In dueling Ohio events, Obama, Romney to sell economic visions

(CBS News) Amid ever-tightening presidential polls and reports of a tepid fiscal recovery, President Obama and Mitt Romney both head to Ohio Thursday to deliver dueling remarks about the economy -- each candidate attempting to sell his fiscal vision to voters as America's most promising path toward renewed prosperity.

Taking place about 250 miles apart -- Mr. Obama in Cleveland, Romney in Cincinnati -- in a state widely considered one of the most crucial battleground territories in the country, the two speeches mark the first time this cycle that both candidates will speak on same day out of the same state.

Already, the gloves are coming off.

In remarks to reporters on Wednesday, Romney pre-butted Mr. Obama's Thursday remarks, predicting that the president will use the speech as an opportunity to "change course" after failing to win over voters with his previous line of persuasion.

"[Mr. Obama] said, as you know, just a few days ago, that the private sector is doing fine, but the... the incredulity that came screaming back from the American people, I think, has caused him to rethink that," Romney said, prior to a gathering of the Business Roundtable Association in Washington, D.C. "I think you're gonna see him change course when he speaks tomorrow, where he will acknowledge that it isn't going so well, and he'll be asking for four more years."

"My own view is that he will speak eloquently, but that words are cheap, and that the record of an individual is the basis upon which you determine whether they should continue to hold on to their job," he continued.

Romney's campaign, meanwhile, held a call with reporters to address his -- and Mr. Obama's -- Thursday speeches.

"What I think you're gonna see tomorrow from the president is just more of the same," said Russ Schriefer, senior adviser to the Romney campaign, in the call. "No real ideas on how to get the economy going... No real new proposals." In contrast, he argued, Romney would be outlining a series of "very, very specific" plans.

Meanwhile, Mr. Obama, who will be speaking at a community college in Cleveland, plans to draw stark distinctions between his own economic philosophy and that of his rival while underscoring the dire economic circumstances he inherited in 2008.

"This election offers the American people a chance to break the stalemate between two fundamentally different visions of how to grow the economy, create middle-class jobs, and pay down the debt," an Obama campaign official said in a statement. "Governor Romney and his allies in Congress believe that if you simply take away regulations and cut taxes by trillions of dollars, the market will solve all our problems on its own."

"The President believes the economy grows not from the top down, but from the middle class up, and he has an economic plan to do that -- a plan that focuses on education, energy, innovation, infrastructure, and a tax code that creates American jobs and pays down our debt in a way that's balanced," the Obama campaign official continued.

In Wednesday's press briefing, White House spokesperson Jay Carney argued that the president was determined to dig the country out of "the worst economic cataclysm of our time" -- but that it had been a situation he had inherited.

"What we all know is that this country has been through the worst economic cataclysm of our lifetimes. That is what was taking place in 2008 when the last election happened and in January 2009 when President Obama was sworn into office," Carney told reporters. "Stopping that cataclysmic economic slide, that decline, reversing it, and beginning to climb out of the hole that the recession dug for this nation has been the principal mission of this president and this administration."

According to Professor Paul Beck, a professor of political science at Ohio State Univeristy, tomorrow's showdown is a mere precursor of what's to come in Ohio in the coming months.

Recent polls suggest that Mr. Obama and Romney are neck-and-neck in Ohio, and outside money has already flooded the state. 

"Romney and Obama are going to be back to Ohio a lot during the campaign. They're running ads, they're building organizations," Beck said. "We're in a stage where candidates are going to try various lines out to see what works and what doesn't work. Then they'll leave behind what doesn't work."

Of crucial importance, he says, is the question of whether or not Mr. Obama is able to build support among white middle-class male moderates in the state.

"There has been resistance to Obama among some traditional working class Democrats," said Beck, noting that Hillary Clinton did particularly well among that demographic in 2008. In addition to a tendency toward conservative attitudes with regard to social policy, he said, "there probably is racial prejudice" at play as well.

