ug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said the presidential race in his state will be ``close,'' and he's urging fellow Democrat Barack Obama to campaign in rural areas where his support has been weakest.
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Strickland, who helped Senator Hillary Clinton defeat Obama in Ohio's primary last March, said he and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown offered to introduce Obama to voters in the smaller towns and farm communities in the southern parts of the state, where voters have gravitated to the Republican candidate in presidential elections.
``I think both Sherrod and I have discovered how to win Ohio,'' Strickland said in an interview after Obama's town hall meeting in Berea, a Cleveland suburb. ``We feel as if there could be great benefit to his campaign by spending some time with the two of us in various parts of Ohio and perhaps getting a bus and going into rural areas of Ohio.''
Ohio has been a bellwether state, having voted for the winner in the last 11 presidential elections. In 2006, Democrats made gains there with the election of Strickland and Sherrod, who defeated incumbent Republican Mike DeWine.
Polls show Obama, an Illinois senator, and Republican John McCain, a senator from Arizona, running even in Ohio. Strickland said ``the race in Ohio will be close, I don't think either candidate can take Ohio for granted, but I absolutely believe that Senator Obama has the message that will best resonate with the people in Ohio.''
Economic Concerns
The economy will be a major issue. The state is second to Michigan in U.S. automobile production and first in auto part manufacturing. As a result, it has been hard hit by the losses at General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.
Strickland said it was important for Obama to spend time ``just communicating to the people who live in these smaller communities and rural areas'' that he ``desires their support and values their vote.''
He said Obama should stress his plans to help the economy, health care, education -- ``really the very practical things, and Senator Obama is talking about those things.''
He cited Obama's proposal to provide automakers with $4 billion in loans and tax credits to help them retool factories to build hybrid cars and trucks.
``Earlier today Senator Obama made very specific reference to assisting our domestic auto companies in this transition,'' Strickland said. ``It's difficult to know for sure what is enough, but $4 billion certainly is a sufficient amount to provide significant assistance.''
Primary Voters
In the Democratic primary, exit polls conducted for the television networks found that working-class and lower income voters favored Clinton. Heading into the general election, a new poll by Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University found that low-wage voters favored Obama over McCain 2 to 1.
Strickland, an early supporter of Clinton, said he believes she will ``be fully engaged'' in campaigning for Obama. He said he ``talked to her personally about that, and she's indicated to me that that's a desire of hers.''
The Obama campaign announced today that Clinton will hold events on the candidate's behalf in Nevada and Florida later this month. Like Ohio, Florida is a swing state, and it's size makes it a key part of presidential political strategy. Nevada is one of the western states that Democrats are targeting.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/ajgg8nuyqhc0;_ylt=AsTXEVpug2Y6LtDDgZV3DWCs0NUE
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