keep.
“For Romney to be out campaigning in front of cheering crowds when there’s so much pain in another part of the country would be bad, almost in the realm of bad taste,” Schnell added.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Ohio Republicans claim some Democratic groups are influencing students to vote for President Obama by offering free pizza.
Last week, Ohio GOP Chairman Robert Bennett filed a complaint with the Franklin County Elections Board. He claims the group 'Buckeyes for Obama' held a party at the Ohio Union on the Ohio State University campus, offered the 50 attendees free pizza, then took them to an early voting center in Columbus.
GOP Spokesman Matt Henderson says that's illegal, "The Obama campaign has an obligation to follow the rules, and when this is happening on a mass scale, that can affect and impact the election."
Ohio Democrats disagree. Spokesman Jerid Kurtz says, "Pizza parties don't cause someone to vote for a particular candidate or someone else -- so what we're seeing here is a childish action by the Ohio Republican Party."
Kurtz says both parties host events with free food, and they're not telling anyone who to vote for, "No one has called on anyone to vote a certain way because they received a slice of pepperoni pizza."
At issue is whether students are being induced or influenced to vote a certain way. The Franklin County Board of Elections is investigating.
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Voters who visit the Franklin County early voting center will notice a growing number of partisans on site.
Volunteers stand just behind a yellow line that marks 100 feet from the door, the required distance electioneers must stand from a polling place.
"There's so many people who are first-time voters, and so there's an education piece to what we're doing," said Jody Scarbrough, who volunteered to organize Democratic Party electioneers.
Alicia Healy stepped up to organize volunteers for the Republican Party when she voted earlier this month, and noticed more Democrats than Republicans.
"I had a few Republicans come up and say: 'Wow. You're doing this by yourself? You're so brave. We want to help," Healy said.
The women said, for the most part, the partisans get along, but there are scuffles from time to time.
Richard Justman, a self-described Christian activist, claims to have been threatened with arrest this week. He showed ABC 6/FOX 28 a notice he received from the City of Columbus.
Justman interrupted an interview during which ABC 6/FOX 28 asked a Franklin County elections official about Justman's claims.
"They want to label us unreasonable fanatics," said Justman, who plans to be on site until Election Day with pro-life and pro-family signs that read "Stop sodom & gay-more marriage" and "vote character not color."
Franklin County Board of Elections spokesman Ben Piscitelli said Justman's claims are unfounded, and and the county can't do anything about legal activities beyond the 100-foot no-campaigning zone.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Board of elections officials across the state of Ohio hope things will run like a well-oiled voting machine on November 6, but more absentee ballots than ever could mean lawyers stepping in with lots of questions.
"Ohio is ground zero in this election, which makes it ground zero litigation as well," said Mark Weaver, an elections attorney for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Any Ohio voter can request an absentee ballot by mail, but choose to cast a ballot in person instead.
The deadline to request an absentee ballot is noon on the Saturday before Election Day, which raises concerns about double voting.
Franklin County Board of Elections Deputy Director Dana Walch said there are safeguards in place.
"We can insure that [voters] didn't send in an absentee ballot and then vote on Election Day, which would create [a[ situation of double voting," Walch insisted.
But with the race between President Barack Obama and Romney so close, the candidates and their attorneys could see an election night that stretches on for days or weeks.
"A friend said to me: ‘Are you ready to go to Florida if it's too close to call?’ I said: ‘I think Florida will be coming to us,’" Weaver said.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
WORTHINGTON -- Watch the video player to see Anchor/Reporter Adam Aaro live at Worthington Industries for a Mitt Romney rally. Also see where the other candidates are going to be headed.
COLUMBUS -- Watch the video player to see Reporter Lu Ann Stoia's story on a controversial political ad.
MARION -- Vice President Joe Biden is at Marion Harding High Schools Wednesday.
This makes the third straight day for the candidates to be in the buckeye state.
A new poll out today shows that Democratic candidate President Obama and Republican candidate Governor Romney are in a statistical tie in Ohio.
Romney is scheduled to back in Ohio Thursday.
Watch the video player to see Political Reporter Dana Jay live where the candidates are campaigning in Central Ohio Wednesday.
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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
COLUMBUS -- The latest commercial from the Romney campaign is titled 'Find a Way'. We found that it contains some fact, some fiction, and some question marks.
The ad begins with the statement, "Most Americans believe we're heading in the wrong direction." That is somewhat true according to Capital University political science professor Doctor Dan Skinner, "The national polls do suggest that most Americans are still upset about the slowness of economic growth." Skinner adds whether Americans feel they're heading in the wrong direction depends on what poll or survey the Romney campaign is referring to, and none is cited in the ad.
The next two claims in the ad infer that under the Obama administration we've seen higher deficits and chronic unemployment. Those claims are true, but in fairness, both issues were a problem in previous administrations too.
The next claim says the President 'admits' he can't work with congress because he said, "You can't change Washington from the inside." Those words were part of a larger statement Obama made about mobilizing the American people. He never said the words, "Can't work with congress."
The final claim in the ad speaks of Mitt Romney's four years as governor of Massachusetts in which he cut unemployment and turned the deficit into a rainy day fund. And Romney did this with an eighty-five percent democratic legislature. All of these things are true. Romney achieved this as governor, some say, because he governed as a moderate.
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
COLUMBUS -- The latest commercial from the Romney campaign is titled 'Find a Way'. We found that it contains some fact, some fiction, and some question marks.
The ad begins with the statement, "Most Americans believe we're heading in the wrong direction." That is somewhat true according to Capital University political science professor Doctor Dan Skinner, "The national polls do suggest that most Americans are still upset about the slowness of economic growth." Skinner adds whether Americans feel they're heading in the wrong direction depends on what poll or survey the Romney campaign is referring to, and none is cited in the ad.
The next two claims in the ad infer that under the Obama administration we've seen higher deficits and chronic unemployment. Those claims are true, but in fairness, both issues were a problem in previous administrations too.
The next claim says the President 'admits' he can't work with congress because he said, "You can't change Washington from the inside." Those words were part of a larger statement Obama made about mobilizing the American people. He never said the words, "Can't work with congress."
The final claim in the ad speaks of Mitt Romney's four years as governor of Massachusetts in which he cut unemployment and turned the deficit into a rainy day fund. And Romney did this with an eighty-five percent democratic legislature. All of these things are true. Romney achieved this as governor, some say, because he governed as a moderate.
--------------------------------
Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
COLUMBUS -- The latest commercial from the Romney campaign is titled 'Find a Way'. We found that it contains some fact, some fiction, and some question marks.
The ad begins with the statement, "Most Americans believe we're heading in the wrong direction." That is somewhat true according to Capital University political science professor Doctor Dan Skinner, "The national polls do suggest that most Americans are still upset about the slowness of economic growth." Skinner adds whether Americans feel they're heading in the wrong direction depends on what poll or survey the Romney campaign is referring to, and none is cited in the ad.
The next two claims in the ad infer that under the Obama administration we've seen higher deficits and chronic unemployment. Those claims are true, but in fairness, both issues were a problem in previous administrations too.
The next claim says the President 'admits' he can't work with congress because he said, "You can't change Washington from the inside." Those words were part of a larger statement Obama made about mobilizing the American people. He never said the words, "Can't work with congress."
The final claim in the ad speaks of Mitt Romney's four years as governor of Massachusetts in which he cut unemployment and turned the deficit into a rainy day fund. And Romney did this with an eighty-five percent democratic legislature. All of these things are true. Romney achieved this as governor, some say, because he governed as a moderate.
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
Watch the video player to see Political Reporter Dana Jay live where the candidates are campaigning in Central Ohio Wednesday.
COLUMBUS -- The presidential debates are supposed to help voters make informed decisions, but many still can't make up their minds.
John Mueller, political science professor at Ohio State University, believes the first debate made a difference. He says Monday night's third and final debate on foreign policy was a draw, "They basically punted on this issue, and that may be to Obama's disadvantage in that he has had an advantage in foreign policy."
Columbus resident April Joos was undecided before the debates. Three weeks later she says, "I'm still undecided. I don't think Obama did a good job. I don't think four more years is gonna get it. But I don't think Romney's got anything to bring to the table either." On the subject of the debates, she adds, "They just argued back and forth and rambled on."
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have underscored the importance of swing state Ohio in a rare joint appearance in Dayton.
Facing a tight race in the pivotal state, Obama urged supporters to work to get out the vote and help him carry their home area and Ohio.
Fire officials estimated the crowd in the Dayton park at 9,500.
Obama carried Ohio in 2008. The Democrat has campaigned in the pivotal battleground state frequently, and his campaign and supporters have devoted a lot of money and resources to Ohio.
However, Republican Mitt Romney's campaign says he has gained momentum with two weeks left until election day. Romney is scheduled to return to Ohio on Thursday, visiting a Cincinnati machine and manufacturing plant that also makes military components.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) -- President Barack Obama sharply challenged Mitt Romney on foreign policy in their final campaign debate Monday night, saying, "Every time you've offered an opinion you've been wrong." The Republican coolly responded, "Attacking me is not an agenda" for dealing with a dangerous world.
Romney took the offensive, too. When Obama said the U.S. and its allies have imposed crippling sanctions on Iran to halt nuclear weapons development, the Republican challenger responded that the U.S. should have done more. He declared repeatedly, "We're four years closer to a nuclear Iran."
Despite the debate's stated focus on foreign affairs, time after time the rivals turned the discussion back to the slowly recovering U.S. economy, which polls show is the No. 1 issue for most voters.
They found little agreement on that, but the president and his rival found accord on at least one international topic with domestic political overtones - Israel's security - as they sat at close quarters 15 days before the end of an impossibly close election campaign. Each stressed unequivocal support for Israel when asked how he would respond if the Jewish state were attacked by Iran.
"If Israel is attacked, we have their back," said Romney - moments after Obama vowed, "I will stand with Israel if Israel is attacked."
Both also said they oppose direct U.S. military involvement in the efforts to topple Syrian President Bashir Assad.
The debate produced none of the finger-pointing and little of the interrupting that marked the presidential rivals' debate last week, when Obama needed a comeback after a listless performance in their first meeting on Oct. 3.
But there was no mistaking the urgency. The two men frequently sniped at one another even on issues where they agree, and reprised their campaign-long disagreements over the economy, energy, education and other domestic issues despite ground rules that stipulated the debate cover international affairs.
Obama and Romney are locked in a close race in national opinion polls. The final debate behind them, both men intend to embark on a final two-week whirlwind of campaigning. The president is slated to speak in six states during a two-day trip that begins Wednesday and includes a night aboard Air force One as it flies from Las Vegas to Tampa. Romney intends to visit two or three states a day.
Already four million ballots have been cast in early voting in more than two dozen states.
On the Middle East, Romney said that despite early hopes, the ouster of despotic regimes in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere over the past year has resulted in a "rising tide of chaos." He said the president has failed to come up with a coherent policy to grapple with change sweeping the Middle East, and he added ominously that an al-Qaida-like group has taken over northern Mali.
Anticipating one of Obama's most frequent campaign assertions, Romney said of the man seated nearby, "I congratulate him on taking out Osama bin Laden and taking on the leadership of al-Qaida. But we can't kill our way out of this. ... We must have a comprehensive strategy."
More than a half hour later, Obama returned to the subject, saying that Romney had once said it wasn't worth moving heaven and earth to catch one man, a reference to the mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks.
He said he had decided it was "worth heaven and earth."
Obama said he had ended the war in Iraq, was on a path to end the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan and has vowed to bring justice to the attackers of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi last month - an assault that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.
He also jabbed at Romney's having said during the campaign that Russia is the United States' No. 1 geopolitical foe.
"Governor, when it comes to our foreign policy you seem to want the policies of the 1980s, just like you want to import the social policies of the 1950s and the economic policies in the 1920s," Obama said.
Obama was snippy after Romney, criticizing the administration's Pentagon budget, said disapprovingly the U.S. Navy has fewer ships than at any time since the end of World War I.
"I think Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the Navy, for example, that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them."
Romney offered unusual praise for Obama's war efforts in Afghanistan, declaring the 2010 surge of 33,000 U.S. troops a success and asserting that efforts to train Afghan security forces are on track to enable the U.S. and its allies to put the Afghans fully in charge of security by the end of 2014. He said that U.S. forces should complete their withdrawal on that schedule; previously he has criticized the setting of a specific withdrawal date.
The two men are locked in a close race in national opinion polls. The final debate behind them, they intend to embark on a final two-week whirlwind of campaigning. The president is slated to speak in six states during a two-day trip that begins Wednesday and includes a night aboard Air force One as it flies from Las Vegas to Tampa. Romney intends to visit two or three states a day.
Already four million ballots have been cast in early voting in more than two dozen states.
Barring a last-minute change in strategy by one campaign or the other, Obama appears on course to win states and the District of Columbia that account for 237 of the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. The same is true for Romney in states with 191 electoral votes.
The battlegrounds account for the remaining 110 electoral votes: Florida (29), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13), New Hampshire (4), Iowa (6), Colorado (9), Nevada (6), Ohio (18) and Wisconsin (10).
The televised debate brought no cessation to other campaigning.
Obama's campaign launched a television ad in Florida that said the president ended the war in Iraq and has a plan to do the same in Afghanistan, accusing Romney of opposing him on both. It was not clear how often the ad would air, given the fall's overall focus on the economy.
Vice President Joe Biden, campaigning in Canton, Ohio, emphasized differences between the two candidates on the war in Afghanistan.
"We will leave Afghanistan in 2014, period. They say it depends," he said. "Ladies and gentlemen, like everything with them, it depends. It depends on what day you find these guys."
Romney's running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, was in Colorado. "We are in the midst of deciding the kind of country we're going to be, the kind of people we're going to be, for a generation," he said.
Whatever the outcome of the final face-to-face confrontation, the debates have left an imprint on the race. Romney was widely judged the winner of the first debate over a listless president on Oct. 3, and he has risen in polls in the days since. Obama was much more energetic in the second.
Monday night marked the third time in less than a week that the president and his challenger shared a stage, following the feisty 90-minute town-hall-style meeting last Tuesday on Long Island and a white-tie charity dinner two night later where gracious compliments flowed and barbs dipped in humor flew.
At the Al Smith charity dinner, Obama previewed his all-purpose fallback to criticism on international affairs.
"Spoiler alert: We got bin Laden," he said, a reminder of the signature foreign policy triumph of his term, the death at the hand of U.S. special operations forces of the mastermind behind the terror attacks on the United States more than a decade ago.
The president and his challenger agreed long ago to devote one of their three debates to foreign policy, even though opinion polls show voters care most about economic concerns.
Growth has been slow and unemployment high across Obama's tenure in the White House. Romney, a wealthy former businessman, cites his experience as evidence he will put in place policies that can revive the economy.
In recent weeks, the former Massachusetts governor has stepped up his criticism of the president's handling of international matters, although his campaign hasn't spent any of its television advertising budget on commercials on the subject.
In a speech earlier this month, Romney accused the president of an absence of strong leadership in the Middle East, where popular revolutions have swept away autocratic regimes in Egypt and elsewhere in the past two years. He has also accused Obama of failing to support Israel strongly enough, of failing to make it clear that Iran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and of backing cuts in the defense budget that would harm military readiness.
Yet Romney has stumbled several times in attempting to establish his own credentials.
He offended the British when he traveled to England this summer and made comments viewed as critical of their preparation for the Olympic Games.
Democrats pounced when he failed to mention the U.S. troops in Afghanistan or Iraq during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in late August, and officials in both parties were critical of his comments about the attack in Benghazi while the facts were unknown.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Ohio's importance in this year's presidential race may have increased this week.
There are reports that the Romney campaign is so confident with their lead in North Carolina that they are transferring resources to other states -- specifically Ohio.
The Buckeye State is critical for both candidates. For Romney--it's a must have. No republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio. If the Romney leads hold up in North Carolina and Florida, an Ohio win means he would need to win just two other battleground states.
For Obama, a win in Ohio would mean a path to an easier victory. The President wouldn't need states like North Carolina with an Ohio win.
Professor Emeritus from Ohio State and electoral college expert, Herb Weisberg, says "There are a lot of scenarios where Obama wins Ohio and a couple other states, and he wins the election. There's very few scenarios where Romney loses Ohio and still carries the election."
That is why you are sure to see both campaigns blitz the Buckeye State as they race for the 2012 campaign finish line.
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- ABC 6/FOX 28 is putting 2012 political ads to the truth test. Today we examine an ad from GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
The is simply titled, 'The Choice', and touches on some of the issues discussed in the first two debates, and makes claims about President Obama's time in office.
The first claim is that median income per family is down $4,300 since Obama took office. This claim is not true according to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2011, the median income per family nationwide was $50,054. When Obama took office in 2009 the number was $52,195. The difference over that time was $2,141, not $4,300.
The second claim is that 23,000,000 Americans are out of work. This is true. The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses different ways to measure this. Romney uses what is called a U-6 method and the number is very close to 23,000,000.
The third claim is what the President said when he took office--that he would cut the deficit in half. This is true. President Obama said in February of 2009, "I'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office."
The deficit has not been reduced by half, but in fairness to the President, he added, "Now this will not be easy."
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player above for President Obama's 10/17 speech at Ohio University in Athens.
