As Ohio Goes...?
As you'll see on tonight's Evening News, Ohio's voters seem more worried about issues closer to home. Ohio's job losses have been one of the worst in the nation, and everyone we talked to said the state's economy was their biggest worry. So was education and taxes --in fact Iraq and terrorism were near the bottom of their list of concerns.
The anxiety is palpable. Nearly everyone talked about making a change this time around -- although that didn't necessarily mean they would vote a different party. There's a fiercely independent streak here. Most here say they don't vote party line -- they're almost offended by the suggestion that they might. Which is why this state is so hard to figure out.
They're used to the national spotlight here, they're used to strong two-party fights, and they're used to surprising the nation with how they vote. But if there's one thing we will take away from the last 10 days traveling this state, it's that voters here take their politics very seriously. They do their own research, they make up their own minds, and they don't like talking about it much in public. Fiercly independent, but private to the end.
