Jobs take center stage in Ohio

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Hillary Clinton bid farewell to Buckeye State voters Monday by hammering her plans to bring jobs back to struggling Rust Belt cities like Toledo and attacking Barack Obama on foreign trade.

"You are looking at your paycheck getting smaller and smaller … and you wonder if anybody in the White House really knows what is going on. Well, I do," the New York senator told a boisterous crowd of 1,000-plus at Toledo University before taking off to Texas. "I know that it is the American middle class that built our country."

Obama left Ohio for Texas Sunday after a series of campaign stops that underscored his economic agenda in this state. At a rally outside Columbus, Illinois' junior senator argued turning back the clock to Bill Clinton's presidency was not the solution.

More Coverage Campaign journals Joseph Ryan from Ohio: Slices of life style="float:left; padding: 0 6px 0 6px" /> David Beery from Texas: Limits to Obama-mania Stories Does Clinton still have south Texas Hispanics? [03/04/08] Jobs take center stage in Ohio [03/04/08] In Texas, voters focus on Obama's, Clinton's military positions [03/03/08] Setting the stage for a close one in Ohio [03/03/08] Crunch time for Clinton [03/03/08] Obama fires back over foreign policy [03/03/08] Eyes will be on racial divide in Buckeye State [03/02/08] A fight to the finish in Ohio [03/02/08] No matter the choice, Texas voter turnout huge [03/02/08] Clinton does 'SNL,' but misses out on endorsement [03/02/08] Obama accuses Clinton of playing politics [03/02/08] In Ohio, the unions count [03/01/08] Texas Twist: State is #8230; complex [03/01/08] What makes the March 4 primary states tick [02/29/08] Clinton campaign raises concerns about Texas caucus [02/29/08] Video " class="mediaItem">Ohio polls open Ohio Voters Look for Economic Miracle "In a time like this, real people need real change -- the kind of change that is more than just switching the parties in the White House," he said at a high school gym packed with several thousand supporters.In a state that has a high union population, the economy has taken center stage in political ads and scores of stump speeches delivered by the candidates and their litany of surrogates.Both contenders chose to focus their final push today on Texas, where polls show a very tight race. With the presumed backing of most blue-collar workers, Clinton is favored to win Ohio by a modest margin in the polls. But Obama has steadily gained ground in the last few weeks.Yet, just before departing Ohio -- and after shaking hands at a local Chrysler plant -- Clinton lobbed a late-in-the-game bomb at the front runner.The former first lady pounced on a leaked Canadian memo that says an Obama adviser assured national officials that his talk of restructuring their trade agreement was more about "political positioning" than policy."I don't just criticize (NAFTA) and I don't have my campaign tell a foreign government behind closed doors that it is just politics," she said at Toledo University. "I tell you what I mean."Obama's camp has denied the memo is an accurate depiction of a meeting an adviser had with Canadian officials. NAFTA, a free trade pact with Canada and Mexico, is blamed by many Ohioans for the exodus of good-paying manufacturing jobs.Obama made an issue --and several ads -- over Clinton's early support of NAFTA when her husband pushed it through Congress in the early 1990s. Both Clinton and Obama have said they want to rewrite the deal to save American jobs.The potential bombshell over NAFTA dropped just before Ohio voters started hitting the polls today. Their votes could very well decide who will be the Democratic nominee to take on Republican John McCain in November's general election.Clinton is behind Obama in the all-important delegate race, but winning both states would set her campaign straight again. Losing both delegate-rich states could be a blow to Obama after winning 11 straight primaries and caucuses since Illinois and more than 20 other states voted Feb. 5.In departing Ohio, the candidates leave the final push here to scores of volunteers and staffers.Both candidates are also leveraging the support of large unions, like the Teamsters (Obama) and AFSCME (Clinton), to get voters to the polls and make phone pitches all day.Ohio is used to this kind of attention. The battleground state, composed of both rural conservative areas and inner-city Democratic enclaves, is seen as a national barometer of political sentiment.Yet, the wilting Republican race didn't make much of a mark on the state. McCain hasn't been campaigning for days and contender Mike Huckabee has concentrated on Texas.Regardless, turnout is predicted to be at an all-time high for a primary in this state. Ohio's secretary of state is expecting a 52 percent turnout, far above the 33 percent of registered voters who cast ballots in the 2004 primary.Election officials in the county encompassing Toledo decided to extend early voting hours to Sunday to accommodate the influx. More than 14,000 early votes, a record, had already been cast by the end of the weekend.It is too early to tell whether the record turnout will benefit Clinton or Obama. But it is certain that if Clinton is to take the state, she must do well in Toledo -- perhaps the bluest side of the state.Before leaving, Clinton promised voters here that she won't forget them if she wins."People have come and given you speeches and then they leave and nothing happens," she said. "I want you to know that if I tell you something, I mean it."