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) -- President Barack Obama has continued a focus on college campuses with an evening rally at Ohio University in southeastern Ohio.
Obama told the crowd Wednesday that he has two daughters and doesn't want them to be paid less for the same job as a man.
Nineteen-year-old Ohio University student Paris Aaron of Columbus said before the president's speech that he is voting for Obama because he wants to help give the president a chance to finish what he has started. Aaron says he doesn't think starting all over will help the country.
Twenty-year-old Breanna Williams, from Jackson, Ohio, said she also is supporting Obama. Williams says she believes he is "really geared" toward college students and that funding and affordability of higher education are among the top issues for her.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- President Barack Obama failed to bring any new ideas that could revive the economy during the second presidential debate, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said Wednesday.
Ryan told supporters in the Cleveland area that running mate Mitt Romney followed up a strong first debate with another winning performance.
The Wisconsin congressman said Obama is out of answers and it showed in Tuesday night's debate. "This might be the best President Obama can give us, but it's not what we should settle for," Ryan said.
Later in Columbus, Ryan appeared at an event tailored to display his strength on fiscal issues. Eleven dinner companions at an Italian restaurant on the city's east side peppered him with questions on the federal debt, taxes and Obama's health care law.
"Do you have a whiteboard here?" Ryan quipped with a smile when he was asked to explain how a Romney administration would tackle the deficit.
He inquired when joining the table if diners had already said grace. When the answer was yes, he said he'd say his own private prayer.
Several dozen protesters organized by SEIU Local 1199 and ProgressOhio chanted, "Four more years!" and waved signs outside the event. They brought clean pots and pans and displayed signs that said, "Soup Kitchen Photo Op - NO."
While in northeast Ohio, Ryan mixed politics with football in Ohio -two topics that are unavoidable this fall in the prized swing state - by dropping in on practice at the Cleveland Browns facility with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a lifelong Browns fan.
Both took turns talking with the team.
Ryan told the players he's been impressed by the play of rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden, but it turns out he was pointing at backup quarterback Colt McCoy. That got a good laugh out of their teammates. Ryan recovered quickly, mentioning the team's victory over Cincinnati last Sunday.
Ryan also shared his favorite hunting spots with Browns Pro Bowl tackle Joe Thomas, who's also a Wisconsin native. Ryan lamented that he's missing hunting season this fall. "I've got this election thing going on," he told Thomas.
Earlier at Baldwin-Wallace University, Ryan said that Obama's campaign is now trying to scare voters because he can't run on his record. "He gives us a growing debt and no solutions," Ryan said.
The Romney-Ryan ticket says its economic plan would grow jobs in the energy industry and through small businesses, helping to create 12 million jobs.
Obama spokeswoman Jessica Kershaw said Romney's plan would end up hurting the middle class and only benefit the wealthy through $5 trillion in tax cuts. "Mitt Romney misled voters time and again last night and refused to explain his indefensible ideas when he was exposed on the emptiness of his own plans," she said.
One dinner guest in Columbus asked Ryan if he could dispel the notion that he and Romney would raise taxes on the middle class. He said it's a mistaken idea perpetuated by "hundreds of millions of dollars in negative advertising."
Ryan said he and Romney have records of cutting taxes and plan to continue to do so if elected.
Rice also joined Ryan at the rally at Baldwin-Wallace University. She told the crowd that it has been a rough decade, starting with the terrorist attacks in 2001 and the economic collapse near the end of the decade. "The last four years have been very tough on people who just want to work hard and make a living," Rice said.
She said the country is at a crossroads, adding: "We cannot continue to spend money that we cannot afford to pay back."
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Reporter: Adam Aaro
Web Producer: Ken Hines
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) -- One day after their contentious, finger-pointing debate, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney vied aggressively for the support of women voters Wednesday, as they and their running mates charged across nearly a half-dozen battleground states in the close race for the White House with 20 days to run.
Not even Republicans disputed that Obama's debate performance was much stronger than the listless showing two weeks earlier that helped spark a rise in the polls for Romney. The two rivals meet one more time, next Monday in Florida.
The first post-debate polls were divided, some saying Romney won, others finding Obama did. At least some of the voters who asked the questions in the town-hall style encounter remained uncommitted. "If Gov. Romney could actually provide the jobs, that would be a good thing because we really need them," said Nina Gonzalez, a 2008 Obama voter, neatly summarizing the uncertainty confronting voters in a slow-growth, high-unemployment economy.
Obama wore a pink wristband to show support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month as he campaigned in Iowa and then Ohio, and reminded his audience that the first legislation he signed after becoming president made it easier for women to take pay grievances to court.
Romney took no position on that bill when it passed Congress, and his campaign says he would not seek its repeal. But Obama chided him, saying, "That shouldn't be a complicated question. Equal pay for equal work."
He also jabbed at Romney's remark during Tuesday night's debate that as Massachusetts governor, he received "whole binders full of women" after saying he wanted to appoint more of them to his administration. "We don't have to collect a bunch of binders to find qualified, talented women," he said.
"I've got two daughters and I don't want them paid less for the same job as a man," Obama said at an appearance in Athens, Ohio, later Wednesday.
Obama spoke to a crowd of about 14,000 students and supporters at Ohio University, imploring them to vote early. "I want your vote. I am not too proud to beg. I want you to vote," he said.
Romney's campaign launched a new television commercial that seemed designed to take the edge ever so slightly off his opposition to abortion - another example of his October move toward the middle - while urging women voters to keep pocketbook issues uppermost in their minds when they cast their ballots.
"In fact he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest or to save a mother's life," says a woman in the new ad. Pivoting quickly to economic matters, she adds, "But I'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. I voted for President Obama last time, but we just can't afford four more years."
That dovetailed with Romney's personal pitch to an audience in Chesapeake, Va.
"This president has failed American's women. They've suffered in terms of getting jobs," he declared, saying that 3.6 million more of them are in poverty now than when Obama took office.
With recent gains in the polls for Romney, he and the president are locked in an exceedingly close race as they shuttle from one critical state to another and dispatch surrogates ranging from former President Bill Clinton to ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to locations they cannot make on their own.
A little less than three weeks before Election Day, Obama appears on course to win states and the District of Columbia that account for 237 of the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. The same is true for Romney in states with 191 electoral votes.
The remaining 110 electoral votes are divided among the hotly contested battleground states of Florida (29), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13), New Hampshire (4), Iowa (6), Colorado (9), Nevada (6), Ohio (18) and Wisconsin (10).
As the campaign days dwindled down, the number of television commercials rose higher. According to media buyers who track ads, target voters in the area around Cleveland can expect to see an average of about 120 ads next week paid for by the two candidates and groups supporting them - more than 17 a day. There were similar, if somewhat less intense campaign-by-commercials under way across all the battleground states.
In many cases - Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, Nevada among them - competitive races for the Senate and even House contests added to the bombardment. So, too, campaign brochures, piling up in mailboxes earlier than past elections because of widespread pre-election day voting.
There was little mystery in the candidates' concentration on women voters. An AP-GfK survey taken in mid-September, when Obama was leading in the opinion polls, found that 8 percent of all likely votes were women who were either undecided or said they might change their minds.
Polls since the first debate two weeks ago show gains for Romney among women voters, a shift that Obama can ill afford given the traditional Republican advantage among men.
Democrats rebutted Romney's memory of the binders he received as the newly elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002.
On a conference call arranged by the Democratic National Committee, a former executive director of the Massachusetts Government Appointments Project said the group provided the resumes of women qualified for appointment unprompted. "To be perfectly clear, Mitt Romney did not request" them, said Jesse Mermell.
Romney quickly countered with a combination testimonial and fundraising appeal from Kerry Healey, who was his lieutenant governor in Massachusetts. She said he had named numerous women to his administration, adding, "He sought out our counsel, and he listened to our advice. We didn't always agree, but we were always respected."
Vice President Joe Biden's first stop of the day was in Greeley, Colo., where he mocked Romney on the same topic but in terms more pungent than Obama's. "What I can't understand is how he's gotten into this sort of 1950s time warp in terms of women," Biden said. "The idea he had to go and ask where a qualified woman was. He just should have come to my house. He didn't need a binder."
Republican Rep. Paul Ryan was in Berea, Ohio, where he said women were suffering under the economy as the end of Obama's term nears. "Twenty-six million women are trapped in poverty today. That's the highest rate in 17 years," he said. "We need to get people back to work."
In a lighter moment, he stopped by the football practice facility of the Cleveland Browns and lamented missing out on hunting season this fall. "I've got this election thing going on," he told Pro Bowl tackle Joe Thomas.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- White House Cover-up? Romney and Obama argue over Libya Attack
The white house response to last month's attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya was the subject of one of the many heated exchanges in Tuesday night's presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York.
What happened in Benghazi, Libya on September 11th of this year is now clear--it was a planned terrorist attack. White House officials initially said it was an angry mob that acted spontaneously. Republicans say it was a cover-up to downplay terrorism. In the debate, Mitt Romney questioned the President, "You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror? Is that what you're saying?"
The President fired back by saying, "Get the transcript." In that transcript from the rose garden speech on September 12th the President did say, "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation." But in what context were the words used? Political Science professor Jonathan Kreger says, "It's a semantics game in terms of what was the President referring to in the Rose Garden." Kreger adds that Mitt Romney made a mistake, "Focusing on that particular word and got into 'he said/she said' about whether that particular word was spoken when the point was a larger point he was trying to make."
The larger point for Republicans was the time line. On September 14th, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the attack occurred because of an anti-muslim video. It wasn't until September 19th that the White House officially declared it a terrorist attack. Conservatives say in that rose garden speech, the President's 'Acts of Terror' words referred to the 9-11 anniversary--not Libya.
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
ATHENS (AP) -- The presidential campaign is going back to school in Ohio, stepping up competition for college voters in the swing state.
Democratic President Barack Obama heads Wednesday to Ohio University in Athens, while Mitt Romney's GOP running mate Paul Ryan has a rally earlier at Baldwin Wallace University near Cleveland.
Ohio University will be the fifth Ohio college Obama has visited in less than a month.
Romney and Ryan also have recently visited several Ohio campuses.
Exit polling in 2008 indicated Obama won two-thirds of the vote among college-age adults as he carried Ohio.
Obama officially kicked off his re-election campaign in May at Ohio State University.
Ryan is a Wisconsin congressman who went to Miami University in Ohio.
That was one of his first stops as Romney's vice presidential pick.
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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- An aggressive President Barack Obama accused challenger Mitt Romney of favoring a "one-point plan" to help the rich and leveling offensive criticism about the recent deadly terrorist attack in Libya Tuesday night in a debate crackling with energy and emotion just three weeks before the election.
Romney pushed back hard, saying the middle class "has been crushed over the last four years," that 23 million Americans are struggling to find work and that the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya was part of an unraveling of the administration's foreign policy.
The president was feistier from the outset than he had been in their initial encounter two weeks ago, when he turned in a listless performance that sent shudders through his supporters and helped fuel a rise by Romney in opinion polls nationally and in some battleground states.
Obama challenged Romney on economics and energy policy, accusing him of switching positions and declaring that his economic plan was a "sketchy deal" that the public should reject.
Romney gave as good as he got.
"You'll get your chance in a moment. I'm still speaking," the former Massachusetts governor said at one point while Obama was mid-sentence. He said the president's policies had failed to jumpstart the economy and crimped energy production.
The open-stage format left the two men free to stroll freely across a red-carpeted stage, and they did. Their clashes crackled with energy and tension, and the crowd watched raptly as the two sparred while struggling to appear calm and affable before a national television audience.
The rivals disagreed about taxes, measures to reduce the deficit, energy, pay equity for women and health care issues. Immigration prompted yet another clash, Romney saying Obama had failed to pursue the comprehensive legislation he promised at the dawn of his administration, and the president saying Republican obstinacy made a deal impossible.
Under the format agreed to in advance, members of an audience of 82 uncommitted voters posed questions to the president and his challenger.
Nearly all of them concerned domestic policy until one raised the subject of the recent death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya in a terrorist attack at an American post in Benghazi.
Romney said it took Obama a long time to admit the episode had been a terrorist attack, but Obama said he had said so the day after in an appearance in the Rose Garden outside the White House.
When moderator Candy Crowley of CNN said the president had in fact done so, Obama, prompted, "Say that a little louder, Candy."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has taken responsibility for the death of Ambassador L. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, but Obama said bluntly, "I'm the president and I'm always responsible.
Romney said it was "troubling" that Obama continued with a campaign event in Las Vegas on the day after the attack in Libya, an event he said had "symbolic significance and perhaps even material significance."
Obama seemed to bristle. He said it was offensive for anyone to allege that he or anyone in his administration had used the incident for political purposes. "That's not what I do."
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for voters in the battleground state of Ohio to cast ballots on the three days before Election Day, giving Democrats and President Barack Obama's campaign a victory three weeks before the election.
The court refused a request by the state's Republican elections chief and attorney general to get involved in a battle over early voting.
Ohio is among 34 states, plus the District of Columbia, where people can vote early without giving any reason. About 30 percent of the swing state's total vote - or roughly 1.7 million ballots - came in before Election Day in 2008. Crucial to Obama's win that year was early voting in Ohio, North Carolina and Florida.
Obama won Ohio four years ago, but Republican rival Mitt Romney is making a strong play for it this year. No GOP candidate has won the White House without Ohio in his column.
Obama's campaign and Ohio Democrats had sued state officials over changes in state law that took away the three days of voting for most people but made exceptions for military personnel and Ohioans living overseas.
Their lawsuit cited a recent study saying nearly 105,000 people voted in the three days before the election in 2008, and they argued everyone should have the chance to vote on those days. They also said eliminating the opportunity for most Ohio residents to vote in person on those days, while giving military or overseas voters the chance to do so, leads to unequal treatment.
Attorneys for the state said many laws already grant military personnel special voting accommodations, such as requirements for states to send absentee ballots to them 45 days before the election. And they argued local boards also need those final days to prepare for the election.
On Oct. 5, a federal appeals court reinstated voting on the weekend and Monday before the election and returned discretion to set hours on those days to local boards of elections.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court last week. He said it opened up the chance for Ohio's 88 county boards of elections to set different rules, while simultaneously ordering that all voters be treated the same.
But the high court in a one-sentence ruling allowed the lower court's ruling to stand.
Before the changes to the Ohio law, local boards of elections set their own early voting hours. And those hours varied among the state's counties.
Husted had been accepting boards' recommendations for hours on the disputed days in the event his appeal wasn't successful.
About an hour after the high court's decision, Husted ordered uniform hours across the state. The hours are from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3; from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4; and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 5.
Husted said that despite the high court's ruling, he believes the Ohio Legislature, not the federal courts, should set the voting rules.
"However, the time has come to set aside the issue for this election," he said in a statement.
Husted said the new statewide hours on the three days will give Ohioans the same opportunities to vote regardless of their home county.
Bob Bauer, general counsel for Obama for America, praised the Supreme Court's decision.
"We now turn our full attention to educating Ohio voters on when and how they can vote along with presenting the clear choice they face when selecting their next president," Bauer said in a statement.
Democrats and Republicans in Ohio have been sparring for more than a year over the state's early voting hours. The issue has essentially broken down along party lines, with Democrats favoring longer hours and Republicans opposed.
Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling, the Ohio Democratic Party's chairman used it to make a fundraising appeal to contributors.
"This is proof that you are making a difference," Chairman Chris Redfern wrote in an email.
Election officials in some of Ohio's smaller, rural counties already have expressed disappointment over the new weekend hours because they're concerned about the cost of keeping their doors open, said Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials.
The bipartisan group hasn't taken a position on the new hours. Ockerman said the association's members were "all over the map" in their recommendations to Husted on the hours.
Larger, urban counties had typically allowed weekend voting ahead of Election Day to try to curb long lines at the polls.
The top county official in Cleveland said he thought the hours could have been more convenient, but he isn't complaining about what the cost might be to the elections board.
"To be open for a few hours on the weekend is worth it," said Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, a Democrat.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Republican Josh Mandel, who's running for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat, is making it clear that he wouldn't have supported the auto bailout.
Mandel and incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown faced off for the first time at a lively and sometimes raucous debate Monday in Cleveland. Both candidates addressed a question about how the auto bailout has affected Ohio.
Until now, Mandel has repeatedly refused to say whether he would have supported the bailout. But he made it clear Monday that while he supports policies that help the auto industry, he would not have backed the bailout.
He says it cost too many nonunion employees at Delphi Corp. their pensions.
Brown has made his backing of the auto bailout a big part of his campaign.
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Reporter: Mike Kallmeyer
Web Producer: Ken Hines
CINCINNATI (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and first lady Michelle Obama both drove home Ohio's status as a battleground state Monday in dueling visits that cast the past four years in two different lights.
Mrs. Obama called Ohio a key state needed to re-elect the president and emphasized her husband's accomplishments, from the federal health care law to ending the war in Iraq.
"While we still have a long way to go to completely rebuild our economy, there are more and more signs every day that we are headed in the right direction," Mrs. Obama told about 2,000 supporters at a gymnasium on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware in central Ohio.
Earlier Monday, Ryan told hundreds of supporters in southwestern Ohio that they're in "the battleground state of battleground states" and that they must vote for growth over stagnation in three weeks.
Ryan spoke to about 500 supporters at a Cincinnati airport on a chilly, breezy afternoon before serving them barbecue and asking, "Would you like pork?"
