All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

As President Obama talks big-picture economic trouble at the G-8 summit, Vice President Biden is getting to see a snapshot of its impact on real people in Ohio.

That state has been hit hard, with an unemployment rate hovering at 10 percent. Now, Ohio is historically a swing state and a good place to check the nation's temperature and right now it's getting hotter. The President's approval ratings are dropping there and only half think he's done a good job on the economy.

Experts rely on indicators like home sales and the Gross Domestic Product, but all those numbers can be mind boggling and the truth is, the number that Washington is paying close attention to is 2010--and the upcoming midterm elections.

It's only been five months since the stimulus bill became a law and most people agree it's too soon to declare victory or defeat.

But this administration will need to assure voters in Ohio and beyond that even if the train is moving slowly we are in fact on the right track.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

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The way Ohio votes in this primary could show which candidate continues on the road to the White House. In fact, no candidate has won a general election without the Buckeye state for the past 50 years.

You know the drill. Just click on the monitor for a page from my Notebook.

CBS News Director of Surveys Kathleen Frankovic has been surveying more than voters; she's been surveying the political landscape. She's seeing some interesting developments in two key states, and wrote us this morning to tell us about them. -- Ed.

CBS News and The New York Times conducted special polls this month in two competitive states - and found some similarities and some differences. One, Ohio, has been a battleground red state and the other, New Jersey, reliably blue. Each is playing an important role in the battle for Senate control. The Democrats need wins in both, and are doing well where they haven’t in the past and are seeing problems where they shouldn’t.

Both states have problems with corruption -- most voters in each think corruption is widespread in their state – with the number rising to a staggering 69% (!) in New Jersey. The corruption in Ohio is mainly a Republican problem, affecting the governor and one member of Congress in particular -- Bob Ney, whose traditionally Republican district is now up for grabs. But at the statewide level, the Republican candidates for Senate and Governor are only guilty by association.

In New Jersey, corruption is a Democratic problem - and this time it's the Democratic Senate nominee, Robert Menendez, who's tarred with the charge. He's been attacked by Republican ads, which are overwhelmingly seen by voters as negative (and Menendez is firing back with his own attack ads). And when we asked voters to tell us the first thing that came to mind when they heard the name Robert Menendez, more than one in five said "corruption." That's twice as many that gave the second-most popular answer: that he was a Democrat (and talk about guilt by association – five of our respondents actually mentioned the Menendez brothers, convicted of murdering their parents ten years ago)...

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The media have descended on Ohio once again, looking for signs of how the rest of the country may vote come November. But Ohio may not be as good a gauge as it has been in past elections. The issues the rest of the country seems focused on -- the war, and terrorism -- register here, but in slightly different ways.

As you'll see on tonight's Evening News, Ohio's voters seem more worried about issues closer to home. Ohio's job losses have been one of the worst in the nation, and everyone we talked to said the state's economy was their biggest worry. So was education and taxes --in fact Iraq and terrorism were near the bottom of their list of concerns.

The anxiety is palpable. Nearly everyone talked about making a change this time around -- although that didn't necessarily mean they would vote a different party. There's a fiercely independent streak here. Most here say they don't vote party line -- they're almost offended by the suggestion that they might. Which is why this state is so hard to figure out.

They're used to the national spotlight here, they're used to strong two-party fights, and they're used to surprising the nation with how they vote. But if there's one thing we will take away from the last 10 days traveling this state, it’s that voters here take their politics very seriously. They do their own research, they make up their own minds, and they don't like talking about it much in public. Fiercly independent, but private to the end.

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