COLUMBUS, Ohio — The recovery might be lifting spirits in other parts of the country, but somebody forgot to spread the word in Ohio.
More than two years after the recession officially ended, the U.S. economy finally seems to be breaking President Bush's way. Job growth has accelerated rapidly in recent months, creating an economic tailwind behind his campaign.
Yet as the president tries to reap the political benefits of the strengthening national economy, he still has a problem in some places: Several of the swing states that could determine the outcome of the election are not participating fully in the revival.
"The recovery hasn't started in the state of Ohio; it really hasn't," said Dick Kelch, president of Ashton Plastic Products in Xenia, where his 30 employees are working 30-hour weeks until business gets better. "I don't know anybody that's expanding. I know guys that are cutting back again and again and again."
"Is the economy improving for us? Hell, no," said Susan Deister, a software project manager in Columbus who has changed jobs twice since her position at bankrupt WorldCom Inc. was eliminated in 2002.
Among the 17 states expected to be most closely contested this fall, four states -- Florida, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico -- have been thriving since Bush took office. But others are trailing the nation in economic growth and job creation. Four swing states -- Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia -- are still considered to be in recession 2 1/2 years after the national recession officially ended.
Unemployment did fall in Michigan last month, and Bush took note of the improvement in the jobless picture in his Saturday radio address. "This week brought further evidence that across America, more citizens are finding jobs ... and these figures show that America's jobs engine is running strong," Bush said.
Though Ohio's unemployment rate has fallen slightly in recent months, the state is still near the bottom of the economic heap. Though there are signs of life, they may be too little, and too late, to erase the gloom and frustration caused by the state's three-year slide, some analysts say.
"From an economic perspective, ground zero for the election is probably Columbus, Ohio," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at the research firm Economy.com in West Chester, Pa. "You draw a circle around Columbus with a 250-mile radius, and you've got a very critical swing area where the economy is lagging. In all likelihood it will still be lagging on election day."