Ryan's airport rally means that the Republican ticket has been in a swing state six of the last eight days. Ryan and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney campaigned in different Ohio cities Saturday.
"Ohioans, you know you have a big say-so. You know you're the battleground state of battleground states," Ryan told the crowd. "That means you have within your control, your ability, to go find those people who voted for Barack Obama in 2008, who just aren't as impressed these days, who heard the hope and the change ... but see this is nothing but a failed agenda of broken promises."
Ryan said "the window of opportunity to fix this mess is beginning to close on us" and urged supporters to vote early so they can focus on getting others to the polls on Nov. 6.
Mrs. Obama said it was the policies that her husband inherited that put the country in the mess he's worked to fix.
"Are we going to sit back and watch everything we worked for and fought for just slip away, or keep working to move this country forward?" she said.
Mrs. Obama opened her 30-minute speech by announcing she had cast her absentee ballot earlier in the day. "We're one vote closer to re-electing my husband," she said.
Kate Murphy, a Columbus consultant who waited in a long line to see Mrs. Obama on Monday, said she was feeling nervous about President Obama's chances.
"Especially living in the state of Ohio, we've heard a lot of negative campaigning," said Murphy, 63. "The numbers are slipping a little bit, so I think the debate's going to be important. Getting people out to vote is going to be important."
In Cincinnati, resident Lisa Woods wore red suede boots and a leather American flag jacket to Ryan's rally. She said she thinks he and Romney will be better for small-business owners like herself.
"I am taxed like crazy," said the 48-year-old married mother of an 8-year-old. "Between gas and groceries, I'm spending $6,000 more since 2008. I'm the first one who's willing to pay my fair share, but I'm also tired of sharing with everyone else who doesn't think there's a work ethic in this country."
Ryan visited Ohio following a stop in Wisconsin and left the state soon after lunch to head for New York.
Mrs. Obama also will be in the state Monday as the race for November gets into its final weeks.
President Obama returns to the state Wednesday with an appearance at Ohio University in Athens, while former President Bill Clinton and Bruce Springsteen will campaign Thursday for Obama in Parma.
The Obama campaign also is running a new state TV ad featuring space hero and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn, who did a radio spot for Obama last month.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player to see Reporter Mike Kallmeyer's story on Vice President Joe Biden's facial expressions during the debate.
Watch the video player to see Reporter Mike Kallmeyer's story on "The Truth Test - Romney"
Watch the video player to see Reporter Mike McCarthy's story on voter registration.
MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) -- Mitt Romney says his passion is for helping struggling Americans.
The Republican presidential nominee held a town hall-style meeting Wednesday with employees of an Ohio manufacturing company that makes natural gas compressors.
He said, quote, "My whole passion is about helping the American people who are struggling right now."
Romney has faced tough questions about a remark, caught on a secretly recorded video in the spring, that nearly half of Americans are dependent upon the government and believe they are victims. He has since said he was wrong.
It was Romney's second consecutive day campaigning in the important state of Ohio. No Republican has won the presidency without winning the state. Romney will spend two of the next three days in the state, too.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player to see Anchor Adam Aaro speak one-on-one with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who was campaigning in Mt. Vernon, Ohio for Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney.
COLUMBUS -- If you haven't registered to vote yet, you'll have to wait until next year. The registration period for this election cycle ended Tuesday night at 9pm.
The hard deadline brought out the procrastinators in droves, including Shaquita Evergin in Franklin County.
"Last day, and I really didn't even know it was the last day," Evergin said.
She was one of hundreds to register and vote early at the Franklin County Board of Elections' Early Voting Center in a year that is expected to reach near record-turnouts.
"We had a record turnout in 2008 with registration and early voting," Board of Elections Spokesperson Ben Piscitelli said. "We expect similar numbers when all is said and done."
Before the clock struck 9pm, early voting and (almost) late registration numbers went through the roof. Buses full of students and to-be voters arrived at the Early Voting Center from President Obama's campaign rally at the Ohio State University.
"(The President) told us we have buses, tour buses, to have everybody come down here and vote," Tyler Johnson said. "We got on the first one."
By the end of the night, more than 4,000 people voted early in Franklin County on Tuesday night.
The sudden push to register and vote early was pressed forward by a surprise celebrity appearance. Will I Am of the Black Eyed Peas took the opportunity to speak to those waiting outside the Early Voting Center in exchange for some pictures with fans.
"It's important for young people to go out and vote so that America looks like the America we want it to look like in 2030," the musician said.
Voting registration has hit its deadline. However, early voting will be open every weekday at the Franklin County Board of Elections' Early Voting Center at 1700 Morse Road.
The opportunity to vote early lasts until Friday, November 2, the Friday before election Tuesday.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- President Barack Obama is urging college students in Ohio to vote early, noting that the state's registration deadline is just hours away.
Obama is telling young voters at a large rally at Ohio State University not to wait or delay their vote, directing them to buses that are waiting to give them rides to early voting locations in one of the nation's top battleground states.
The president says, quote, "everything we fought for in 2008 is on the line in 2012."
Tuesday is the state's deadline to register to vote. Obama was campaigning in Ohio as a new poll showed his edge in the state narrowing against Republican Mitt Romney. A new CNN poll shows Obama leading Romney 51 percent to 47 percent among likely Ohio voters.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
UPDATE: (4:54 p.m.): President Barack Obama's re-election campaign says Ohio's elections chief has no justification for appealing a federal court's ruling in a dispute over three final days of early voting in the battleground state.
The campaign's statement followed a decision Tuesday by Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the state Legislature or federal courts should set Ohio election laws.
Husted called the Friday decision leaving voting hours on those days to counties "an unprecedented intrusion" into how states run elections.
Obama for America's General Counsel Bob Bauer said courts have concluded that polls should be open on the disputed days. He said Husted's office should be devoting its energies of implementing an orderly and effective early voting process.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio's election chief is appealing a ruling by a federal court that reinstates the final three early voting days in the battleground state.
Secretary of State Jon Husted said Tuesday he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to make the final decision on whether the state Legislature or federal courts should set Ohio election laws.
Husted called Friday's decision by a federal appeals court "an unprecedented intrusion" into how states run elections.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated early voting on the three days before Election Day, returning discretion to local boards of elections.
President Barack Obama's campaign and Democrats had sued Husted and Ohio's attorney general over part of a law cutting off early voting for most residents on the Friday evening before a Tuesday election.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- It's still all about Ohio.
After a strong debate performance, Republican challenger Mitt Romney is intensifying his efforts in the state that's critical to his White House hopes, while President Barack Obama works to hang on to the polling edge he's had here for weeks.
Both candidates campaigned hard in the state Tuesday, the last day of voter registration ahead of Election Day, now just four weeks away.
"Find at least one person who voted for Barack Obama last time and convince them to come join our team," Romney told voters in Van Meter, Iowa, before hurrying eastward to make a similar pitch in Ohio, where he was campaigning with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Obama, in Columbus, called out, "All right, Buckeyes, we need you." His campaign had buses nearby, ready to ferry students or other supporters to registration centers.
As Obama wooed Ohio State University students here and Romney focused on the Democratic bastion of Cuyahoga County to the north, there were signs the president's Ohio advantage was narrowing. A new CNN poll showed Obama leading Romney 51 percent to 47 percent among likely Ohio voters. And Republican strategists familiar with Romney's internal polling contended the race was even closer - within a single percentage point - as the candidate enjoyed a post-debate surge of support.
"I promise you he's back in the game in Ohio," said Charlie Black, an informal Romney campaign adviser.
Like other Republicans, he credits Romney's strong debate appearance last week as the reason for an uptick in national polling. And Romney advisers maintain they're seeing evidence of that in the battleground states most likely to decide the election, Ohio among them.
"There isn't any question that he has breathed new life and new energy into the Republican Party," Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. "We're seeing that there is greater intensity among Republicans and a great willingness to get out and vote and participate than we're seeing with Democrats."
With a hefty 18 electoral votes, Ohio is such a key state for Romney that one top adviser has dubbed it "the ball game" as the Republican looks to string together enough state victories to amass the 270 Electoral College votes needed to take the White House. No Republican has won the presidency without this Midwestern state, and if Romney were to lose here, he would have to carry every other battleground state except tiny New Hampshire.
Romney has far fewer state-by-state paths to the White House than Obama, who still has several routes to victory should he lose here.
Given the stakes and with just 28 days left in the campaign, Romney's schedule highlights his increased focus on the state: He's spending four of the next five days in Ohio, ahead of the second presidential debate in New York next Tuesday. Running mate Paul Ryan squares off against Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday for the sole debate featuring the No. 2's on the tickets.
Obama was being greeted in Columbus - for a rally at Ohio State University - by enormous letters that spelled out "vote early," a plea to the young voters who buoyed the president's bid in 2008. He arrived from the West Coast, where he had been raising millions of dollars for the campaign.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki dismissed the impact of polls showing a tighter race, saying Democrats always expected the race here and elsewhere to tighten ahead of Election Day.
"We have blinders on," she told reporters traveling on Air Force One. "We're implementing our own game plan."
Illustrating the competitive nature of Ohio, no presidential battleground has been more saturated with television advertising.
The campaigns and outside groups had spent more than $141 million on TV ads in Ohio through the beginning of October, one of the highest per-person spending rates in the country. Only more-populous Florida, which has seen $150 million in ad spending, has seen a higher total.
Ads in Ohio have focused on the energy industry - some rural, southern areas of the state rely heavily on coal - and on China, where foreign companies are seen as competing with Ohio's manufacturing base and jeopardizing jobs.
Obama has sought to paint Romney as a plutocrat who outsourced jobs during his tenure leading the private equity firm Bain Capital.
Romney, in turn, has sharply criticized Obama's support for stricter regulations on coal and natural gas. It's seen as a way in with white working-class voters, on which his candidacy depends. "Stop the War on Coal. Fire Obama," read signs that dot the countryside of areas where Romney has held multiple events.
White blue-collar workers prefer Romney to Obama, but less so than they did Republican George W. Bush, who carried Ohio in 2004. These voters are considered still persuadable, although Romney may have hurt himself with his comment that the 47 percent of Americans who pay no income tax believe they are victims entitled to government help.
Romney's position on the auto bailout also dogs him in a state that's heavily reliant on the industry. Obama's decision to offer government support to automakers meant protection for thousands of jobs at parts and supply companies in Ohio.
Romney wrote a 2008 op-ed headlined "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," which has become a rallying cry for Democrats. They have argued Obama's support for the bailout has had a hand in Ohio's drop in unemployment, which is now lower than the national average.
In the final weeks, both campaigns insist they have the edge in the critical ground game. That battle was playing out in the courts, as well, with Ohio's election chief saying Tuesday he will appeal a ruling that reinstates the final three early voting days in the state.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted called a decision last week by a federal appeals court "an unprecedented intrusion" into how states run elections.
Husted said Friday's decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would affect how elections are run in all 50 states. The appeals court in Cincinnati affirmed a lower court ruling and returned discretion to set hours on the final three days to local boards of elections.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio's top election official is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit involving two Democratic elections officials who claim they were unjustly fired by him.
Republican Jon Husted fired the two members of the Montgomery County Board of Elections in late August, saying they violated his order setting uniform early voting hours in the state.
Ex-board members Dennis Lieberman and Thomas Ritchie Sr. say Husted wrongfully terminated them after they voted to allow early voting on weekends.
Husted on Monday asked a federal judge in Dayton to dismiss the case, saying the terminations is a matter for state law, not federal.
The Democrats are seeking reinstatement, arguing the county needs their roughly 28 years of combined experience to ensure a smooth election.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio's elections chief says he's confident the presidential battleground state is prepared for the start of early voting on Tuesday.
Ohioans can cast an early ballot by mail or in person for the Nov. 6 election without having to give a reason.
This fall marks the first time absentee ballot applications are being mailed to every registered voter statewide. Secretary of State Jon Husted said Monday that more than 922,000 people have applied so far for an absentee ballot.
He said it's unclear how that number compares to the last presidential election, because the state didn't collect that data on mailed ballots.
About 30 percent of Ohio's total vote -- or roughly 1.7 million ballots -- came in ahead of Election Day in 2008.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Early voting just got easier in Franklin County with a massive early voting center that opened its doors for a preview Friday morning.
It's 80,000 square feed and located at 1700 Morse Road in the old Kohl's Department store.
Election officials say this is an upgrade in size and convenience compared to the early voting center at Veterans Memorial downtown.
In 2008, 49% of Franklin County voters went the absentee route, and elections officials expect more of the same this year.
They say, with this new facility, they are ready to handle 100,000 plus walk-in absentee voters thanks to the 100 voting machines that were installed.
Officials say people can come to this new facility to vote without standing in line.
Absentee voting begins Tuesday October 2, 2012 and anyone can vote absentee. People just have to be registered and fill out some paperwork.
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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
COLUMBUS— U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel said Tuesday he would get in and get out, promising to limit his time on Capitol Hill.
“In Washington I’ll do a good job for the people of Ohio, but I’ll only do it for two terms,” Mandel said. The promise came as the Ohio treasurer, who was elected in 2010, announced reforms to “clean up Washington.”
He said he’s prepared to limit members of Congress to 12 years in each chamber—or two terms in the Senate and six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. “The hallmark of my platform is to go there and change the culture the career politicians created,” Mandel said.
Mandel said he’d also push reforms that would take away Congressional pensions if members become lobbyists and withhold pay each year that members don’t pass a budget.
Mandel is challenging U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, (D)-Ohio, who was elected to the U.S. House in 1992. Brown was elected to the Senate in 2006.
Mandel regularly criticizes Brown for “running for office since Nixon was president.”
Brown weighed in on his opponent’s proposals at an event meant to promote legislation that would prevent call center jobs from being shipped overseas. “These three proposals he came up with today, none of them will create even one job," Brown said.
Reminding reporters of Mandel’s promise to serve a full term as Ohio Treasurer, Brown labeled Mandel, “the Heisman Trophy winner of pants on fire for breaking promises.”
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Derek Drake
COLUMBUS -- ABC 6/FOX 28 has obtained exclusive access to the Republican National Committee's (RNC) "Press Corp Briefing Book" titled "Wrong for Ohio, The Story of How Obama's Policies Have Failed the Buckeye State".
The 20 page booklet looks into statistics and facts published by news outlets across Ohio during the past few years. The RNC publication details topics which may be important to Ohio voters, especially those who may be undecided.
As the election draws near, the RNC is getting this information out in a format that is easy to access and reference. Ohio's battleground status gives the committee even more reason to inform Buckeye state voters that may still have questions, or give supporters easy access to information they can share with friends that may be undecided come November.
It is important to point out that there is no reference to the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, within the publication. It is simply the RNC's representation of how, during Obama's presidency, his policies have affected the people in Ohio.
Take a look at the report here, and make your own deductions from the information inside.
We are dedicated to helping all voters inform and educate themselves for the upcoming election, no matter the candidate or issue. When we receive a similar publication from the Democratic National Committee, we will publish that as well. ABC 6/FOX 28 does not endorse any candidate or issue.
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Web Producer: Derek Drake
Watch the video player above as ABC 6/FOX 28's Mike Kallmyer reports on how some people are outraged over comments made by the President of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Watch the video player above as ABC 6/FOX 28's Mike Kallmyer reports on how much political ads change the outcome of the election? Do you think there is "ad fatigue?"
BOSTON, MA — Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan will make a combined six campaign stops in major Ohio cities next week.
The Romney campaign announced the three-day bus tour Thursday morning.
The former Massachusetts governor will hold a rally in Columbus on Wednesday, September 26.
Ryan will begin the tour Monday in Lima, September 24.
The tour also includes stops in Cincinnati, Dayton, Cleveland, and Toledo.
Specific details about times and locations are expected in coming days.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
Watch the video player above as ABC 6/FOX 28's Shawn Kline sits down with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- President Barack Obama's latest campaign visit to Ohio is focusing on an issue sensitive to a key industry in the state.
Several Obama supporters at a Monday afternoon rally in a Columbus park say they want to hear about the president's position on U.S. trade policy with China. General contractor Ronnie Hall says he wants Obama to fight China tooth-and-nail to improve the two country's trade imbalance.
Obama highlighted a U.S. trade action against China in a Cincinnati rally earlier Monday.
Ohio's former Gov. Ted Strickland urged the crowd to vote for Obama because of the auto bailout, which Romney opposed.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- As President Obama spoke to supporters in central Ohio, Senator Marco Rubio (R - Fla.) appeared just minutes away at the statehouse.
Watch the video player above to see what the rising GOP star told ABC 6/FOX 28 reporter Shawn Kline during his stop in the Buckeye State.
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Reporter: Shawn Kline
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Watch the video player above as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney talks with ABC 6/FOX 28 anchor Bob Kendrick about some of the important issues facing Americans as the November election draws nearer.
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Reporter: Bob Kendrick
Web Producer: Ken Hines
CHILLICOTHE -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made multiple stops in the Buckeye State Tuesday, bringing a message of jobs and energy independence to voters in the critical swing state.
Romney was joined by Governor John Kasich and Sen. Rob Portman at a popular Zanesville ice cream shop, before heading to Chillicothe for an evening appearance.
Watch the video player above for ABC 6/FOX 28's team coverage of Romney's latest visit to Ohio.
