IF ONLY...:

Ohio a Good Campaign Backdrop for Kerry (CONNIE MABIN, 6/25/04, AP)

Residents of this northeast Ohio town have some advice for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry when he visits Friday: don't use their hard luck for political gain.

Local governments are struggling with budget deficits and, in the past month alone, two major area employers have announced plans to cut thousands of manufacturing jobs in a state already reeling from such losses.

"The job losses could hurt Bush, but Kerry's got to be careful not to be too political. That could rub people the wrong way," said Robert Chaney, who is retired from his job at Timken Co. (TKR), a bearings maker.

One of Kerry's central campaign issues remains the economy and job losses under President Bush, despite signs of an economic rebound and the creation of nearly 1 million new jobs this year.

On the stump, Kerry often derides an administration that he says has the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression.

Here's a poignant thought: imagine how much better the world, but especially America, would be today if Herbert Hoover had this economy in 1932 and we avoided the New Deal/Great Society?

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 25, 2004 5:12 PM