And Bush is very very vulnerable in this area too. My prediction: Ohio will go Kerry along with Wisconsin and Penn. Florida, very close.
News on jobs provides cheer for Kerry
By Christopher Swann in Washingotn
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Published: September 17 2004 23:42
us unemployment
The battleground Midwest states have lagged behind in the revival in job creation over the past year, according to figures released on Friday that may cheer Democratic strategists.
The new US Labor Department figures showed that closely contested Michigan and Ohio which represent 17 and 20 electoral votes respectively have lost a combined 82,000 jobs this year in spite of a nationwide pick-up. This may hurt George W. Bush on election day.
But the Republicans can take comfort from the strong jobs growth in Florida, which has seen the largest rise in employment in the country this year, with payrolls rising by 155,000.
In a closely fought election the performance of candidates in the states can be crucial to the outcome. In 2000 more than 500,000 more Americans voted for Al Gore than for Mr Bush. But Mr Bush prevailed in the electoral college.
Yesterday's employment figures suggest that the jobs growth over the past year is less likely to have benefited voters in swing states. Much of the growth came in solidly Democratic New York, which has added 70,000 jobs over the past year, and California, which saw 112,000 more jobs. Employment gains have also been strong in the Republican heartland of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.
John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, yesterday seized on the figures as evidence of the administration's failure to create jobs.
“There's no better evidence of George Bush's wrong choices than Ohio's economy, which saw more job losses than anyother state last month,” he said.
“Under this president, our nation has lost 1.6m private-sector jobs as incomes have fallen and healthcare costs have jumped more than $3,500.”
It's time to take this economy in a new direction, and that starts with policies that create good paying jobs and put the middle class first.”
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