Romney, Obama zero in on Ohio, a GOP must-win

Source: AP-Excite

By KASIE HUNT and CHARLES BABINGTON

VANDALIA, Ohio (AP) - Ohio has emerged as the presidential race's undisputed focus. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are making multiple stops this week alone in a state that's trending toward the president, endangering Romney's White House hopes.

The popularity of Obama's auto industry bailout and a better-than-average local economy are undermining Romney's call for Ohioans to return to their GOP-leaning ways, which were crucial to George W. Bush's two elections. Ohio has 18 electoral votes, seventh most in the nation, and no Republican has won the White House without carrying it.

Romney is scrambling to reverse the polls that show Obama ahead. On Tuesday, he made the first of his four planned Ohio stops this week, joining his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, for a rally near Dayton. On Wednesday, Obama will visit the college towns of Kent and Bowling Green, and Romney's bus tour will stop in the Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo areas.

"If this president persists on the road of making it harder and harder for small businesses to grow and thrive, he's going to slowly but surely weaken our economy and turn us into Greece," Romney told supporters Tuesday in Vandalia. He said the Obama administration has put government between patients and their doctors, and is picking winners and losers in private business.

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Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120925/DA1H34300.html

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In this Sept. 17, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama greets people after speaking at a campaign event in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ohio is the presidential race's undisputed epicenter, and it's tilting toward Barack Obama. The revival of the local economy and the popularity of Obama's auto industry bailout are hampering Mitt Romney's call for Ohioans to return to the GOP-leaning ways that were crucial to George W. Bush. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)