MAHONING VALLEY Bush's reps call economy on a rise
Details of the president's visit to Youngstown are expected to be released today.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- With President Bush scheduled next week to visit Youngstown, a city with the highest unemployment rate in Ohio, two of his campaign's top officials say the economy is recovering.
In a Friday teleconference call with Ohio newspaper reporters, Ken Mehlman, Bush-Cheney campaign manager, and Tim Adams, the campaign's policy director, said the economy has turned the corner and continues to recover in Ohio and the rest of the country.
The same day as the teleconference call, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released information showing that the state's unemployment rate rose in April to 5.8 percent, compared with 5.7 percent in March.
"It went up, and it's too high," Adams acknowledged. "We won't be satisfied until it's lower."
The two pointed out that 4,300 nonfarm jobs were created in Ohio last month, including 1,300 in the manufacturing sector. But, overall, the number of unemployed in Ohio rose to 341,000 last month, compared with 336,000 in March.
"The slight increase in Ohio's unemployment rate in April was largely because more people were looking for work than in previous months," said Tom Hayes, the ODJFS director.
The state's unemployment rate has improved in the past year. In April 2003, the state's unemployment rate was 6.2 percent. Since that time, the number of unemployed decreased by 28,000.
Since Bush took office in 2001, Ohio has lost about 170,000 manufacturing jobs.
The two Bush campaign officials say manufacturing jobs have steadily declined since 1995, six years before the Republican president took office.
"Manufacturing in this country has faced tough times in the past decade," Adams said.
The two officials say 27 states have unemployment rates below 5 percent, but Ohio has struggled to get to that point.
"But we're turning the corner, and creating jobs," Mehlman said.
Kerry campaign response
In response, Jennifer Palmieri, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said about the Bush officials: "The Bush administration may be satisfied with the economic situation in Ohio, but John Kerry knows we can do better. His plan will bring over 400,000 jobs to Ohio by working to keep jobs in the U.S. and helping small businesses in Ohio succeed. This is the type of leadership this state needs."
On Election Day, voters will have a clear choice between two candidates with completely different philosophies on the economy, Mehlman said.
"We can continue to go in the right direction, or we can derail the recovery and go in the wrong direction," he said.
Bush plans to visit Youngstown -- which has a 13.3 percent unemployment rate, the highest of any city in Ohio -- on Tuesday to deliver a speech on a health-care initiative. The White House plans to release details of his visit today.
Possible locations
Informed sources say Bush's advance team is looking at four locations, with Bliss Hall at Youngstown State University the most likely choice.
Kerry delivered a speech April 27 on West Federal Street during his second trip to the Mahoning Valley in a two-month span.
Ohio is considered a key battleground state in the presidential race. The Kerry campaign is focusing on Northeast Ohio, including Mahoning and Trumbull counties, because it is the most Democratic region in the state.
Bush is planning to visit Youngstown on Tuesday, the day before he is supposed to have dinner with Youngstown Mayor George M. McKelvey, a Democrat, at a private 25-person event at the White House. Bush invited McKelvey to visit him when they last met in September, as the president was getting off Air Force One on his way to a Labor Day speech in the Cleveland area.
McKelvey hopes he could fly on Air Force One with the president back to Washington, D.C.
This would be Bush's 17th visit to Ohio since he took office, and his first to Youngstown. He came to Youngstown on a train in August 2000, a day after he was selected as the Republican presidential candidate at the party's national convention.
"We are surprised to see [Bush] has the nerve to come back to Ohio," Palmieri said. "He's asking a lot of this state to support his re-election. He's done a lot of political wooing of the mayor of Youngstown. But if Bush thinks the people of Youngstown are going to be wooed by a visit, he's wrong."
It's going to take a lot more than a visit to persuade the residents of Youngstown to vote for Bush, she said.
Bush's economic policies, including tax cuts, have helped the national economy, and he has further plans to improve it, Mehlman said. Since August, more than 1.1 million jobs have been added nationwide, with eight consecutive months of gains, according to Bush administration officials.
skolnick@vindy.com