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Reporter: Bob Kendrick
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) -- House Speaker John Boehner is comparing Republican Mitt Romney's choice of a running mate to John Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who won the White House in 1960.
The Ohio Republican says Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan is also a good-looking, articulate young man. Boehner said he figures Ryan will do well boosting interest in the GOP in such places as college campuses.
Romney introduced Ryan as his vice presidential pick on Saturday. Boehner called it a "pretty bold" choice.
The House speaker commented Monday while addressing supporters of GOP House candidate Jason Plummer in southwestern Illinois. Plummer faces Democrat Bill Enyart in southern Illinois' 12th Congressional District.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A coalition seeking to change how Ohio draws legislative and congressional districts has collected enough signatures to qualify its proposed constitutional amendment for the fall ballot.
The Voters First coalition needed to submit roughly 385,000 valid signatures to make the ballot but fell short by more than 130,000 in its initial effort. It filed thousands of additional signatures last week.
Secretary of State Jon Husted said Monday that nearly 152,000 additional valid signatures were collected. That means a total of more than 406,000 valid signatures have been certified and met the necessary requirements.
The Voters First proposal aims to take away map-drawing powers from elected officials and put them in the hands of a 12-person citizen commission.
The Ohio Republican Party is fighting the measure.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS-- Will he or won't he be Mitt Romney's vice presidential candidate?
That's the question Sen. Rob Portman, (R)-Ohio, seems to get the most lately.
In
an exclusive interview this week, ABC 6 and FOX 28 reporter Dana Jay
had a chance to ask him some other questions about the adventures that
help keep him sharp even during a grueling election season.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Soldiers and early voting are at the center of a new campaign controversy in Ohio which surrounds a lawsuit filed by President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
On Monday a federal judge allowed fifteen military groups to join the lawsuit which was filed on July 17 against Secretary of State John Husted, R-Ohio, and Attorney General Mike DeWine, R-Ohio.
The suit seeks to “restore in-person early voting for all Ohioans during the three days prior to Election Day.”
Earlier this year, the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature passed a law that ends early in-person voting for most Ohioans three days earlier than it does for military and overseas voters.
In a statement issued Saturday, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said, “President Obama's lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage.”
The Obama campaign responded Monday by holding a conference call with veterans who support the president.
“What we’re asking for and the President’s campaign is asking for is that all Ohioans enjoy the same rights that military members have. It’s one of the reason’s we wear the uniform,” said John Boccieri, an active-duty member or the United States Air Force who previously represented Ohio in Congress.
Boccieri and DeWine said they welcomed the military groups’ motion to intervene.
DeWine rejected the idea that the new voting law limits voting rights for average Ohioans.
Rather, “We make special provisions for people who are serving in the military so they have an opportunity to vote,” DeWine said.
The Democratic National Committee and the Ohio Democratic Party are also plaintiffs in the federal law suit.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A federal judge is allowing 15 military groups to intervene in a lawsuit against Ohio's top elections official filed by President Barack Obama's campaign.
The campaign is arguing the battleground state's law unfairly ends in-person voting for most Ohioans three days earlier than it does for military and overseas voters.
They say such disparate treatment is unconstitutional, and all voters should be able to vote on those final three days before Election Day.
The military groups, including AMVETS and associations representing the Army, Navy and Marines, are concerned the lawsuit could threaten voter protections afforded to service members, such as an extended voting period.
All sides supported the military groups joining the lawsuit. Federal Judge Peter Economus on Monday granted the request.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
DAYTON -- Watch the video player above for ABC 6/FOX 28 Political Reporter Dana Jay's interview with former Minnesota Governor -- and rumored GOP vice presidential hopeful -- Tim Pawlenty.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- President Barack Obama will campaign next week in northern Ohio.
His campaign says events are planned Wednesday in Mansfield and Akron. Details will be announced later.
The pace of campaign visits to Ohio has been busy. There has been heavy TV advertising across the swing state, with more than three months left before the general election.
The president made a two-day bus tour across northern Ohio in early July, followed by a July 16 rally in Cincinnati. His wife, Michelle, campaigned earlier this week in Columbus and Dayton.
Republican challenger Mitt Romney was in Toledo and Bowling Green in mid-July, after making a three-city bus tour in mid-June.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
WESTERVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Michelle Obama says the presidential campaign is about choices involving the economy, health care and college education.
Obama told a crowd of around 2,000 at a suburban Columbus, Ohio, high school gymnasium on Tuesday that the country must decide whether to go forward with the initiatives her husband has undertaken or let the progress slip away.
She said the country is better off because of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the return of troops from Iraq and the auto bailout.
The first lady planned a second rally in battleground Ohio at the convention center in Dayton later Tuesday.
Her visit follows campaign stops made last week by the president and Vice President Joe Biden.
Republican challenger Mitt Romney also made three stops in Ohio on Wednesday.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Marking what President Jay McDonald called “quite a shift” the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police Monday stood by U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown’s run for re-election.
It marks the first time in 24 years that the organization has endorsed a democrat for U.S. Senate -- and it could foreshadow a change at the national level.
FOP members point to where Brown stood on Senate Bill 5 to explain their endorsement.
“When we fought to protect every single law enforcement officer in the state of Ohio from the evils of Senate Bill 5 and Issue 2, Sen. Brown had our back and now we will have his,” McDonald send.
An effort to repeal Senate Bill 5, the controversial state law that would have limited collective bargaining for public employees, appeared on the November 2011 ballot as Issue 2.
The law was backed by the Ohio Republican Party.
National FOP President Chuck Canterbury released a statement supporting the Ohio chapter’s decision to endorse Brown.
The National Fraternal Order of Police endorsed John McCain for president in 2008.
Canterbury said he envisioned a scenario where the organization didn’t endorse a presidential candidate this year because enough members have been disgruntled by decisions of Republican governors and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s support for those decisions.
For example, Canterbury said, Romney stood with Gov. John Kasich, (R )-Ohio, who was behind the push for Senate Bill 5.
“I think in a traditional police union that has quite a bit of conservative values, some of the comments Gov. Romney has made during the campaign have hurt him with our membership,” Canterbury said, pointing also to what he viewed as the candidate’s support for right to work legislation and pension changes for police and teachers.
The National FOP only makes an endorsement in the presidential race if two-thirds of the delegations favor one candidate over another, Canterbury said.
A spokesman for Romney’s campaign declined to comment for this story.
A spokesman for Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, who is challenging Brown, said the Republican will support police officers regardless of any endorsement.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden is keeping up the attacks on Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in Ohio
Biden said in a speech Thursday at a Columbus union hall that Romney outsourced jobs while running the private equity firm Bain Capital, a claim the Romney campaign has rejected.
Biden also criticized the Republican for opposing President Barack Obama's bailout of the auto industry.
The vice president was in Ohio to highlight the administration's support for the auto industry and the increase in Ohio manufacturing jobs.
The pace of campaigning by the two sides in the state has been picking up in recent weeks.
Biden's trip comes three days after the president held a town hall in Cincinnati. Romney made three stops in Ohio on Wednesday.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
BOWLING GREEN -- Watch the video player above for ABC 6/FOX 28 Political Reporter Dana Jay's interview with Mitt Romney aide Kevin Madden.
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (AP) -- A defiant Mitt Romney brushed aside more calls for the release of his tax returns on Wednesday and instead accused President Barack Obama of protecting his job at the expense of millions of unemployed Americans.
Intensifying his attacks as Obama focused on official meetings in Washington, the Republican presidential candidate told an overflowing Ohio crowd that the Democrat hasn't met with his jobs council in more than six months. In that time, however, Romney says Obama held 100 fundraisers.
"His priority is not creating jobs for you," Romney declared. "His priority is trying to keep his own job. And that's why he's going to lose it."
For the often-reserved Romney, the fiery rhetoric marks an aggressive shift as he struggles to answer questions about his business career and personal tax returns. The former businessman, who would be among the nation's wealthiest presidents if elected, has broken from tradition so far, having released just one year of personal income tax returns and promised to release a second.
But in speeches across four states this week, Romney has thrilled supporters with aggressive attacks on Obama and charges of "crony capitalism." At the same time, the Republican's campaign has teased reporters with news that Romney's selection of a running mate could come any day, forcing new attention on what may be the most important decision of the campaign so far.
National polls suggest that the candidates are locked in a tight race less than four months before voters weigh in. Obama was expected to return to campaigning Thursday for a two-day swing though Florida.
The growing war of words between the campaigns drew a response from House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who took a rare step into the presidential race Wednesday.
Congress' top Republican told reporters in Washington that Obama's criticism of Romney's career and taxes are meant to distract from the administration's handling of the economy. Boehner said Obama's questions are an "attack on the private sector" and show that the president "doesn't give a damn about middle-class Americans who are out there looking for work."
The speaker also offered a warning for those, including fellow Republicans, who are calling on Romney to make more tax returns public. "The American people are asking, `Where are the jobs?'" Boehner said. "They're not asking where the hell the tax returns are. It's not about tax returns, it's about the economy."
The warning didn't quiet the critics of Romney's stand on tax returns.
"If you're going to run for president, it's not necessarily comfortable but it has become a tradition and it's an important one, you make your tax returns available because you think the American people deserve that kind of transparency," Obama spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
Several high-profile Republicans joined the call for transparency, including Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who challenged Romney for the GOP nomination earlier in the year.
Perry, who released his tax returns dating back to 1992, said anyone running for office should make public as much personal information as possible to help voters decide. In an editorial, the conservative National Review also urged Romney to release more tax returns even though it agreed with him that Obama's camp wanted them for a "fishing expedition."
The Romney campaign offered a multipronged counter attack.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who features prominently in speculation about Romney's choice for a running mate, vigorously defended Romney's position.
"There is no claim or no credible indication that he's done anything wrong," Pawlenty said on "CBS This Morning."
Senior Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom refused to talk about the issue when asked about it before Romney's rally in Bowling Green. "That's been discussed ad nauseum," he said in declining to respond to Carney's comment.
The single year of tax returns released by Romney show investments and off-shore accounts scattered across the globe, including Switzerland and Grand Cayman.
But Romney's newfound aggression forced the Obama team to answer some uncomfortable questions as well. Asked why the president's jobs council has not met for six months, Carney said there was no specific reason.
"The president has obviously got a lot on his plate," Carney told reporters. "But he continues to solicit and receive advice from numerous folks outside the administration about the economy, about ideas that he can act on with Congress or administratively to help the economy grow and help it create jobs."
Romney also released a TV ad accusing Obama of sending tax dollars overseas. The ad says Obama sent stimulus money to "friends, donors, campaign supporters and special interest groups" and charges that taxpayer dollars went to projects in Finland and China.
Romney also seized on comments Obama made last week in Virginia.
Addressing the role of government in the American economy, the president said, in part: "Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." He added: "The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together."
Romney lashed out at the remarks while in Bowling Green, in keeping with a strategy his campaign says will be a theme for the week, if not longer.
"This is the height of foolishness," Romney said. "Barack Obama's attempt to denigrate and diminish the achievement of the individual diminishes us all."
Meanwhile, speculation about Romney's selection of a running mate continued. In Ohio, he was asked for assurances that he would select a conservative vice president.
"I can assure you that even though I have not chosen the person who will be my vice president, that person will be a conservative," Romney said. "They will believe in conservative principles."
Earlier in the day, Romney's wife, Ann, shed some light on the vice presidential search. In an interview with ABC News, scheduled for broadcast Thursday, Ann Romney said her husband had yet to settle on a candidate.
"We are certainly talking a lot. This last week, this last weekend, there was a lot of discussion," she said, according to excerpts released by the network. "There was a lot of talk. We're not quite there yet. And we're going to be there soon."
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama cares more about his own job than about finding jobs for millions of unemployed Americans.
A fiery Romney told Ohio supporters Wednesday that the president hasn't met with his jobs council in more than six months. But in that time, Romney says the Democrat has held 100 fundraisers.
The fresh attack comes as Democrats and a growing number of Republicans push Romney to release his income tax returns. The presidential contender has promised to release two years of returns by Election Day. That breaks a tradition started by Romney's father, who released 12 years of tax papers.
Obama spokesman Jay Carney says the public deserves transparency. He's joined by Republicans such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Mitt Romney plans to stay on the attack in the race for the White House, but mounting pressure on the Republican presidential candidate to release his tax returns threatens to stunt his momentum as he courts voters across key Midwestern battlegrounds. The top Republican on Capitol Hill defended Romney on Wednesday, saying the campaign is "not about tax returns, it's about the economy."
Romney was taking his fight against President Barack Obama to Ohio on Wednesday, building off fiery speeches in Pennsylvania the day before in which he accused the Democrat of believing government is more vital to a thriving economy than the nation's workers and dreamers.
"I'm convinced he wants Americans to be ashamed of success," Romney declared Tuesday in the Pittsburgh area as hundreds of supporters cheered him on.
Having spent most of Tuesday courting donors across Texas, Obama was spending Wednesday at the White House before beginning a two-day campaign swing through Florida. His wife, first lady Michelle Obama, was speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Birmingham, Ala.
Democrats have pressed for the release of more of Romney's tax returns and have hounded him over discrepancies about when he left his private equity firm, Bain Capital. Obama has been trying to keep Romney focused on matters other than the sluggish economy, even releasing a single-shot TV ad Tuesday that suggests Romney gamed the system so well that he may not have paid any taxes at all for years.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, took a rare step into the presidential race Wednesday, telling reporters in Washington that Obama's criticism of Romney's career and taxes are meant to distract from the administration's handling of the economy.
Boehner said Obama's questions are an "attack on the private sector" and show that the president "doesn't give a damn about middle-class Americans who are out there looking for work."
Boehner also warned those, including fellow Republicans, who are calling on Romney to make more of his tax returns public.
"The American people are asking, `Where are the jobs?' Boehner said. "They're not asking where the hell the tax returns are. It's not about tax returns, it's about the economy."
In response, White House spokesman Jay Carney said of Obama that the middle class is the "principal preoccupation of his presidency." Carney called Boehner's comment "astounding" given the policies Obama is pushing, such as continuing a tax cut solely for the middle class.
Obama's campaign released a web video Wednesday questioning Romney's claims that he had "no responsibility whatsoever" at Bain after February 1999, when Romney says he left the firm. SEC filings list him as sole owner and CEO through February 2001.
After being on his heels for several days, Romney launched an aggressive counterattack this week, punctuated by biting speeches, conference calls and a TV ad Wednesday accusing Obama of "crony capitalism." The ad says Obama sent stimulus money to "friends, donors, campaign supporters and special interest groups" and charges that taxpayer dollars went to projects in Finland and China.
Romney also has seized on comments Obama made last week in Virginia.
Making a point about the supportive role government plays in building the nation, the president said, in part: "Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."
Obama later added: "The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together."
At a Pittsburgh fundraiser Tuesday evening, Romney lashed out at the remark, a strategy his campaign says will be a theme for the week, if not longer.
"It's foolish on its face and shocking that a president of the United States would not understand the power of entrepreneurship and innovation," Romney said. "It is an attack on the very premise that makes America such a powerful economic engine."
For the often-reserved Romney, the fresh attacks marked a substantial escalation in aggression for a candidate who has struggled to answer questions about his business career and personal tax returns. The former businessman, who would be among the nation's wealthiest presidents if elected, has so far released just one year of personal income tax returns and promised to release a second.
That's a stark deviation from a tradition created in part by Romney's father, George, a presidential candidate a generation ago who released 12 years of his returns.
A defiant Romney has accused the Obama campaign of using the issue to distract voters from his handling of the economy less than four months before the Nov. 6 election.
But it's unclear if Romney's new strategy will be enough to change the subject. Several prominent Republicans joined Democrats in pushing Romney for more transparency.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry - who challenged Romney for the GOP nomination - became the latest top conservative to pressure Romney to open his finances. Perry, who has released his tax returns dating back to 1992, said anyone running for office should make public as much personal information as possible to help voters decide.
The conservative National Review also urged Romney to release more tax returns even though it agreed with him that Obama's camp wanted them for a "fishing expedition."
"By drawing out the argument over the returns, Romney is playing into the president's hands," the magazine said in an online editorial. "He should release them, respond to any attacks they bring, and move on."
Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said Romney will not bow to the pressure.
"The governor has gone above and beyond what's required for disclosure," Madden said. "The situation remains the same."
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who features prominently in speculation about Romney's choice for a running mate, vigorously defended Romney's limited tax release.
"There is no claim or no credible indication that he's done anything wrong," Pawlenty said Wednesday on "CBS This Morning."
Pawlenty accused Obama's campaign of "hanging shiny objects before the public and the press, and the press is taking the bait."
Romney's wife, Ann, meanwhile, shed some light Wednesday on her husband's vice presidential search. A top aide to the candidate earlier had suggested that an announcement could have come by the end of the week.
In an interview with ABC News, scheduled for broadcast Thursday, Ann Romney said her husband had yet to settle on a candidate.
"We're not quite there yet," she said, according to excerpts released by the network.
Separately, Romney's campaign was forced to apologize after a supporter questioned Obama's patriotism.
In a conference call Tuesday arranged by the campaign, former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu told reporters he wished Obama "would learn how to be an American." He later apologized.