But, he argues, Romney also struggles with that group, which tends to be sympathetic toward Obama campaign arguments regarding Romney's record at Bain and his position on the auto industry bailout.

"What you'll see the Obama campaign doing is really pounding hard on this theme that Romney doesn't really understand them -- that he is very rich, very privileged, and that he doesn't understand the plight of the ordinary worker," said Beck. "I think with that demographic it could work."

Months out from the election, amid continued economic uncertainty both in America and abroad, it's impossible to say which way the electoral tides will turn come November. But both sides are making it indisputably clear that they'll do whatever they can to win over voters in the state.

Asked about internal tensions within the Ohio GOP, Schriefer emphasized that Republican forces are "united to make sure that we win in November. And to do whatever they need to do in terms of turning out the vote, making sure that phone calls get done, yard signs get put up, and we have a great Ohio campaign."

"I think that there is no state that is more important than Ohio," he said. "And that we are counting on them to do their best and we know they will."

[GafferWhite]

I don't thing there is a need to say so much about this. Each and everyone is familiar with today's situation.
www.allashland.com

[CBSNV]

This evening's report on President Obama and Mitt Romney in Ohio felt extremely biased toward Romney. A tape of President Obama talking was shown, and then afterward it was almost like the reporter was questioning the veracity of what he said. But when Mitt Romney was shown talking, you followed it up with positive bulleted talking points that almost seemed to come from the Romney campaign itself. You then followed it up by touting Mitt coming on your Sunday morning program. Is CBS Evening News attempting to lean more toward the reporting style of Fox News?

[Leavane2012]

What has the President Obama done so far?


Some indicators show that the economy is gradually recovering.
During three years and a half the economy has shown both positive and negative signs. Our economy has begun to recover gradually after three years of a severe recession. We were faced with an unemployment rate of 12.5% on Dec 2008 at 11 PM due to many reasons such as house bubbles, an escalating foreclosure rate, banks refusing to loan, a 700 billion US$ bail out in 2007 to rescue Bear Stearns, AIG, Fannie Mae, Washington Mutual, Indy Mac Bank, ....
In 2009, the government continued the economic stimulus plan with about 185 billion US$. Consequently, it halted the economic free fall and ended the recession. However, we still have a moderate reduction of the unemployment rate from 12.5% in Dec 2008, to about 10% from 2010-2011, and to about 8.1% on May, 2012.
In 2012, many positive economic indicators prove the stimuli of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have worked.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was around 8,550 at the end of 2008 but has risen above 13,000 on May 02, 2012.
The rate of unemployment has dropped to about 8.2% on April and 8.1% on May, 2012. Private companies added 228,000 jobs in February 2012, 201,000 jobs in March, and 119,000 jobs in April. Personal income rose 0.4%.
Starting in 2010, we have had annual net Growth in "Made In America" manufacturing jobs in contrast to the annual net losses we had every single year many years before. More than 210,000 "Made In America" manufacturing were created in 2010, more than 233,000 in 2011, and more than 120,000 in the first 3 months of 2012. The National Domestic Product has gradually increased from 2009 to 2011. Moreover, almost 2 million people and many small businesses have enjoyed tax cuts. Today, June 14, 2012 President Obama sends his new budget to our Congress for approval. The main content of his budget is to achieve his goal of $4 trillion deficit reduction over ten years through cuts in government spending and higher taxes for wealthy people.
One more critical achievement is that Obama had an exit strategy for the war in the Middle East and has eliminated two top Al Qaeda leaders.
Good night, friends

[CaptainSmollett]

Highest poverty rate since the Great Depression.
Most folks on food stamps in history.
Slowest recovery from a recession in 80 years.
Lowest employment participation rate in 30 years, and getting worse.
Over 60% of small businesses are postponing hiring and investment because of the economic and political turmoil caused by this administration.
The U6 Unimployment Rate is over 15%.
Stop with the spin: A perfumed pig is still the same.

