海角大神

The crucial state of聽Ohio聽was getting a full dose of presidential politics Thursday, with President Barack聽Obama聽and Republican challenger Mitt聽Romney聽trying to sell voters on their visions of how to fix the battered U.S. economy.

The campaign appearances mark the first time聽Obama聽and聽Romney聽have taken their message to the same state on the same day.聽Ohio聽is key to the election hopes of both candidates. With less than five months remaining until the Nov. 6 election, they are virtually tied in the polls.

New reports on the economy Thursday brought little optimism, with weekly applications for unemployment aid inching up and a broad measure of trade, the U.S. current account trade deficit, widening in the first three months of the year for the largest imbalance since late 2008.

Under the U.S. election system, presidents are chosen in state-by-state contests. No Republican has won the presidency without carrying heavily populated聽Ohio, which, unlike most other states, is neither predictably Republican nor Democratic.聽Obama聽won聽Ohio聽by 5 percentage points in 2008, but the Republicans stormed back two years later with sweeping victories in the state gubernatorial and congressional races.

Thursday's campaign appearances are scheduled in different cities but just minutes apart.

Obama's聽visit, his 22nd to聽Ohio聽as president, comes as once-confident Democrats are increasingly worried he could lose the November election. It follows a difficult two weeks for the president, including a dismal report on the nation's unemployment outlook, a Democratic defeat in a rare governor recall election in Wisconsin and an impressive fundraising month for聽Romney聽and Republicans, who surged ahead of聽Obama聽and the Democrats for the first time.

Romney聽again assailed聽Obama's聽economic record Wednesday, telling business leaders in Washington that he expects the president to use "cheap" words during Thursday's economic speech in Cleveland.聽Obama's聽speech is scheduled to start just minutes before a聽Romney聽campaign stop in Cincinnati.

"You're going to see him change course when he speaks tomorrow, where he will acknowledge that it isn't going so well," said聽Romney, who is planning a five-day bus tour through聽Ohio. "My own view is that he will speak eloquently, but that words are cheap."

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who says his personal success as a businessman is evidence he can shepherd the U.S. economy, said聽Obama's聽record over the last three and a half years "is the most anti-investment, anti-business, anti-jobs series of policies" in modern American history.

"He is not responsible for whatever improvement we might be seeing. Instead, he's responsible for the fact that it's taken so long to see this recovery," he said.

The聽Obama聽campaign countered that聽Romney's聽speech was filled with "dishonest claim after dishonest claim" about the president's record, and that the Republican was trying to deflect attention from his own poor economic record as Massachusetts governor.

The proof of聽Ohio's聽status as a campaign battleground is in the spending. Last week, the two campaigns and their allies poured more money into TV ads in聽Ohio聽鈥� about $1.3 million each 鈥� than in any other state, including Florida. In the most recent weekly measure of campaign broadcast spending,聽Romney's聽forces nearly matched聽Obama's聽dollar for dollar in聽Ohio.

Ohio聽Democrats say they will force聽Romney聽to explain his 2008-2009 opposition to a federal bailout of U.S. auto industry, which聽Obama聽now calls a huge success. The revitalized car industry has been crucial to聽Ohio'ssteady job growth in the industrial Midwest.