"I made a mistake. I shouldn't have used those words. And I apologize for using those words," Sununu told CNN. "But I don't apologize for the idea that this president has demonstrated that he does not understand how jobs are created in America."
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player above as President Barack Obama speaks with ABC 6/FOX 28 Political Reporter Dana Jay during an appearance in Cincinnati.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden returns to Ohio on Thursday with a labor union visit in Columbus.
President Barack Obama's campaign says Biden will highlight his administration's support for the auto industry and the increase in Ohio manufacturing jobs. He will be at the Plumbers & Pipefitters Local on Thursday afternoon.
Biden's trip to the swing state will come three days after the president held a town hall in Cincinnati.
The pace of campaigning by the two sides in Ohio has been picking up in recent weeks. Republican challenger Mitt Romney has a town hall Wednesday in Bowling Green. Meanwhile, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will promote Romney in southwest Ohio, starting with a stop at a Hamilton metals plant.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The Ohio Republican Party is questioning the validity of some signatures gathered by a voter group that's pushing a fall ballot proposal aimed at taking away elected officials' power to draw legislative and congressional districts.
The state alters legislative and U.S. House district boundaries every 10 years to reflect population shifts. New maps were put in place for this year's elections.
The Voters First coalition has submitted more than 430,000 signatures to get its constitutional amendment before voters in November. It needs more than 385,000 valid signatures.
Among other issues, the GOP claims a paid circulator was found lying about the number of signatures.
Voters First said in a statement that two circulators were removed after the group learned of problems. The group also described the GOP's accusations as desperate.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
CINCINNATI (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Monday mocked Mitt Romney's economic vision, saying the only jobs plan his Republican rival has would create plenty of work for people overseas.
Campaigning in battleground Ohio, Obama again tried to erode Romney's credentials as a businessman equipped to fix the sluggish economy.
The president said Romney's proposal to free companies from taxes on their foreign holdings would lead to job creation abroad, not at home. He cited a new tax analysis that concludes that such a tax policy could displace American workers.
"I want to give tax breaks to companies that are investing right here in Ohio, that are investing in Cincinnati," Obama told a supportive crowd in the first official town hall event of his re-election campaign. "I want to give incentives to companies that are investing in you, the American people, to create American jobs making American goods ... That's why I'm running for president of the United States"
How to tax the foreign earnings of companies is hotly debated topic. Corporations argue that taxing those profits keeps companies from reinvesting that money in the U.S.
The president fielded questions on gay rights, energy and even Girl Scout cookies during a comfortable question-and-answer session with local residents. He spoke after raising money at a private fundraiser.
The free-flowing setting gave Obama a chance to work the crowd and create the campaign atmosphere he enjoys. When one man said he was a barber and wanted to cut the president's hair, Obama kindly rebuffed him.
"You would not want a president who was disloyal to his barber," Obama said. "I mean, a man and his barber, that's a strong connection."
Ohio is a crucial battleground for Obama and his Republican challenger. Obama was targeting Cincinnati, one of the state's heavy Republican areas.
The president also highlighted his administration's 2009 bailout of the auto industry, which saved thousands of jobs in Ohio, according to Democrats. Romney opposed Obama's use of massive federal loans to keep Chrysler and General Motors afloat while they reorganized under bankruptcy protection.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Lame-duck Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland plans a political action committee to train new leaders.
Kucinich was defeated in March by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo in a Democratic primary set up by Republican redistricting. He announced the establishment of the Kucinich Action PAC on Monday.
The two-time presidential candidate says the PAC reflects his belief that his politics have been "about more than one leader or one campaign."
Kucinich says the committee will train people with leadership skills for government decision-making at all levels.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
CINCINNATI (AP) -- President Barack Obama's campaign says he will return to Ohio next week -- this time to visit Cincinnati.
No other details about the Monday visit were released immediately on Thursday.
The Democratic president made a bus tour across northern Ohio over two days last week, and has had rallies in Cleveland and Columbus since officially kicking off his re-election bid in May.
Republican challenger Mitt Romney has also made recent Ohio visits, including a stop in Cincinnati last month.
The swing state figures to be pivotal in the November election.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern lamented outside spending as the amount of money paid for ads against U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, (D)-Ohio, topped $10.5 million Tuesday.
Crossroads GPS, the Republican advocacy group headed by Karl Rove, launched a new $1.1 million ad campaign against Brown which will run for 10 days across Ohio.
Despite a series of headlines unfavorable to Republican challenger Josh Mandel, polls suggest a close race.
“The only reason Josh Mandel’s campaign is alive today is because Karl Rove is there to give it CPR,” Redfern said.
Crossroads is one of eight groups that have combined to spend millions to fund ads against Brown, according to Brown’s campaign.
The groups, which Redfern called “shady”, don’t have to report the size of contributions or the names of contributors.
Republicans don’t dispute the $10.5 million figure, but they do say they expect more outside spending on Brown’s behalf.
A spokesman for Mandel’s campaign referred requests for comment about outside spending to the Ohio Republican Party.
“Sherrod Brown and his special interest allies in Washington are plotting to spend over $13 million, with no end in sight,” spokeswoman Izzy Santa said in an emailed statement.
By Redfern’s calculations Mandel’s allies are currently outspending Brown’s supporters 4-to-1. He said he expects voters to ultimately hold the onslaught of negative ads against Mandel.
“I think Josh Mandel six months from now will realize that his political career is at an end because of the way he has conducted himself and the people he has surrounded himself with,” Redfern said.
Bob Clegg, a Republican Campaign Consultant who specializes in advertising said he doesn’t believe that will be the case and Redfern’s outrage is “selective.”
“When Barack Obama was outspending John McCain four years ago 2-to-1 and running up the highest money ever spent by a presidential candidate he seemed to have no problem with that,” Clegg said.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
POLAND, Ohio (AP) -- President Barack Obama says private sector job growth is a "step in the right direction," but the economy must grow faster following a modest monthly job report.
Obama spoke on the second day of a bus tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania as the government reported that only 80,000 jobs were created in June. That leaving the jobless rate unchanged at 8.2 percent.
Campaigning in New Hampshire, Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney called that rate "unacceptably high" and Obama must take responsibility for failed policies.
Obama says the nation has created 4.4 million private sector jobs during the past 28 months but says "it's still tough out there." He says voters need to help break a "stalemate" in Congress that he says is preventing stronger job growth.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
MAUMEE, Ohio (AP) -- President Barack Obama has told an Ohio campaign crowd that he's betting they won't lose heart or interest in the November election despite political stalemates. He says the outcome will determine the nation's economic future for the next 10 to 20 years.
He also offered a stout defense of his health care law, saying: "The law I passed is here to stay."
Obama's remarks were the first of a two-day bus tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania. He was drawing attention to economies in both states that have been helped by a stronger auto industry.
Obama said the experience in both states, where joblessness is below the national average, can be replicated across the country. And making sure it does, he said, is why he is running for a second term.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling upholding the heart of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will make the law the predominant issue of the fall presidential campaign.
DeWine, a Republican, told The Associated Press he is disappointed in Thursday's decision and says a vote for the GOP presidential and congressional ticket this fall will be a vote to repeal the law assuring coverage for many uninsured Ohioans.
DeWine said opponents of the law scored a victory because justices did not expand the Commerce Clause, an outcome that DeWine says would have made Congress' power virtually unlimited.
DeWine said the state's involvement will continue in a lawsuit disputing the law on the grounds it compels people to violate their religious principles.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A new poll shows President Barack Obama with a slightly larger lead over Republican Mitt Romney in Ohio compared with a similar survey nearly two months ago.
The Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday finds Obama with 47 percent to 38 percent for Romney.
The university's poll in early May had them nearly even in Ohio.
Other recent polls suggest Romney and Obama are just about deadlocked in the state.
The Quinnipiac poll taken over the last week shows Obama doing much better among women and independents.
But it's almost an even split between those who say the president deserves a second term and those who think he doesn't deserve to be re-elected.
The survey of 1,237 Ohio voters has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is ramping up a fresh phase of his re-election bid with a bus tour next week, focusing more on direct engagement with voters and less on ritzy fundraisers.
A campaign official says Obama's two-day road trip through Pennsylvania and Ohio kicks off July 5.
The visit to the key battleground states will be the president's first bus tour of the 2012 campaign.
Obama's efforts thus far have focused largely on hauling in cash from supporters in dozens of fund-raising events across the country as his campaign seeks to compete with energized Republican donors.
He spent two days this week on a four-state fund-raising blitz that brought in more than $5 million.
The official spoke about the bus tour ahead of the official announcement on condition of anonymity.
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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's campaign is using a new television ad to refute Republican attacks on Obama's recent assertion that the private sector is "doing fine."
The ad says Republican rival Mitt Romney and his "billionaire allies will spend millions to distort the president's words." A clip in the background shows Obama making the comments about the private sector at a recent news conference.
Republicans seized on Obama's words, saying they were a sign that he doesn't understand the economy. Obama and his aides quickly sought to backtrack, insisting the president knows the economy is not doing fine.
In the new ad, titled "Rebuild," Obama says he understands when he talks to Americans that the weak economy "wears on them."
The ads are running in nine states, including Florida and Ohio.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich is preparing to sign a
sweeping education bill that seeks to strengthen ties between the
state's employers and public schools and makes dozens of other policy
changes.
Kasich is to sign the bill Monday in Cincinnati. The event takes place at Fifth Third Bank's operations center in Madisonville.
Under
the measure, Ohio third-graders lagging in reading skills face the
possibility of being held back for up to two school years as they get
academic help. It sets adjusted training and retesting requirements for
teachers who are deemed to be ineffective for two of the previous three
years. The legislation also requires all special needs students to get
eye exams.
At the signing, the Republican governor will emphasize changes detailing workforce education with available jobs.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
CLEVELAND (AP) -- President Barack Obama says November's election will give voters the chance to break a stalemate about America's direction.
Obama said at a campaign speech in battleground Ohio that his race against Republican Mitt Romney will present a choice "between two fundamentally different visions" about how to grow the economy, create jobs for the middle class and pay down the nation's debt.
The president said the nation is being held back by a "stalemate" in Washington. He acknowledged the economy isn't where it needs to be and said the election-year debate will pivot on how the economy grows faster and creates jobs.
Obama and Romney spoke about 250 miles apart on Thursday. The president was at a community college in Cleveland; Romney spoke at a manufacturing company in Cincinnati.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama is "long on words and short on action" when it comes to fixing the economy.
In a speech Thursday, the likely Republican presidential nominee assailed his Democratic rival's policies before the president stepped to the microphone to deliver his economic speech in a different part of Ohio. Romney said Obama's "talk is cheap" but his actions "speak very loud."
Romney criticized the economic stimulus bill, the health care law and Obama's decision not to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.
Romney's advisers billed his appearance as a major speech on the economy, but the former Massachusetts governor offered little beyond his standard campaign rhetoric. He was originally scheduled to speak at the same time as Obama, but began 15 minutes early.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich is meeting with top lawmakers to reflect on the passage of his unconventional midterm budget and other policy changes.
Legislation has also cleared the Statehouse over the past month that overhauls public education, tax law, local government operations and energy policy.
Kasich has said the bills will work together to prepare Ohio to take the best advantage of its natural resources, business community and workforce.
The first-term Republican governor was scheduled to sit down Thursday with House Speaker Bill Batchelder and Senate President Tom Niehaus at the Governor's Residence in suburban Bexley.
The quick legislative pace has sometimes frustrated lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, as well as advocates trying to have their say on dozens of fast-moving bills.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney are offering dueling speeches about how to fix the economy. They will frame in their most direct terms the fierce debate that will decide the November election.
In a flash of campaign drama, the two will give their major speeches today at nearly the same time from the same state, battleground Ohio.
For the president, the goal is to get above the daily ups and downs and pull the American people into the discussion Obama wants: a choice between his economic ideas and Romney's.
For Romney, the occasion is about offering definition to a divided public about how he would lead the economy, including the priorities for his first 100 days in office.
Ohio is vital to both men's election chances in November.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Fellow Republicans, Democrats and sidelined witnesses alike are grumbling now that elements of Gov. John Kasich's ambitious policy agenda have breezed through the Ohio Statehouse.
They aren't just concerned about inconvenience. Many say the sheer volume and speed of the legislation made it difficult to fully vet the proposals.
Kasich's spokesman Rob Nichols acknowledges the GOP governor's extensive proposals increased the Legislature's normal workload for a non-budget year. Ohio writes budgets every other year, opposite the year lawmakers face elections.
But Nichols said Kasich believes policies that are right for the state shouldn't be delayed.
Senate President Tom Niehaus said while the pace was fast, all bills were fully aired.
Democratic Sen. Mike Skindell was among those who argued Kasich's aggressive timetable hurt the democratic process.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- One media research firm is describing the flow of political ad money into Ohio as the Flood of 2012.
Borrell Associates predicts political ad spending will to $9.8 billion nationwide this election cycle.
The researchers predict $391 million will be spent in Ohio, with the state ranking eighth and fifth in the country in spending on the presidential and U.S. Senate races, respectively.
Erik Nisbet, an assistant professor at the Ohio State University’s School of Communication, predicted outside groups would spend more money than candidates.
“You’re definitely going to see a lot of spending in terms of outside groups probably in the presidential campaign, especially on the Republican side,” Nisbet said, adding that organized labor tends to air ads on the Democratic side.
Kip Cassino, who authored the Borrell Associates report, predicted broadcast television airwaves will be so saturated with special interest and campaign spending that ad dollars will spill over into other media.
“I believe in some of the most contested markets you’re going to go to the move and see presidential ads before you see the movie you want to see,” Cassino said.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden, campaigning in Democratic territory with high unemployment, went after Republican Mitt Romney's business background Wednesday and cast him as a corporate raider more interested in profits than people.
Biden said the former businessman favors policies that benefit the well-to-do over average people. He said Obama wants to give everyone a fair shake and make sure everyone plays by the same rules.
"These guys don't get it," Biden said, his voice rising as he addressed supporters on a factory floor in Youngstown, where the unemployment rate is 10.4 percent, more than 2 points above the national average.
"As long as the government helps the guys at the top, workers and small businesses and communities, they can fend for themselves," Biden said. At the same time, "the big guy is doing well," he said.
The speech in Ohio, an economically battered state that will help decide the November presidential election, continued the effort by President Barack Obama's campaign to portray Romney as more in tune with rich people like himself.
Obama's campaign and an independent group that supports the president have begun airing ads in several states, including Ohio, that highlight the failure of a Missouri-based steel company that was bought by Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney helped get off the ground. GST Steel later went bankrupt in 2001, costing 750 people their jobs. Romney was no longer with Bain at the time of GST's collapse.
"Nobody knows better than the people in the (Mahoning River) valley the consequences of that kind of philosophy. You have been through hell and back," Biden said.
After Romney's company bought the Missouri steel company, its debt increased from $13 million to $533 million, Biden said. "When you get that kind of debt and things turn bad, you're dead, you're done," he said.
Biden said the company wound up in bankruptcy court, leaving employees without health care or pensions. Thirty top executives came away with $9 million and Romney and his partners came out with $12 million, Biden said.
In a response to the vice president, Bain Capital said it had tried to make GST prosperous amid a difficult steel industry environment.
"Bain Capital undertook an ambitious plan in 1993 to turnaround GST Steel, a struggling manufacturer of specialty steel products that was slated for closure if no investor could be found," the company said in a statement.
"We invested more than $100 million and many thousands of hours into this turnaround, upgrading its facilities in an attempt to make the company competitive. This was unfortunately at a time when the steel industry came under enormous pressure, and nearly half of all U.S. steel companies went into bankruptcy."
Romney's campaign said he has a net job creation record both as a businessman and from his term as Massachusetts governor. It countered the attack on Bain Capital by citing Solyndra, a California-based solar energy company that collapsed despite receiving more than $500 million in Obama administration loans.
"President Obama has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on unsuccessful policies that have not created jobs, burdened future generations with massive debt and resulted in failed investments like Solyndra," said Romney spokeswoman Sarah Pompei.
Biden's speech came a day after Romney portrayed Obama as an agent of reckless spending who is leading the country toward a threatening debt crisis. And it comes two days after the Obama campaign signaled it would make Romney's tenure at Bain Capital an issue in a campaign that both sides are trying to keep focused on the economy and jobs.
The back and forth illustrates the power of the economy as the dominant campaign issue this year, leaving voters to decide whether the slow recovery represents a success or a failure.
In choosing Youngstown for Biden's speech, the Obama campaign picked a symbol of Rust Belt economic struggles. But as Ohio's unemployment rate has dropped by 3 percentage points in two years, Biden is casting Obama economic policies as a success.
Biden made a brief stop at the Salem fire department south of Youngstown to shake hands with firefighters and onlookers. The department used a $300,000 federal grant to recall three laid-off firefighters.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS-- A new poll shows Ohio's U.S. Senate race closer than ever and both candidates credit advertising.
A Quinnipiac University poll released this week shows a U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, (D)-Ohio, holds a 46-40 percent lead over State Treasurer Josh Mandel, the Republican challenger. Brown's lead was 10 percentage points in a March 29 survey.
The Brown campaign blames negative ads against the incumbent, paid for by special interest groups, for the democrats shrinking lead.
"When you get hit with $6 million worth of [negative] ads...you don't just sit there and let them hit you over and over again," Brown said.
