In 2008, 54-year-old Rodney Prosperi voted for Ted Strickland. He had found a job after the tile maker he'd worked at for 31 years shut its doors and felt that Republicans had made a mess of the economy. Fast forward two years. Prosperi is again looking for work after being laid off by a local auto parts manufacturer in December, but having a much tougher time on this rainy day at a Canton jobs fair. Prosperi now says his vote is up for grabs and that he's leaning against Strickland.
Rodney Prosperi: We've lost a tremendous amount of jobs. I just, anybody who gets in there needs to help get the people back to work.
Polls show independent voters like Prosperi are indeed helping Republican challenger John Kasich, who holds Strickland responsible for the loss of about 380,000 jobs since 2007. But others who may be equally frustrated with the jobs situation are sticking with the Governor. Accountant Rick Stern says he's willing to give Strickland more time to fix the economy.
Rick Stern: I realize it took a while to get into this mess, into the problems we have in not only this state but this country. You have to give people time to dig ourselves out of this hole we dug ourselves into. You can't expect 18 months to do it.
Strickland argues the huge job losses in Ohio were the result of the nationwide recession brought on, he says, by Republican economic policies.