Pence: Ohio will loom large in race for president

By Marc Kovac | August 11, 2016 at 12:08a.m.

CAMBRIDGE

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence isn’t shy about touting the accomplishments of his home state, but on Wednesday he turned the spotlight on his neighbor to the east.

Pence, seeking to become the next vice president of the United States, as Republican Donald Trump’s running mate, told a crowd of several hundred supporters Wednesday night in Guernsey County that Ohio will play a pivotal role in picking the next president.

“The Buckeye State is going to loom very large,” he said. “I mean, you always do. … You’re used to it . … I want you to leave here today ready to talk to your neighbors and friends. … The choice is in your hands.”

Pence spoke for about a half-hour in Cambridge, after a Dayton stop earlier in the day. He didn’t offer any apologies, either, for Trump or any of the comments the billionaire businessman has made as of late.

“Donald Trump gets it, right? He’s a genuine article, he’s a distinctly American leader. He just speaks his heart and he speaks his mind, and he doesn’t go tiptoeing around,” Pence said. “He speaks straight from his mind, and the American people hear him loud and clear.”

Pence’s Cambridge visit came a day after the Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University Polling Institute had Hillary Clinton up over Trump in a new survey of likely Ohio voters.

Clinton led 49 percent-45 percent compared to virtual ties in Quinnipiac polls earlier this year. The latest poll of 812 Ohio voters had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

“It is not that her voters are in love with Secretary Clinton – they just dislike her less than they disdain Trump,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the poll said in a released statement. “In fact, among Clinton voters in all three states [Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida], more than four in 10 say their opposition to Trump, rather than their liking of her, is the main reason for their vote.”

Democrats slammed Trump’s economic policy proposals in separate events in Columbus and Dayton in advance of Pence’s appearances.

Former state Rep. Jennifer Garrison, D-Marietta, cited an independent analysis of the jobs plans offered by Clinton and Trump. The former’s proposal, she said, would create millions of jobs across the country and some 360,000 in Ohio; the latter’s proposal would cost the country and Ohio jobs.

“We’ve got a guy that makes products in Bangladesh and China and Mexico,” Garrison said. “He’s outsourcing all these jobs that he says he wants to bring back to the United States. If you look at his walk versus his talk, his record is that of manufacturing in other countries.”

But Republican state lawmakers on hand Wednesday night urged voters to back Trump and Pence, noting the importance of Appalachia in the coming November election.

“We’ve got to carry the load,” said state Sen. Troy Balderson, R-Zanesville. “The responsibility is on Appalachia, southeastern [Ohio], the hardworking people of this great state. Don’t let people make excuses and say he does this and he says that. … Go out, vote Trump.”

Pence also urged attendees to support incumbent Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who is in a tight race in Ohio against former Gov. Ted Strickland.