Brown is airing negative ads that slam Mandel for spending more time campaigning than on official duty in the Treasurer's office.
"Sherrod Brown has been running for political office since Richard Nixon was president...you'd think he'd have at least one positive thing to say about his record," Mandel said.
Mandel's advertising so far has been positive. Two ads feature the Marine Corps Veteran's military service. He said he thinks that message is helping him appeal to voters.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A bill in Ohio to repeal a contentious new
election law in the presidential battleground state is headed to the
governor's desk.
The Republican-controlled House passed the
measure on a 54-42 vote Tuesday. It's already cleared the GOP-led
Senate, and Republican Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign it.
The
bill would get rid of an election law passed last summer that reduces
early voting opportunities in the state. It would leave in place the old
rules governing Ohio elections. The measure also would reaffirm a
separate change made last year in a different bill that ends in-person
early voting on the weekend before Election Day.
House leaders had delayed voting on the bill to try to strike a compromise with the law's opponents, but none has been reached.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player above for ABC 6/FOX 28 Political Reporter Dana Jay's full interview with Obama for America's National Press Secretary Ben LaBolt.
COLUMBUS -- President Barack Obama used the first official rally of his
re-election bid to brand GOP rival Mitt Romney a willing rubber-stamp
for failed policies championed by extreme House Republicans.
Obama
told an enthusiastic crowd of about 14,000 that America's had a tough
time rebounding from a deep recession. But he said it's come too far to
turn back now.
The noisy rally at the Ohio State University basketball arena was the first of two on Saturday for the Democratic incumbent.
Later,
he spoke at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Both Ohio and
Virginia are seen as critical to the election outcome.
Obama has raised cash and given campaign-like speeches for months, but Saturday's rallies are the first events formally organized by his campaign apparatus.
At
Ohio State, Obama said Romney seems to think if wealthy Americans like
him or big corporations get richer, the country will prosper. But Obama
says bigger profits haven't led to better jobs, and Romney "doesn't seem
to get that."
Outside the arena, Romney supporters filled a campaign bus that doubled as a phone bank center.
U.S.
Senator Rob Portman, (R)-Ohio, released a statement responding to the
president’s visit. He pointed to an 8 percent unemployment, rising gas
prices and a growing national debt.
TOLEDO (AP) -- A new poll shows President Barack Obama and Republican
Mitt Romney are nearly even in Ohio six months before the presidential
election.
The Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday finds Obama with 44 percent to 42 percent for Romney.
The
university's poll last month showed Obama ahead of Romney by a slightly
bigger margin. But that was before former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick
Santorum got out of the race.
The poll taken over the last
week shows Obama doing much better among women, while men are strongly
behind the former Massachusetts governor.
The survey of 1,130 Ohio voters has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
COLUMBUS -- Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told OSU students he has no desire to see their student loan rates rise.
The senator appeared on campus Wednesday to pitch his plan to freeze interest rates on federally-backed loans at 3.4%.
Stafford Loan rates will double in July unless Congress can come to a consensus on a plan to prevent the hike.
Sen. Brown told students that Congress needs to act on their behalf.
"We all have way more work to do for you, and your generation, then we've been able to do successfully so far," Brown said. "That needs to be our commitment as public officials, as business people, labor leaders, and others to your generation."
The senator's plan would fund the rate freeze by closing a corporate tax loophole.
Congressional Republicans also favor a freeze, but prefer for it to be paid for with cuts to President Obama's health care law.
Sen. Brown plans to introduce his plan early next week.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Gun control advocates are criticizing an upcoming fundraiser for a state representative from southwestern Ohio that encourages people to bring their own guns and shoot them at a firing range.
The Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, several Democrats and others urged Republican Rep. Margaret Conditt of Liberty Township on Tuesday to cancel her May 12 fundraiser at the Middletown Sportsmens Club. They called the event distasteful and irresponsible in the wake of a school shooting that killed three Ohio students.
Conditt's campaign treasurer says there are no plans to cancel the event, which he says are consistent with the lawmaker's support for gun rights.
Dave Bruno says machine guns aren't allowed at the fundraiser, which will feature skeet shooting.
A message left for Conditt on Tuesday was not immediately returned.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player above for ABC 6/FOX 28 Political Reporter Dana
Jay's interview with GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
---------------------------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
WESTERVILLE— Lunch for a select few Otterbein University students Friday was a burger with a side of presidential politics.
"It's been a tough few years for people coming out of college and this year doesn't look any better than the prior years," presumptive Republican nominee for president Mitt Romney told a select few students gathered for a meal and a round table discussion.
It was a hint to the message he would deliver later to a packed lecture hall at the private, Methodist church-affiliated college.
Romney told the crowd of about 250 people that President Barack Obama is to blame for what he calls an “anemic and tepid” economic recover.
Gov. John Kasich, (R )-Ohio, joined Romney on the campaign trail for the first time at Otterbein.
Kasich told the students gathered for lunch that the jobs situation in Ohio is turning around.
In a one-on-one interview with ABC 6 and FOX 28 Romney said unemployment is still too high in Ohio and across the country.
“Both [unemployment] numbers are high, well above the numbers we saw years ago and they underscore the fact that you still have millions and millions of Americans out of work or stopped looking for work,” Romney said.
The former governor from Massachusetts said he’s “proud” of Kasich’s work.
Romney had warm words for another Ohioan, too, but he said he wasn’t ready to reveal if U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, (R )-Ohio, is on his list of possible vice presidential candidates.
"There are lots of terrific Republican leaders certainly he is one of them. I don't have a list to share with you at this point," Romney said.
The visit to the Otterbein campus of 3,000 students allowed Romney to bring his economic message to young voters in the same week Obama made stops in three other swing states.
In Colorado, North Carolina, and Iowa Obama pushed Congress to extend a freeze on interest rates on federal student loans.
Romney blunted the president’s message by publicly supporting the rate freeze earlier in the week.
Still, democrats who gathered on campus to highlight what they called Romney’s “anti-middle class agenda” pointed out that the republican candidate also backs the Ryan Plan, a budget plan that slashes funding for Pell Grants.
Joyce Beatty, a democrat and candidate for Congress in Ohio’s 3rd District, said cutting back on funding would be “devastating” for working-class families.
“Often times it’s that last hundreds of dollars that prevents [students] from being able to go to school,” Beatty said.
Romney said the Ryan Plan is a “step in the right direction,” but he plans to outline a different budget plan.
He said he was still working on the details and unable to outline any effects on federal funding for student loans.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Incumbent U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is taking on his Republican opponent's hiring practices at the state treasury in his first TV ad of the campaign.
The 30-second spot, called "How to Succeed," began airing Thursday on TV and cable stations statewide. It criticizes Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel for paying state salaries of between $90,000 and $150,000 to a former campaign manager, a college friend and a political aide. It notes the 26-year-old aide was made state director of debt management despite lacking finance experience.
Mandel's campaign says Brown went negative to distract from his record. Brown's campaign says outside groups have already spent $5 million on Mandel's behalf attacking Brown, who is a former state secretary and congressman.
The contest is one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS—The Republican National Committee hopes to even the digital playing field this election year with a Facebook tool they’re calling the Social Victory Center, or SVC.
“With SVC Republicans are setting a new standard in online activism, putting cutting edge technology right in your hands,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says in a launch video shown exclusively to ABC 6/FOX 28.
The Party expects the application to be online next week at facebook.com/GOP.
A hallmark of President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign was a social media effort that brought out young voters at historic levels. It’s been up and running ever since.
“Democrats have always been a step ahead of republicans” when it comes to using technology to engage younger voters, said Ohio Republican Party press secretary Christopher Maloney.
“This is an added tool to help get out the vote and not leave one demographic off the playing field,” Maloney said.
The tool will give Republicans who choose to use it access to resources that they typically get at phone banks at home.
“This is an opportunity for voters across Ohio to beam a victory center into their own living rooms,” said Ohio Republican Party press secretary Christopher Maloney.
“They can make phone calls from the luxury of their den after they’re done eating dinner with the family.”
In addition to allowing users to share exclusive content from the RNC, the application will also mine users profiles for information.
“We can get a great sense as to what interests them and know how to engage them on a much more personal level and that’s invaluable in today’s political sphere,” Maloney said.
Political strategists like Mark Weaver, a republican, say it’s not a sign that radio and television ads and phone banks are going away.
Instead, he said, it’s evidence that candidates and parties will use every tool they can.
“Years ago you could just buy a lot of TV ads and do a few direct mail pieces and expect to win a campaign. Now you have to engage with people at every level,” Weaver said.
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Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich has thrown his support behind Mitt Romney for president as the presumptive Republican nominee visits the battleground state.
Kasich endorsed Romney Thursday, citing Romney's "proven experience as a manager and as a job creator."
Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor joined the endorsement.
Kasich said Ohio's further economic progress is hampered by the Obama administration.
The decision comes days after Kasich allies took control of the Ohio Republican Party, which can raise money and recruit volunteers across the state.
After false starts backing former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Kasich remained neutral in the Republican primaries. He had relationships from his congressional days with at least two other presidential hopefuls, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.
Kasich ran briefly for president in 2000.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
ELYRIA, Ohio (AP) — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that his Republican rivals are sincere, patriotic and absolutely wrong about how to reinvigorate the economy. He said they "don't seem to remember how America was built."
Obama spoke in politically pivotal Ohio before rolling into neighboring Michigan for an evening of fundraising. Pounding home the theme of his re-election run, Obama said the rich should pay higher taxes to support priorities, such as education, that help the entire nation.
"In this country, prosperity doesn't trickle down," Obama told an audience of roughly 400 people at Lorain County Community College. "Prosperity grows from the bottom up and it grows from a strong middle class out."
"That's why I'm always confused when we keep having the same argument with folks who don't seem to remember how America was built," Obama said.
The president built his day around two Midwest states in the epicenter of the economic debate, hard-hit Ohio and Michigan, to highlight his policies and contrast them to the proposals of House Republicans — and by extension, Republican Mitt Romney, his likely opponent in November. Obama did not call out Romney by name.
"We have two competing visions of our future," Obama said. "The choice could not be clearer. Those folks running on the other side, I'm sure they are patriots, I'm sure they are sincere in terms of what they say, but their theory, I believe, is wrong."
He began his visit by sitting down in shirt sleeves with unemployed workers-turned-students to hear their stories, empathize with their troubles and cheer their determination to bounce back. Then, in remarks to the crowd, the president retold the students' words, spoke of their past struggles and their hopes for the future.
Romney, for his part, never misses an opportunity to blame Obama for what he labels as failed economic policies and bloated government, and to argue that the president had his chance.
On Wednesday, the likely GOP nominee was delivering a "prebuttal" in Charlotte, N.C., to the president's speech to the Democratic National Convention in that town come September.
Obama said the public doesn't like to see tax dollars wasted, but does want to see money spent in areas that help the country thrive. In Ohio, Obama visited a successful job-training program of the type the White House says would face steep cutbacks in federal financing under the House-passed budget, which Romney supports. And in Michigan, the president will scoop up more campaign cash to help him combat Romney's efforts to frame his presidency as an economic failure.
Beyond job training, the president is making the broader case that while more remains to be done to boost the economy, he's successfully brought the country back from the brink of financial collapse and done what he should to help Americans weather the storm. For Obama, there's no more critical place to make that argument than Ohio, always an electoral battleground, and a general election bellwether since 1980.
Each candidate has material to work with in making his economic case: Nationally, the unemployment rate has dropped from 9.1 percent last August to 8.2 percent in March, the lowest since about the time Obama took office. But job growth has been weak, millions of people remain unemployed and improvements in hiring haven't translated into higher salaries for those who are working.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- U.S. Sen. and 2008 presidential nominee John
McCain is endorsing a fellow military veteran from Ohio in the race for
U.S. Senate.
McCain visited Ohio on Monday to support
Treasurer Josh Mandel. McCain says the 34-year-old Republican
"represents the new generation of leadership" that the senator says is
needed to control spending, improve the economy and boost national
security.
Mandel is challenging incumbent Democrat Sherrod
Brown. Brown's campaign criticizes Mandel's lack of experience and ill
attention to his treasurer's job.
Mandel missed the first 14
monthly meetings of a powerful deposit board he chairs as treasurer. The
Monday event with McCain marks his first news conference since taking
state office in January 2011.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was slated to endorse Mandel later Monday outside Cleveland.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- With Rick Santorum out of the race for president, Mitt Romney is even closer to becoming the Republican nominee. Many believe his running mate could come from Ohio.
"Romney needs to come out of a pretty bruising battle and settle in and showcase who he is," said Joan McLean, a political science professor at Ohio Wesleyan University and a member of the group that helped nominate vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.
McLean agrees with many who say Republican U.S. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio fits the Romney bill, and could help with the the swing state voters who elected him in 2010.
"If I were doing an analogy I would say Romney is the CEO and Portman would be his chief financial officer," she said.
Republicans and democrats tend to agree that Portman has the resume to be president.
He served twelve years in the U.S. House of Representatives and held a cabinet-level position in the George W. Bush Administration.
"He is also a good choice for the election in the sense that there's going to be no surprises. He's well known. Reporters know him. He's got rapport," McLean said.
But Portman may not help with voters who are cool to Romney.
Recent polls show Romney struggles with women and minorites.
"There's nothing that Portman adds to the ticket in that way," McLean said. "What he may do is hold enough middle of the road traditional Republican men and also independent men and women if the economy is the number one issue."
A staffer in Portman's office said the senator was unavailable to comment for this story.
--------------------------------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Governor John Kasich (R-OH) talked to ABC 6/FOX 28 about his plan to expand energy taxes and cut income taxes in Ohio.
Watch the video player above to see ABC 6/FOX 28 Political Reporter Dana Jay's entire interview with the governor.
-------------------------------------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Central Ohio realtors hope a bill making it's way through Congress will make short sales shorter.
"In
order for the housing industry to recover, we have to weed out these
short sales," said Kathy Shiflet, of the Columbus Board of Realtors.
Shiflet
said 21 percent of sellers in the Columbus area use short sales,
transactions which must be approved by the bank because the seller owes
more on their mortgage than the proposed sale price.
The lengthy process can be frustrating for sellers and a turn off for buyers.
Byron
Carle and his wife are trying to sell their home in Columbus' Old Town
East neighborhood. They have had three transactions fall through due to
lengthy short sales.
"We'd have several showings a month and
nobody making an offer because in a short sale situation a lot of buyers
aren't willing to commit that kind of time," Carle said.
Shiflet
and Carle stood beside U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, (D)-Ohio, Wednesday
as he outlined an act that would require banks to respond in a timely
manner when prospective buyers are attempting to purchase homes on short
sale.
Brown and realtor Dave Bible said larger banks drag out
the process, which has been common since the housing crisis began in
2008.
"By now they should have simple, streamlined system in place," Bible said.
----------------------------------------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- A new poll shows that Ohio's Democratic incumbent is still holding his lead in his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate in a key race nationally.
The Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday finds first-term U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown running ahead of state Treasurer Josh Mandel, 46-36. A university poll released last month gave Brown a 48-35 lead in what's expected to be a high-spending, hotly contested race important to Democratic hopes of keeping control of the Senate.
The latest polling indicates Brown is running well ahead of the Republican among independents, by 46-28, and with women, 48-31. They are running evenly among male voters.
The phone survey of 1,246 Ohio voters was taken March 20-26 and has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS (AP) -- An Ohio Senate panel has approved a plan to get rid of a
contentious new election law that shrinks early voting in the
presidential battleground state, among other changes.
The
Republican-backed proposal to repeal the elections overhaul bill cleared
the Senate's state and local government committee on a party-line vote
Wednesday morning.
A full Senate vote is expected later in the day.
The bill targets a law on hold since September.
That's when opponents submitted signatures to get a repeal question on November ballots.
Legislative
leaders say repealing the law now will save money and avoid an election
fight that could confuse voters about which rules are in place.
Democrats
and other opponents say lawmakers had their chance, and now voters have
a constitutional right to decide the law's fate.
----------------
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
Watch the video player above to see President Obama's entire speech on American energy, delivered at The Ohio State University, March 23, 2012.
-------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- President Obama tried to make his case on energy, Thursday at The Ohio State University.
He
told a crowd of about 2,600 people, many students who had returned to
campus during Spring Break, he's open to drilling, but it's not the
answer to higher gas prices.
Mr. Obama calls his plan an "all-of-the-above" policy.
"A
strategy where we produce more oil, produce more gas, but also produce
more American biofuels and more fuel-efficient cars, more solar power,
more wind power, more power from the oceans, more clean and renewable
energy," he said.
Republicans criticize the Obama Administration for blocking drilling on public land.
"There
are probably a few spots where we're not drilling, it's true," Mr.
Obama told the crowd. "I'm not drilling in the South Lawn. We're not
drilling next to the Washington Monument. We’re not drilling in Ohio
Stadium."
The appearance came as the price of a gallon of
regular gasoline topped $4.00 a gallon in Central Ohio, giving the
official White House visit political importance in an election year. The
national average for a gallon of gas when Mr. Obama took office was
$1.85, according to Consumer Reports.
"It doesn't matter who is in office, the president is going to catch heat for it," observed Columbus driver Nick Hood.
Mr.
Obama started the day at the end of the Keystone Pipeline in Cushing,
Oklahoma. It was an attempt to convince Americans oil is flowing in the
U.S.
