Has Obama done enough to win over Ohio?

Cleveland plant worker Queenie Smith says she would never vote Republican. "They're crooked," she said. / CBS News/Brian Montopoli

COLUMBUS, Ohio - If there's one thing the patrons at the German Village Coffee Shop here in the Ohio capital can agree on, it's that even though Election Day isn't for months, they're already pretty tired of hearing about politics.

"The debates will be worthwhile, but I think the ads are demeaning," custom clothier Ben Pierpont said over breakfast. Added a woman named Kim, who did not want to give her last name: "I'm absolutely sick of it. You can't even watch a TV show without there being 15 different ads."

Earlier this month, the Campaign Media Analysis Group reported that the number of ads running in Columbus has increased substantially compared to the same period four years ago - and that, "Every presidential ad on the air in Columbus as of July 12 was negative."

For those frustrated with the ads, it's only going to get worse. Columbus and Cleveland are the two largest television markets in a swing state so crucial that a Republican has never won the presidency without winning the Buckeye State. The two cities are among the top 10 markets in the nation for political ads, with more than $28 million spent on the air through June 24.

The consensus in both Democratic bastions is that President Obama, who won this state by 4.6 percentage points in 2008, deserves another four years. But it's far from clear that Democratic voters in either city are motivated enough to come out for him in the numbers they did last time around.

"There seems to be less enthusiasm among the groups that were so important for him in 2008 - young people and minorities," said Ohio State University professor Paul Beck.

Standing in a darkroom in the plant of Horizons Incorporated, a printable aluminum manufacturer in Cleveland, three coworkers nod as 29-year-old Matthew McEachern, clad in a Cleveland Indians cap, says there's no question he'll back Mr. Obama in the fall.

"When you have such a big mess to clean up, it's going to take more time," said McEachern, who, like his coworkers, is African-American. 47-year-old Queenie Smith, who works in a different section of the plant, said she would never vote Republican.

"I just think they're crooked," she said. "I don't think they're for the people. They're for the rich."

81-year-old Don Wihl, a lifelong Democrat, says he won't be voting for President Obama this year.

/ CBS News/Brian Montopoli

But there are signs of concern for the president: Horizons' owner and CEO Herb Wainer, who plans to back Mr. Obama, says he does not see anything approaching the levels of enthusiasm for the president that existed in 2008.

"My sense is there was a spirit of involvement and an opportunity to be connected with something that was new and really interesting and terrific for the country, which was to elect a black president," he said. "I think that had a lot of cache...now it seems like it's all about money, not grassroots."

Back at the German Village Coffee Shop in Columbus, where a rather massive "short stack" goes for just $2, 81-year-old Don Wihl is enjoying a leisurely breakfast. Wihl has been a Democrat all his life - he campaigned for Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a child - but he says he can't cast a ballot for Mr. Obama.

"He's gotta go. He's just gotta go," Wihl said, pointing to the health care law having been "rammed through" Congress. "He's not qualified for the job. He bites off too much." Wihl added that even though he doesn't know much about presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, he'll vote for him.

He went on to sum up the economic pessimism felt by many here, a sense of frustration with the economy under Mr. Obama that Romney hopes will propel him to the White House.

"I was born in a depression," he said. "And I'll probably die in a depression."

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[peter_out]

Carney "is confident" the voters of Ohio will support the President.

[peter_out]

The $3 Billion Obama "outsourced to a Finland car company" would come in handy right now to help some black male youths in Ohio get a job. Why does Obama continue to pander to wealth, even foreign wealth, when American working men and women are suffering so?

[JonnyChepe]

Ohioans elected John Kasick(R) as Governor and we are better off today then when Ted Strickland(D) ran the state despite the ongoing and horrible recession. Why would Ohioans want to elect the root of the problem? Ohio is a Nomaba state. We embrace our liberty and freedom and despise tyranny.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Republicans are rigging the elections trying to steal it with these unnecessary VOTER I.D. LAWS and they had yet to pay the appropriate price for subverting our constitution and democracy. The media print, video and digital are complicit in allowing this. The media and our government would be shouting what republicans are doing at every chance if this were going on in country of one of our enemies. But it's accepted because it's happening here in America?

HELL NO! Republicans must be held to account for this attack to subvert our democracy. Republicans should be attacked by libertarians, liberals, conservatives, tea partiers and other groups in addition to the media for subverting our right to vote.

[peter_out]

The $3 Billion Obama "outsourced to a Finland car company" would come in handy right now to help some black male youths in Ohio get a job. Why does Obama continue to pander to wealth, even foreign wealth, when American working men and women are suffering so?

[mikeonthebay]

Obama has already accused Romney of killing a guy's wife, being a felon, being a tax cheat, being a money launderer, closing factories just to abuse families, being a draft dodger, torturing a dog, and assaulting a fellow student. The Occupy Wall Street movement is the best illustration to date of what President Barack Obama's America looks like. It is an America where the lawless, unaccomplished, ignorant and incompetent rule. It is an America where those who have sacrificed nothing pillage and destroy the lives of those who have sacrificed greatly.. The left is using any event as a distraction as it pursues the Saul Alinsky tactics of community organizing. Obama's game plan is to divide the community into the Haves and the Have Nots, make the Have Nots believe they are unjustly treated by the Haves, build resentment against the American social and economic system, use church congregations to mobilize street agitators, and lobby government for higher taxes and big-spending welfare programs in order to confiscate the wealth and power of the Haves and turn it over to the Have Nots.

[olyboy]

Obama is beginning to sound like he's running scared. Could it be that you can't fool all of the people all of the time? We need to atart rewarding those who contribute to society rather than rewarding those who just take. We are all in this together, so we ALL have to pull our weight rather than expecting the rest of society to take care of us.

[rogget]

I live in Ohio, and Obama doesn't have my vote.

[realist2O1O]

The election is already over, and President Obama has won. The only thing now is to go through the formality.

[mikeonthebay]

The whole country is beginning to see Obama for what he is, a massive failure, only concerned about getting reelected. Record unemployemnt, massive debt that can never be paid off, trillions of tax dollars funneled to his friends, a hate for everything american, putting most of the country out of a job and on food stamps, opening our borders to hoards of criminals,and staff that is composed of american hating marxists. Obama a man that has never held a real job so is totally clueless on how to create wealth and jobs. Put a fork in him, please.

[pwayne1]

I laugh when I read articles like this.....what makes people think that Romney is a good alterntive? I don't get it.....he is a liar...is interested in lining his pockets and those of his pals....he could care less about the middle class and poor....they are nothing to him and we are talking about the President in negative terms.....People need to go back to school and understand that the Congress has had so much to do with the failing of creating jobs....the Republican Congress needs to be voted out so we can get work done. They create the jobs not the President. He proposes and they must pass legislation to move ahead. They have failed us not the President. Mitt Romney with do nothing for us. Nothing.

[JonnyChepe]

I thought it was Bush's fault?

[peter_out]

The $3 Billion Obama "outsourced to a Finland car company" would come in handy right now to help some black male youths in Ohio get a job. Why does Obama continue to pander to wealth, even foreign wealth, when American working men and women are suffering so?