Many voters here say either Kerry or Edwards would do a better job at reviving the state economy than Bush. The latest Ohio Poll, released this month, showed that Bush's approval rating dipped to 49%, down from 87% in November 2001.
Robert Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, is surprised Bush's approval rating isn't lower, considering the constant slams from his Democratic rivals.
"This is the Democrats' hour," he said. "We're not up on the air with [Democratic] primary ads, and we've yet to answer the negative attacks. But we will."
No Republican has ever been elected president without first winning here. And just two Democrats -- Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 and John F. Kennedy in 1960 -- captured the White House without taking Ohio.
While Bill Clinton won the state in 1992 and 1996, Bush reclaimed the state in 2000. But he saw a comfortable double-digit lead in the polls dwindle in the final hours before election day.
And many agree the state will be up for grabs in 2004.
"Call it 'The Temptation of Ohio,' " said David Leland, former state Democratic Party chairman. "It's gone Democratic just enough times to look appealing. On one hand it looks winnable. But it can also be a black hole that sucks up a lot of time and money."
When times were good, David Leasure often worked 80 hours a week driving a truck at the Republic Steel Mill in Massillon. He earned $60,000 a year.
Last year he scraped together a total of $10,000 doing odd jobs. He recently broke the news to his son that he couldn't help pay tuition at nearby Kent State University.
"At age 55, I'm supposed to have the tiger by the tail," he said. "You tell me what tail I've got. Because the one I've been given is whipping me to death."
Having exhausted his unemployment benefits last summer, he thinks the president should consider opening a new Homeland Security office -- "for the economy."
On Tuesday, he will support Kerry, a fellow Vietnam veteran who, he believes, has the wisdom and experience to put people like him back to work again.
Leasure says he likes some of Kerry's initiatives, such as cutting the tax incentives to companies who move jobs overseas and a proposal to require employers to disclose jobs they ship abroad, along with a requirement that they give workers 90 days' notice before outsourcing positions.
He also likes Kerry's promise to enforce existing measures in NAFTA penalizing countries for trade practices that harm U.S. workers.