But as the President promotes his plans for the future,
Republicans point to past policy, specifically his decision to stall
extension of the pipeline.
"Coming out and saying I'm for a
piece of pipeline between two oil rich states of Oklahoma and Texas is
not really what this country needs. The country needs a pipeline from
Canada all the way to the gulf ports," said Ohio state Senator Chris
Widener, (R)-Springfield.
---------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Derek Drake
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio legislative panel has delayed a vote on repealing a contentious new election law that shrinks early voting and makes other changes in the presidential battleground state.
Backed by Republicans, the Senate bill would scrap the new law and leave in place the old rules governing Ohio elections -- including a separate change made last year that cuts off in-person early voting on the Friday before Election Day.
The chairman of the Senate's government oversight committee says he's putting off a vote until next week to give minority Democrats a chance to review the proposal.
The elections overhaul has been on hold since September because it's the subject of a ballot repeal question. Democrats and other opponents want voters to decide this fall whether it should be tossed out.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University will welcome President Obama Thursday for a speech about American Energy.
The president will speak at 6:00 p.m. at the university's Recreation and Physical Activity Center.
The
event will be open to the public. Tickets are required, but will be
free of charge and distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Seating for the event will begin at 2:15 p.m. Guests are advised to allow extra time for parking and security.
Guests are also advised to avoid bringing bags, signs, or banners to the event.
Free parking will be available at multiple garages and lots across the campus.
The
president's visit will necessitate the closure of John Herrick Dr.
between Cannon Dr. and Neil Ave. from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Thursday.
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Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS-- The Ohio State Treasurer has picked two new banks to handle $41 billion in pension assents.
Josh Mandel, (R)-Ohio, chose Citibank and J.P. Morgan Chase to handle retirement funds for police, firefighters and teachers.
State Street Corp. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. had previously provided foreign investment services to the pension funds.
The switch comes alongside a lawsuit by the Ohio Attorney General alleging fraud and other sorts of mishandling by the banks.
"I believe as one of the chief watch dogs of the tax money...that I have an obligation to root out corruption and scandal where I see it anywhere in state government," Mandel said.
"If there was fraud being committed with our tax dollars against the taxpayers of Ohio, why didn't Josh Mandel do something about it on day one?" said Justin Barasky, spokesman for U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, (D)-Ohio.
Mandel is challenging Brown in Ohio's U.S. Senate race.
Democrats are attempting to paint Mandel as an absentee treasurer.
Barasky pitched the bank announcement as an opportunity to distract from Mandel's first appearance at a meeting of the state Board of Deposits.
Mandel is the chairman of that board.
Democrats have made a campaign issue of the Mandel's lack of attendance at the meetings.
"Mandel is the chair of the state Board of Deposits which makes billion dollar decisions with our tax dollars and it's important that he does his job and shows up," Barasky said.
Minutes from previous meetings show Mandel has attended one in fourteen Board of Deposit meetings.
The board met Monday to designate which banks and financial institutions will hold state deposits.
Mandel told ABC 6 and FOX 28 that bank designations happen once every two years and he was attending the meeting because it's one of the board's most important actions.
He said the rest of the time he trusts his "professional and experienced" staff to attend the meetings for him.
"I try to do everything I can to empower people on my team to be leaders and they do a great job running the board of deposit meetings," Mandel said.
------------------------------------------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
TOLEDO--Vice President Joe Biden kicked off a four-stop campaign tour in Ohio Thursday by touting a reviving auto industry in northwest Ohio.
He told a crowd of a couple hundred people at a United Auto Workers union hall in Toledo, "It's not just the auto industry coming back. Manufacturing is coming back. The middle class is coming back."
The Vice President reminded supporters that Republican presidential candidates would have let auto companies go bankrupt.
"We're about promoting the private sector, they're about promoting the privileged sector," he said.
It's a theme he carried through to a one-on-one interview with ABC 6 and FOX 28 reporter Dana Jay.
ABC 6 and FOX 28 was the only Columbus station to have an opportunity to speak with Mr. Biden.
-----------------------------------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
TOLEDO (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden is making his first major foray
into the 2012 presidential campaign in politically crucial Ohio.
Biden
will vigorously defend President Barack Obama's bailout of the auto
industry in a speech Thursday to an auto workers union.
He is
also expected to offer a robust critique of Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romney's opposition to the policy, which the White House
says saved 1.4 million U.S. jobs.
Biden's trip to Ohio marks
the first of four campaign events he will hold in the coming weeks as
the Obama campaign ramps up the vice president's role in the re-election
bid.
The campaign has crafted a 2012 strategy for Biden that
focuses on Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, states where Biden's
strengths with working-class and Jewish voters can counteract Obama's
weaknesses.
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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
DAYTON -- Basketball met politics in Ohio Tuesday when President Barack
Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron attended an NCAA Men's
Basketball Tournament game at the University of Dayton Arena.
The White House labelled it an official visit meant to reinforce America's close relationship with the United Kingdom.
Mr.
Obama introduced Mr. Cameron to basketball and March Madness. Political
watchers noted the visit was about more than just hoops.
“You’re
the President, you get to go see a basketball game [and] you go to a
battleground state during an election year. It’s not a bad confluence
of events,” said University of Dayton political science professor Grant
Neeley.
In a nationally televised halftime interview the
President said, "I thought it was going to be wonderful for the Prime
Minister to have a chance to see a basketball game for the first time
but also the great state of Ohio. Because sometimes when we have
foreign visitors they only see the coasts.”
The world leaders sat
behind one of the baskets. They were joined by Gov. John Kasich,
(R)-Ohio, and select University of Dayton students.
Prior to the
game, the President and the Prime Minister landed at Wright Patterson
Air Force Base where they were greeted by several dozen airmen.
---------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Derek Drake
COLUMBUS (AP) -- An Ohio plumber thrust into national politics during the 2008 presidential campaign has won the Republican nomination in his home state as he makes a bid for Congress.
Samuel Wurzelbacher gained the nickname "Joe the Plumber" for expressing working-class concerns about taxes to then-candidate Barack Obama during a stop to the region.
The Toledo-area plumber defeated Steve Kraus, a Sandusky real estate agent, early Wednesday to grab the GOP nomination in Ohio's 9th Congressional District.
He faces an uphill climb in the fall against veteran U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who won the Democratic primary.
The newly drawn district snaking along the Lake Erie shoreline from Toledo to Cleveland tilts toward Democrats.
---------------
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
WESTERVILLE -- Tuesday was certainly super for supporters of the
Westerville City Schools levy, which passed by a margin of 51 percent to
49 percent.
The levy had been hotly debated in Westerville. A
levy that included an income tax hike was rejected by voters last fall,
forcing the district to make cuts.
The income tax was taken out of the new proposal, which passed by just over 600 votes.
The
passage of the levy will generate more than $16 million for the
district, enabling administrators to restore some of the recently cut
programs.
"We moved here for the schools specifically. We have
family that graduated from Westerville North and love the school
system," supporter Katy Mukavetz said. " We've been impressed with what
we've seen so far, and we want to keep it."
But opponent Deb Vansaw says the levy will force her to make cuts to her personal budget.
"That's
another $25 a month for me, and for me that's a bag of dog food or
some groceries, a medical bill, something like that," Vansaw said. "I
took it very seriously if I could really afford another $25 dollars a
month in my mortgage payment."
Many opponents were calling for the district to make reductions to employee benefits to solve its funding problems.
--------------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player above to see our Tom Bosco's interview with ABC political reporter Karen Travers.
COLUMBUS -- Today is Super Tuesday. Ohio elections officials say no
early problems were reported as polls opened in the state, some to light
voter turnout.
Ohio's Super Tuesday outcome in the Republican
presidential race was being closely watched after Mitt Romney and Rick
Santorum devoted most of their campaigning to the state in recent days.
Romney is looking for a decisive victory, and Santorum hopes to regain momentum in the crucial test.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also hopes to pick up some delegates but is banking his comeback hopes on winning Georgia.
Ron Paul is the fourth place candidate but is still campaigning to gain some ground.
While some voters strongly backed a specific candidate, others said they weren't impressed with the options.
Voters
have plenty of other choices to make, including an unusual match of two
Democratic U.S. House members pushed together in congressional
redistricting.
There are also primaries for other House races, the Senate, legislature and Ohio Supreme Court.
There are some school levies on the ballot as well including the very controversial Issue 10 in Westerville.
Polling places are open until 7:30 p.m.
------------------
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
Watch the video player above to see ABC 6/FOX 28 anchor Carolyn Bruck's interview with Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.
-------------------------
Reporter: Carolyn Bruck
Web Producer: Ken Hines
CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Mitt Romney's allies are hoping Super Tuesday's
powerful imprint on the Republican presidential nomination will bring
clarity, at long last, to the fractious contest and rouse Republicans
behind their front-runner. But that's strictly up to voters across the
nation, weighing in on the most consequential day of the campaign to
date.
Romney and his chief rival, Rick Santorum, scrambled for
any advantage they could find Monday in Ohio, the most-watched contest
in the 10-state extravaganza stretching from Alaska to the southeast.
Speaking
to supporters at a guardrail factory in Canton, Ohio, Romney tried to
snap the subject back to the economy and away from social conservative
issues — this, after a furor erupted from radio host Rush Limbaugh's
caustic comments about a college student who testified to Congress about
contraception.
"I look at this campaign right now and I see a
lot of folks all talking about lots of things, but what we need to talk
about to defeat Barack Obama is getting good jobs and scaling back the
size of government, and that's what I do," Romney said. "Other people in
this race have debated about the economy, they've read about the
economy, they've talked about it in subcommittee meetings. But I've
actually been in it."
Santorum told Ohioans the election must be
earned, not "bought," in another swipe at Romney's wealth and superior
campaign machine. "Look into what the candidates have overcome and what
they offer to this country — not just what money they have," he told
hundreds of students and supporters at Dayton Christian School, "but
where's the soul, where's the conviction, where's the fight?
"Money's not going to buy this election."
The
latest polls found Santorum slipping in Ohio, putting him in a near
dead heat with Romney, and Gingrich looking strong but not invincible in
his home state of Georgia, which he needs to win to have any hope of
resurrecting his candidacy. Ron Paul, trailing the delegate count and
the expectations game, hoped one or more of the three caucus states,
Alaska, Idaho and North Dakota, would finally give him a victory.
Fully
one-third of the delegates needed to clinch the nomination are at stake
Tuesday, altogether a larger prize than all the previous primaries and
caucuses combined. President Barack Obama picked Tuesday for his first
news conference of the year, a chance to steal a bit of thunder from the
Republicans on their big day and defend a record of economic
stewardship that is under daily assault in the GOP campaign.
On
the eve of Super Tuesday, the message coming from Republican
establishment figures was clear: It's time, if not past time, to
crystallize the competition and unite the party behind the effort to
defeat Obama in the fall.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of
Virginia and Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative
members of the Senate, were among the latest GOP luminaries to swing
behind Romney. Conservative John Ashcroft, attorney general in the
George W. Bush administration and a former Missouri senator, threw his
support behind Romney on Monday.
Cantor told CNN "we're
coalescing around Mitt Romney's plan to actually address the economic
challenges," and "trying to find ways to work together and bring people
together and set aside differences."
Whether Super Tuesday marks
that sort of turning point remains to be seen. Romney has been the
presumed long-haul favorite from the start but Santorum's surge unfolded
as the latest in a line of surprises from a field now down to four
candidates.
Gingrich, whose only victory was in the Jan. 21 South
Carolina primary, has staked his campaign's future on winning Georgia,
the state he represented in Congress for 20 years, and on building a
stronghold in the conservative South.
Toward that end, Gingrich
scheduled stops Monday in Tennessee, where he appears to be in a close
race with Santorum and Romney. Gingrich also planned to visit Alabama on
Tuesday for the state's March 13 primary before returning to Atlanta in
the evening.
Santorum drew more on his personal biography than
he has in recent days. He cast himself as a scrappy blue-collar fighter
going up against Romney — a "country club Republican" in the words of
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, a Santorum supporter.
"I come
to the people of Ohio as a candidate who shouldn't be here," Santorum
said. "Growing up in a steelworker town, growing up having to fight for
everything you got, is exactly the kind of person that we need to have."
The former Pennsylvania senator is acknowledging that to be successful
over the long haul, he will need Gingrich to get out of the race.
While
Romney has a significant advantage in northeastern states such as
Vermont and Massachusetts — where he was governor — and Santorum is
strong in conservative states such as Oklahoma, Ohio tops the list of
hotly competitive and delegate-rich contests Tuesday. Both candidates
focused on the state Monday after a weekend swing through the South.
Romney
has been working to make the race about the economy and to avoid
intensifying the debate over conservative social values, a strong suit
for Santorum. That effort was not helped when Limbaugh called a
Georgetown University law student a "slut" and a "prostitute" on his
nationally syndicated radio program, later apologizing.
The woman
had testified at a congressional hearing in favor of an Obama
administration mandate that employee health plans include free
contraceptive coverage.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008
Republican presidential nominee, denounced Limbaugh's comments Monday,
saying his remarks "should be condemned" by people across the political
spectrum. The 2012 GOP candidates have dissociated themselves from
Limbaugh's comments, though not as forcefully as McCain did on CBS'
"This Morning."
Romney has won four consecutive contests,
including Saturday's Washington caucuses. His broad, well-disciplined
organization all but assures he'll collect more delegates than his
opponents on Tuesday, in contrast with Santorum's looser group of
supporters. Santorum and Gingrich did not collect enough signatures to
qualify for the Virginia ballot, for example, and Santorum cannot win 18
of Ohio's 66 delegates for similar reasons.
All told, 419
delegates are at stake Tuesday. Romney leads with 203 delegates from
previous contests, Santorum has 92, Gingrich has 33 and Paul, 25. It
takes 1,144 delegates to win the nomination.
------------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
CHILLICOTHE -- Rick Santorum was in Ohio Friday, trying to hold on to a shrinking lead in state polls.
Santorum's lead over Mitt Romney has slipped to four points in the latest Quinnipiac Ohio Republican presidential poll.
The
former Pennsylvania senator is hoping to convince Ohioans that he, not
Romney, would present the most formidable conservative challenge to
President Obama in November.
"We don't need a choice between
Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum," Santorum told a crowd of Chillicothe
students and community members. "We need a clear choice."
That message hit its mark for at least one Chillicothe resident.
"I think he's gonna keep money in my pocket, where I need it. Where I can support my family," Carey Johns said.
Santorum hopes that's a popular sentiment across Ohio on Super Tuesday, March 6, when the state holds its primary.
-------------------------------------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
CINCINNATI (AP) -- The latest Ohio Republican presidential poll shows a
toss-up race between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney heading into the
final weekend before the primary.
The Quinnipiac University
poll Friday gave the former Pennsylvania senator 35 percent to 31 for
former Massachusetts Gov. Romney.
The four-point lead is within
the poll's margin of error, and tighter than a Quinnipiac poll released
Monday that gave Santorum a 36-29 lead.
Both candidates have multiple Ohio stops this weekend.
The poll also found about a third of the voters might change their minds by March 6.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich was third at 17 percent, with Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 12 percent.
The Feb. 29-March 1 telephone survey interviewed 517 likely Republican voters, with a margin of error of 4.3 points.
-------------
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — A relieved-sounding Mitt Romney is hoping to parlay twin victories in Arizona and Michigan into Super Tuesday momentum as the GOP presidential race sweeps across 10 states at once next week. After falling short of an upset, rival Rick Santorum faces stiffer competition for conservative votes when the contest moves into Newt Gingrich territory.
Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker from Georgia, sat out Arizona and Michigan and is counting on Southern states voting Tuesday to revive his up-and-down campaign. Texas Rep. Ron Paul could also be a factor in Tuesday's delegate count, especially in caucus states such as North Dakota.
Romney's slim victory in his native Michigan — 41 percent to Santorum's 38 percent — raised questions about whether a shift in strategy is needed. He acknowledged making mistakes and said he was trying to "do better and work harder."
"We didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough," the former Massachusetts governor told cheering supporters in Michigan, where his father was governor in the 1960s.
Santorum boasted Wednesday that he was walking away with half of Michigan's delegates after coming close to winning what originally looked to be a Romney stronghold.
"We're feeling very good that we sustained ourselves and withstood the attacks, and we think we're going to have a very, very good Super Tuesday," Santorum said on Bill Bennett's syndicated radio show.
The former Pennsylvania senator is focusing on three big prizes among the 10 Super Tuesday states: Ohio, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Washington state's caucuses are first, on Saturday. Three days later comes Super Tuesday, with 419 delegates up for grabs. The contests also include Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia.
All four campaigns face financial strain: It would cost about $5 million to run a week's worth of heavy ads across all the states that vote Tuesday.
Romney signaled that he intends to stick to his core campaign message of fixing the economy and reducing unemployment in a nation still recovering from the worst recession in decades. "More jobs, less debt and smaller government — you're going to hear that" over and over in the states ahead, he said Tuesday night.
Despite the close race in Michigan, Romney powered to an easy victory in Arizona, and the combined effect is precious momentum over Santorum in the most turbulent Republican presidential race in a generation. Romney tweeted his delight: "I take great pride in my Michigan roots, and am humbled to have received so much support here these past few weeks."