[sandiegopete]

CaptainSmollett: Why do you think the mortgage meltdown of 2007/2008 was an insignificant event with regard to the nation's economy? Why do you think recovery from the 2008 meltdown should have taken less than 10 years? Why do you think outsourcing of jobs to Asia had no effect whatsoever on the U.S. economy?

Please answer my questions so people will know you have at least a clue.

[Leavane2012]

Why is lower unemployment under the first six years of Bush Administration?

Roughly half a million of the Army National Guard and Reserve Armed Forces have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan along with new regular armed forces recruitment. The Pentagon reported that just for the Army National Guard, equipment shortfalls amounted to nearly $50 billion because the equipment such as helicopters, cargo trucks, chemical decontamination gear, night vision goggles, radios and satellite, ... must be restocked. Consequently millions of civilian jobs were added to temporarily replaced the vacancies of people in the National Armed Forces and Reserve Forces, and many civilian jobs were added in the Middle East such as Blackwater, CIA,..
Indeed, the war is the means of boosting the employment, wag the dog, ...in the short range. The side effect in the long run is trillions of dollar in debt, the blood of soldiers,...and an economic recession in 2008.

[sandiegopete]

How can either of these guys have any economic vision for the country? We have sent our jobs and technology to foreign countries and are gradually reducing all of our former core industries without any conceivable plan for replacement. We have intentionally reduced our ability to produce goods. We have allowed our petroleum resources to be sold to foreign nations in order to keep our own gasoline prices amoung the higest in the world before taxes and to do that we have subsidized the petroleum industry. We have allowed our banks to use depositors money to gamble on derivatives and when the banks lose depositors' money we gladly reimburse them because they kick back siginificant sums to our elected representatives.

And these guys claim to have a vision for the nations economy? All either of them propose is more of the same.

[TimeToEvolve]

Since Reagan we have seen the most massive redistribution of wealth in the history of America.

Don't these idiots realize that the Republicons like Mitler want to turn ALL the wealth of the 99% (that means YOU fool) over to the Top 1%. They don't even TRY to hide this fact.

[tb91006]

Based on what facts? The facts are the 99% has lost 40% of their wealth over the last three years. Unemployment has stayed over 8% the entire time Obama has been president and inflation is rising with costs of fuel and food all affecting the 99%. Wealthier families benefit the most under Obama's tuition tax and big pharma, AARP and GE have also done very well while Obama has attacked the middle class with more people living in poverty. So where are your facts?

[TimeToEvolve]

Whatever a right winger says it is EXACTLY the opposite. When they say freedom they mean for the rich while the poor live in slavery to the corporation. When they say they are against redistribution of wealth that means to the people (it's OK to do a massive redistribution of wealth upward to the 1%).

[pr_boxer]

Every time I hear Romney speak an old phrase comes to mind...."is that all you got?" He's way out of his league.

[hillzhavays]

by sjc_1 June 14, 2012 12:50 PM EDT
Fascism IS the merger of corporations and government. This was why the GOP kept talking about "competitiveness" which is not really even a word, but that never stopped Bush.
____________________________________

LOL since we're throwing around definitions, here's one for you:

Communism: an economic system designed to allow the poor to rise up and attain financial and social status equal to that of the middle-class landowners. In order for everyone to achieve equality, wealth is redistributed so that the members of the upper class are brought down to the same financial and social level as the middle class.

Any of that sound familiar to anyone? Where have we heard that recently?

[hillzhavays]

child, I don't hate anyone except for the insidious Communist element taking root in this country. It sickens me almost as much as the uneducated sheep that fall under its spell.

Now run along little one and go have your KoolAid. OR is it Milk and Cookies today? Either way, enjoy yourself. And don't worry, the adults are taking care of the deep thinking for you.

[2happy2ride]

A duel infers a balance of firepower. Romney's bringing a 50 cal & obama has his bag full of insults, fabricated innuendo, lies & misdirection.
It'll be the same come November.

[hillzhavays]

in other words you mean a water balloon?

[retmw1]

LOL, Romney wouldn't know a 50 cal from a pea shooter.