Republicans have been very effective in tying the slow economy to President Obama. But in Ohio, the recovery is more noticeable than most states. At the Democratic National Convention, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is urging delegates to spread that message.
Like most Democrats at the Convention, Sherrod Brown is keen to remind people that the Great Recession began under the Bush Administration. He told Ohio delegates that in George Bush’s last month in office the U.S. lost 800 thousand jobs. By 2010, Ohio’s jobless rate was 10 ½ percent.
"Today the unemployment rate in Ohio is under 7 and a half percent," says Brown. "That's because of the auto rescue. It's because of the stimulus. We know that in Youngstown, Ohio, there's a new steel plant. Unbelievably so, there's a new steel plant in Youngstown, Ohio because we enforced trade laws and because of the recovery act."
Republicans have argued that President Obama has not done enough to bring the economy back. The comeback of the auto industry is one thing Democrats can link to his policies. Brown points to the Ohio workers building the Chevy Cruze and Jeep Liberty. And you might say he wears that argument on his sleeve.
"These shoes I wear - made in America," says Brown. "The watch I wear, made by union workers in Connecticut, and the suit I have on, made by union workers in Cleveland, Ohio."
Those kinds of arguments also serve Democrats well when they claim Mitt Romney bought companies that out-sourced jobs.