The Super Tuesday races could go a long way toward determining which Republican will take on Democratic President Barack Obama this fall.
Romney was campaigning Wednesday in Ohio before heading to North Dakota. Santorum planned events in Tennessee.
Gingrich was campaigning in Georgia, the state he represented in the House for 20 years. Contests there and in Tennessee give him an opportunity to breathe some life back into his bid. He won in South Carolina but struggled in Florida.
Romney's Arizona triumph came in a race that was scarcely contested, and he pocketed the 29 Republican National Convention delegates at stake in the winner-take-all state. He won by 47 percent to Santorum's 27 percent.
Michigan's primary was as different as it could be — a hard-fought and expensive contest that Romney could ill afford to lose and Santorum made every effort to win.
In Michigan, 30 delegates were apportioned according to the popular vote. Two were set aside for the winner of each of the state's 14 congressional districts. The remaining two delegates were likely to be divided between the top finishers in the statewide vote.
With his victory in Arizona, Romney had 163 delegates, according to the Associated Press count, compared with 83 for Santorum, 32 for Gingrich and 19 for Paul. It takes 1,144 to win the nomination at the convention in Tampa this summer.
The lengthening GOP struggle to pick a nominee has coincided with a rise in Obama's prospects for a second term. A survey released Tuesday shows consumer confidence at the highest level in a year, and other polls show an increase in Americans saying they believe the country is on the right track.
Unopposed for the Democratic nomination, Obama timed a campaign-style appearance before United Auto Workers Union members in Washington, D.C., for the same day as the Michigan primary. Attacking Republicans, he said assertions that union members profited from a taxpayer-paid rescue of the auto industry in 2008 are a "load of you know what."
All the Republicans running for the White House opposed the bailout, but in the auto state of Michigan a survey of voters leaving polling places showed about 4 in 10 supported it.
Michigan loomed as a key test for Romney as he struggled to reclaim his early standing as front-runner in the race. Santorum rolled into the state on the strength of surprising victories on Feb. 7 in caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and a nonbinding primary in Missouri.
------------------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
BOWLING GREEN (AP) -- An Ohio congressman says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will speak at a Saturday evening dinner that also features fellow GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum.
Republican Rep. Bob Latta says some 750 people are expected at the sold-out March 3 Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner for his 5th House District. It's at Bowling Green State University's student union.
Latta's office said all GOP candidates have been invited, while Santorum had accepted earlier.
Anti-tax-hikes activist Grover Norquist is also scheduled to speak.
Gingrich is trying to spark a comeback with strong showings in Georgia and neighboring Tennessee in the 10-state "Super Tuesday" next week.
He made a four-city swing through Ohio in early February, challenging to pick up delegates in what's expected to be a key showdown state for Santorum and Mitt Romney.
-----------
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
Watch the video player above to see Dana's interview with 3rd Congressional District candidate Joyce Beatty (D).
Watch the video player above to see Dana's interview with 3rd Congressional District candidate Ted Celeste (D).
Watch the video player above to see Dana's interview with 3rd Congressional District candidate Mary Jo Kilroy (D).
Watch the video player above to see Dana's interview with 3rd Congressional District candidate Priscilla Tyson (D).
WESTERVILLE -- The debate over a proposed school levy has led some residents to steal and vandalize campaign signs.
Hundreds
of anti-Issue 10 signs have been stolen from Westerville yards during
the campaign, including many that were burned near Hoover Reservoir in
February.
"It was disgusting," said Issue 10 opponent Jim
Burgess. "But it wasn't surprising that they took it to the next level
of arson."
Levy supporter Rick Bannister says none of his volunteers were involved in the vandalism.
"We've always talked about running a respectful campaign," Bannister said.
Pete
Wims says he isn't involved in either campaign, but he's offering a
cash reward for information that identifies those who are stealing the
signs in order to promote civility among Westerville residents.
"We need to live as a community and as neighbors and as friends," Wims said.
---------------------------------
Reporter: Mike McCarthey
Web Producer: Ken Hines
CINCINNATI (AP) -- The latest Ohio Republican presidential race poll shows Rick Santorum holding steady with his lead.
The Quinnipiac University poll Monday indicates the former Pennsylvania senator is running ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 36 percent to 29 percent among likely primary voters. That's unchanged from a poll released Feb. 15.
But the poll also found that 45 percent said they might change their minds by March 6.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich was third at 17 percent, with Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 11 percent. The Feb. 23-26 telephone survey interviewed 847 likely Republican voters, with a margin of error of 3.4 points.
Santorum led Romney among men, self-identified conservatives and tea party voters. They ran nearly evenly among women, with self-identified moderates preferring Romney.
-------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Former Democratic Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has been named a co-chair of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.
Strickland said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he is among roughly 30 co-chairs across the country tapped by Obama to help win November's election.
The 70-year-old Strickland said he anticipates focusing his efforts in Ohio, a critical political swing state, but would also travel as needed.
Once among America's most popular governors, Strickland led a near-sweep by Democrats of state power in 2006 on the coattails of Republican scandal.
He is an ex-congressman from eastern Ohio who could help the president among hard-to-reach Appalachian voters.
Republican John Kasich beat Strickland in the 2010 election.
Kasich has not endorsed any current GOP presidential candidate.
-----------------
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Philosophical differences between the top two Republican presidential candidates are becoming starker.
Rick Santorum is driving harder on religious and social issues while Mitt Romney rarely discusses them in detail.
Santorum in recent days has questioned the usefulness of public schools and said President Barack Obama's theology is not "based on the Bible."
Campaigning in Ohio on Monday, he likened Obama to politicians who spread fear about certain technologies "so they can control your lives."
The remarks contrast sharply with Romney's steady emphasis on jobs, the economy and his resume as a can-do corporate executive.
The differences give Republican voters clear choices to shape their party's image and identity heading into the fall battle against Obama.
---------------------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Rick Santorum says President Barack Obama is pushing a radical environmental agenda that unwisely limits energy production and turns its back on science.
Santorum told voters in eastern Ohio on Monday that science is on the side of those who want to aggressively produce more oil and natural gas in America. He said the notion of global warming is not climate science but "political science."
Santorum said Obama and his allies want to frighten people about new oil-exploration technologies so they can get your dollars and turn it over to politicians to win elections "so they can control your lives."
Ohio's GOP primary is March 6.
Santorum also planned several campaign appearances later Monday in Michigan. Voters there go to the polls on Feb. 28.
---------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Rick Santorum has grabbed a key endorsement from chief rival Mitt Romney as polls in Ohio and elsewhere suggest the former Pennsylvania senator has the momentum in the rollercoaster Republican presidential contest.
Amid the shift, however, are signs of stress within a disorganized Santorum campaign and intensifying questions about whether he can sustain a rise that has come and gone once before already.
Romney's mammoth political machine -- coupled with new scrutiny -- is giving Santorum little margin for error.
Santorum was all smiles Friday at the Ohio State House as state Attorney General Mike DeWine formally shifted his allegiance from Romney to Santorum.
DeWine's about-face comes just 18 days before Ohio and nine other states host critical Super Tuesday contests.
---------------------------------------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS-- A new study shows millions of opportunities for voter fraud.
Numbers gathered by The Pew Center for the States, finds approximately 24 million active voter registrations that are "significantly inaccurate," 1.8 million dead people listed as active voters, and 2.75 million voters registered in more than one state.
The figures come from a nationwide study.
ABC 6 and FOX 28 checked with election officials in Ohio to see what kind of safeguards are in place to make sure voter logs in Ohio are accurate.
Click here for the Pew report.
--------------------------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
CUYAHOGA COUNTY -- GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney will be in northern Ohio Thursday night as he tries to get his campaign back on track in the Buckeye State.
Romney is behind rival Rick Santorum in Ohio polls. The former Massachusetts governor is expected to spend a lot of time and money attempting to turn those numbers around.
He'll begin his effort Thursday night, when he'll be the keynote speaker at an event in the Cleveland area.
Ohio's primary is part of Super Tuesday on March 6.
----------------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- A new poll shows Rick Santorum edging ahead of Mitt Romney as the choice of Ohio Republicans.
The Quinnipiac University poll finds Santorum jumping to the lead with likely voters in Ohio just three weeks before the Republican presidential primary.
The former Pennsylvania senator leads Romney 36-29 percent among likely primary voters. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is third with 20 percent.
A Quinnipiac poll released last month had the former Massachusetts governor Romney well ahead of Santorum. But that was before Santorum's sweep in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri last week.
The latest telephone survey interviewed 553 likely Republican voters over the past week and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
----------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- Supporters of President Obama will gather in northeast Columbus Monday evening for the grand opening of a new campaign office.
The Organizing for America-Ohio (OFA-OH) office at 1973 Dublin-Granville Road will be state's fifth. President Obama's 2012 campaign organization already has offices in Middletown, Dayton, Shaker Heights, and Chillicothe.
OFA-OH volunteers have been working in the Buckeye State since 2009, and have contacted more than 500,000 Ohioans in person or over the phone. Volunteers have also organized more than 5000 events across the state, including house parties, voter registration drives, and phone banks.
---------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohio Republicans will get some input from afar into a March 1 presidential primary debate in Atlanta.
The state party says it is partnering with Georgia Republicans for the CNN "Super Tuesday" debate. Georgia, with 76 delegates, and Ohio, with 66, are the two biggest prizes among the March 6 primary states.
Participants at an Ohio location will get a chance to pose questions to the candidates.
The state GOP will announce the venue and details later.
Ohio tea party activists participated remotely in the CNN-Tea Party Express presidential debate in Tampa, Fla., last September.
------------
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
COLUMBUS (AP) -- State lawmakers have introduced a measure that would repeal a sweeping bill overhauling Ohio's election laws, a move made ahead of a scheduled referendum vote on the legislation.
The new bill came the same day the coalition of labor, clergy and some Democrats pushing for repeal, threatened to mount a second signature drive against any replacement bill that passes before fall and to pursue litigation.
The original bill shrinks the state's early voting window and makes a host of other election changes.
Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus said elements of the challenged law need to be made available to Ohio voters in 2012.
Other issues will wait until after the election.
He said he hopes to involve both parties in the new legislation, a statement questioned by Democrats.
------------
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
Watch the video player above to see part one of ABC 6/FOX 28 anchor Terri Sullivan's interview with 2012 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.
----------------------
Reporter: Terri Sullivan
Web Producer: Ken Hines
Watch the video player above to see part two of ABC 6/FOX 28 anchor
Terri Sullivan's interview with 2012 Republican presidential candidate
Newt Gingrich.
----------------------
Reporter: Terri Sullivan
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS-- Vice President Joe Biden told a roomful of journalists Thursday the American economy is making a comeback.
In
remarks to the Ohio Newspaper Association, Biden said America is
positioned to be a global economic leader for decades to come.
"In the year 2020 or the year 2030 we are still going to be the single most vibrant economy in the world," Biden said.
He
touted the administrations achievements over the past three years,
pointing to a resurging auto industry and a growing number of
manufacturing jobs.
He also told the journalists the press is
essential to American prosperity. He compared America to China, saying
he believes the United States will remain the greatest economic power in
the world in part because of intellecutual freedoms.
"You cannot
have an economy that leads the world in the 21st century within a
country that stifles thought and innovation. Freedom of thought is the
oxygen that feeds innovation," Biden said.
Ohio Republican Party
Chairman Kevin DeWine pointed out that this is Biden's second visit to
the political battleground state this election year.
"I think
it's less important what he said and more important to look at where
he's saying it," DeWine said. "Maybe [the Obama administration] should
focus more on creating jobs than trying to take credit for them."
-----------------------
Reporter: Dana Jay
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Pit bulls in Ohio would no longer be labeled as
"vicious" dogs under a bill that is headed to the governor's desk.
The House voted 67-30 on Wednesday to agree to Senate changes to the legislation.
State
law currently defines a vicious dog as one that has seriously hurt or
killed a person, killed another dog or is among those commonly known as
pit bulls.
The measure would remove the reference to pit bulls
from the definition and require evidence to prove pit bulls are actually
vicious.
The bill also specifies that the label does not include a police dog that has injured a person or has killed another dog.
Some dog wardens oppose the measure because of frequent pit bull attacks.
Others say pit bulls are not inherently vicious.
--------------
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
CLEVELAND
(AP) -- Newt Gingrich kept a stiff upper lip Wednesday after his poor
showing in GOP presidential caucuses the night before, but issued dire
warnings about Iran's potential nuclear capabilities. In
his only scheduled public appearance for the next two days, the former
House speaker made no mention of his poor showing in Colorado and
Minnesota. But he told a small crowd of manufacturing workers that the
United States could pay a terrible price if Iran develops nuclear
weapons. "You think about the dangers, to
Cleveland, or to Columbus, or to Cincinnati, or to New York," Gingrich
told employees of the Jergens metal manufacturing plant. "Remember what
it felt like on 9/11 when 3,100 Americans were killed. Now imagine an
attack where you add two zeros. And it's 300,000 dead. Maybe a half
million wounded. This is a real danger. This is not science fiction.
That's why I think it's important that we have the strongest possible
national security." Gingrich has made similar remarks before, but not always in such foreboding detail. Military
experts say Iran has no way to deliver a bomb of such devastating power
to the United States, even if the government could produce such a
weapon. Iran lacks long-range bombers and missiles that would be needed. A
smaller, so-called "dirty bomb," capable of spreading radiation, is the
most likely short-term threat if Iran did actually produce a nuclear
device. It's conceivable that such a bomb could be smuggled into the
United States. Gingrich sounded much more
chipper and positive in his other remarks. He did not mention GOP rivals
Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum in his unusually short 12 minutes at the
microphone and made only a passing reference to President Barack Obama. Gingrich restated his goal of giving workers the option of having private Social Security savings accounts. Gingrich was scheduled to return to Washington on Wednesday. He had no publicly scheduled events Thursday. ---------------------- Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden could make some news at the
Ohio Newspaper Association's convention this week in his latest Ohio
visit.
Biden will speak Thursday at the Columbus convention.
Biden was just in the Columbus area last month to talk about college affordability.
A
Republican National Committee statement says Biden's visit is another
campaign stop in a battleground state that won't fix economic damage.
GOP presidential candidates, meanwhile, are stepping up campaign activities in Ohio ahead of the March 6 primary.
The state carried by Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 is expected to be an important swing state again in November.
----------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
STEUBENVILLE (AP) -- Governor John Kasich tells Ohio lawmakers to steer clear of what he calls "mindless partisanship" and find common ground.
The first-term Republican made his plea for legislators to put politics aside and focus on what's good for Ohio in his State of the State address.
Kasich's fellow Republicans control the state Legislature.
The GOP holds a 23-10 edge in the state Senate, and a 59-40 advantage in the House.
The governor told state lawmakers to look at the bitter battles happening in Washington. He asked: "Do we want to be like them?"
He says the country is losing faith in their elected officials.
He told lawmakers to "fight like crazy" but then be able to come together at the end of the day.
Kasich says the state will never give up underlying control of the Ohio Turnpike but that it would be wrong not to look at options that could earn the state millions.
He says it's worth considering the idea of leasing the turnpike because of the opportunities for revenue for the state.
Kasich addressed the idea of privatization of the turnpike during his State of State speech.
------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
COLUMBUS -- As Rick Santorum was gobbling up delegates, Newt Gingrich was looking toward the future in the Buckeye State.
The former Speaker of the House, and current Republican presidential candidate is in Ohio, where he hopes to convince GOP voters he's the best man to get the country's economy humming again.
"I intend to run this fall on the basis that I am paycheck president," Gingrich said last night in Columbus. "Obama is a food stamp president.. You decide what future you want for your children."
Gingrich spoke to supporters Tuesday night at North Bank Park, before heading to Cleveland.
Gary Brown is among those hoping Gingrich can regain momentum in the race.
"I think hes the right candidate for the Republican party," Brown said. "He has the plans in place to move the country forward, and get us back on track to where we belong."
Gingrich's road to the White House appears to be a little rockier after Santorum won caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota, as well as the Missouri Primary.
Those results have dropped Gingrich to third place in the GOP delegate count.
--------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
CINCINNATI (AP) -- A federal judge in Cincinnati says officials must count disputed provisional ballots that Republicans want tossed out in a 2010 juvenile court judge election separated by 23 votes.
U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott on Wednesday ordered the Hamilton County Board of Elections to count ballots cast in the right location but the wrong precinct because of poll worker error.
The county elections director had no comment when asked how many ballots would be affected.
A lawyer for Democratic candidate Tracie Hunter, who has fought to have the ballots counted, says the ruling means about 300 votes will be added to the tally. Republican John Williams currently leads the race.
Many of the disputed ballots were in Democratic precincts.
Phone and email message seeking comment from Williams were not immediately returned.
------------------------------
Web Producer: Ken Hines
Can Mitt Romney beat President Obama without the significant financial advantage he's enjoyed over his Republican opponents?
VEGAS STRIP-THRILL RIDE
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- If losing your shirt in Sin City isn't enough -- you could soon lose lunch.
Porsche tops in annual survey of vehicle quality
DETROIT (AP) -- Porsche is the top performer in an annual survey of new vehicle quality.
BC-US--Dow Record-Three Personal Stories, 1st Ld-Writethru,1173
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AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- When the Dow first crossed 14,000, investors were overjoyed. ...
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