Topic: Jobs
Economic woe spurs Democrats in U.S. heartland
Reuters
Billie Jo Reese works full time, is raising two children alone and is trying to go back to school.
Her wage at a nursing home is $8.25 (4.41 pounds) an hour, putting her family near the poverty line. She can't afford health insurance and isn't sure she'll have enough money for heat all winter.
While Washington is aflame with corruption and sex scandals and the Iraq war, in heartland America voters like Reese are more preoccupied with the struggle to get by.
Ohio pushed President George W. Bush's reelection over the top in 2004, but in congressional elections next month economic hardship in the rust belt could turn the tide against incumbents from Bush's Republican Party.
"It's getting worse," said Reese. "My mother used to help me a lot, but now that she doesn't have her job we just get by as best we can."
...Reese, 31, has neither time nor money to spare, but on a cold October night she came out to confront politicians here and pay a small fee to join a liberal lobby group for working families.
She and her mother, Donna, 50, a locked-out autoworker whose unemployment benefits are about to expire, fired questions about health insurance and job security at Zack Space, a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives, and a representative of Senate Democratic hopeful Sherrod Brown.
Reese said Democrats care more than Republicans about working families, and she wants change at the midterm elections on November 7, when control of Congress is at stake.
Three weeks before the ballot, both Space and Brown were leading incumbent Republicans in opinion polls.
New TV Spot: DeWine Voted To Eliminate “Countless” Jobs
AMHERST, OH -- The Sherrod Brown for Senate Campaign today announced a new television advertisement highlighting Senator DeWine's record of voting to eliminate countless jobs and keep wages low. Since DeWine began his second term in office, Ohio lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs, wages stagnated, and the cost-of-living skyrocketed. DeWine supported the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), voted for every trade pact offered by the Bush administration, and voted against overtime pay protection and raising the minimum wage. DeWine accepted more than $1 million from companies that outsource U.S. jobs.
The spot can be viewed here: http://sherrodbrown.com/pages/countless
"While he rewarded special interests with subsidies and the rich with tax breaks, Senator DeWine voted for policies that eliminated countless jobs and kept workers' pay low," said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for U.S. Representative Sherrod Brown (D-OH). "Mike DeWine turned his back on Ohio workers when times got tough, and instead sided with multinational corporations that sent jobs overseas. Sherrod Brown introduced legislation to reward patriot corporations that create jobs in the United States, and fought to lower costs and raise pay for middle class families."
Candidate visits with Eramet’s workers
Marietta Times
Congressman Sherrod Brown, D-13th District, visited Eramet workers who say they have been locked out of the ferroalloys plant along Ohio 7 between Marietta and Belpre.
...Brown, who talked with workers for about an hour, asked questions such as how many workers had been locked out, how much new employees hired by the company were being paid, and how long the union workers had worked for the company.
"Anything I can do?" Brown asked the workers.
The workers expressed gratitude for Brown’s attention.
"It does a lot for us coming down here," said Dencil Brown, who lives in West Virginia. "We appreciate it. We need more people who want to work for the working class."
Click here to read the full article.
After 6 Years of Bush and DeWine, Ohioans are Worse Off
CINCINNATI, OH -- President George W. Bush is scheduled to campaign for Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine today in Cincinnati in an effort to help the two-term incumbent's failing bid for re-election.
DeWine is running against Ohio Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who introduced plans to create jobs, provide affordable health care, education, and tax cuts to middle class families, and refocus our efforts on the war on terror.
Down in the polls since early summer, DeWine recently launched a series of attack ads in order to try to gain traction six weeks before Election Day. Despite outspending Brown and using misleading ads that distort the truth and attempt to hide DeWine's record, support for his campaign continues to falter.
DeWine and Bush are expected to discuss how their tax cuts for the rich have affected the economy. Middle class families don't remember receiving the more than $1 trillion in tax cuts, because they were overwhelmingly targeted to the top 1% and the cost-of-living for most Ohioans skyrocketed.
Forget the war in Iraq: it’s the workers, stupid
Times of London
The smell of burning rubber from the plant mingled with the aroma of strong coffee as the men and women gathered last week with Sherrod Brown, the Democratic candidate for the Ohio Senate seat in November’s election — the man they hope will help to end years of Republican domination of American politics. Still in his early 50s, Mr Brown has been in Ohio politics for 30 years, the last 14 as a member of the House of Representatives. Stooped slightly, as though he carries the weight of all Ohio’s economic hardships on his shoulders, he works the workers and their families, and shaking his head at tales of the follies of global capitalism.
He is scathing about the economic damage he says has been done to his state. Republicans have got rich, he says, while they have shipped jobs overseas. His opponent, Mike De Wine, the incumbent senator, has taken campaign money from companies that are destroying American jobs. “Why should we reward companies that move offshore to avoid US taxes?” Mr Brown asks. “We need fair trade, not free trade.”
This autumn Ohio is again the central battleground of US politics. It was the state that gave President Bush his narrow victory over John Kerry in 2004. Now it is one of half a dozen states that Democrats need to win on November 7 to take control of the Senate and pave the way, they hope, for an era of Democratic control.
Click here to read the full article.
DeWine and “Bush’s Man” Portman Share Record of Outsourcing Ohio Jobs
CINCINNATI, OH - Incumbent Republican Senator Mike DeWine and former U.S. Trade Representative and current Bush administration budget director Rob Portman were expected to hold a joint press conference today. DeWine and Portman share a record of supporting job-killing unfair trade agreements that have hurt Ohio workers. During Portman's one-year tenure as USTR, the trade deficit with China increased by $40 billion and thousands of Ohioans lost their jobs due to unfair trade deals. Senator Mike DeWine has accepted more than $1 million from companies that outsourced U.S. jobs, and he supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and voted for the CAFTA and to grant Permanent Normalized Trade Relations with China.
"Job loss is nothing to celebrate," said U.S. Representative Brown. "Director Portman and Senator DeWine teamed up in support of job-killing trade agreements that have made jobs one of Ohio's largest exports. I stood up to presidents of both parties against unfair trade deals and have led the fight in Congress for fair trade agreements that put American workers and businesses first."
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