

The swing states: Ohio

Coal or cars?


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Readers' comments



tic-tock, tick-toc...several more hours until the national nightmare is over. The tsunami has arrived! Obammy is one and done.....

McJakome in reply to Jebstuart

I would love to get the ignorant, bible-thumping, "Christian" Taliban states to leave the Union [no objection this time]. Since the Supreme Court has ruled secession illegal, however, I vote for expulsion this time.


Thankfully I have seen several reports where people have pushed "Romney" but the machine registered "Obama". Obama will win with no problem...

thepragmatist2 in reply to buffaloh

Agreed...I was being cheeky. I respect the opinions and the vote of others after all the country was founded on those principles. I just hope that everyones vote is counted honestly. I get concerned when I hear that people push the button for one candidate and the machine tallies something different entirely. I assume that this is an honest "calibration" mistake but what concerns me most is I don't hear the opposite being reported. A "calibration" mistake would only need to be made in 1% of the voters to make a huge difference in this election...

Interestingly enough I am one of those highly sought after independent voters in central Ohio...I voted for Bush (dissapointed) I also voted for Obama (again dissapointed) and now am leaning Romney for the moment

buffaloh in reply to thepragmatist2

Glad to see you're just being cheeky. I'd like to see this election won fairly.

I too am an Ohio voter. I just recently sent my absentee ballot from half way across the world. Hopefully there's no mishaps.

thepragmatist2 in reply to buffaloh

Thank you fellow Ohioan...I too would like to believe that our elections still have a purpose and still represent the American people. Sadly I have lost faith that our politicians really represent the best interests of their constituents any longer. When you read legislation that exempts certain groups of people (especially senators) it always makes me wonder why is it good for these people but not those others. I think that it is time the American people stood up and demanded that all politicians live by the policies they create. You want to see great health care for all or see medicare remain solvent...make politicians get their health care from medicare. You want to ensure that social security is there for you when you retire...make politicians keep their retirement savings in the social security system....
We can disagree on policy but in the end we are all in this together...stay safe in your time abroad my friend.

McJakome in reply to thepragmatist2

In Pennsylvania it was dastardly Republicans who rigged voting machines to register Romney when a voter chose Obama. Whoever is doing this, of whichever party, deserves a very long jail term, and not just the operatives, the Fagins must be indicted, charged, and sent up.

Anyone who prevents or usurps a citizen's vote is a reprehensible, unAmerican, criminal.


There is no "war on coal", with respect to jobs--
there have been more coal miners working (average # per year) during Obama presidency than under Bush2 or the second term of Clinton.
Source: BLS NAICS 212100 - Coal Mining.
Year/overall coal jobs/construction &extraction(miner) jobs


Rust belt companies will get a good share of the sheet metal, pipe fitting, heavy metal work that's required to rebuild the U.S. Navy. And is much less likely to be outsourced - done offshore than anything in the auto industry and its supply chain. I suspect the voters in those areas know this - they'd rather have work than welfare. So R&R will take all but three states, and the 'pubs control of the Senate. And next Wednesday will be full of recriminations by the Leftists. Can't come too soon.


There is a future for both industries. The auto industry will be competing internationally for a rapidly changing demand for transportation services, such as autonomous vehicles. There will be winners and losers, but claims of knowing now who will be which should be viewed with great skepticism. The coal industry is going to have to make the switch from being a cheap fuel to a value added chemical feedstock. This is going to be a smaller market than it is now. The emotional response to the "war" about coal is driven in part by fear about how fast the industry is going to change. After all, both steel and auto making have gone through the process and it wasn't fun for those who didn't or couldn't adapt. But to pretend that nothing is going to change is a certain route to disaster.


I am amused that it's Obama and the Democrats who are waging the war on coal when it was the Republicans who deregulated and cut back on mine safety that lead to several notable fatalities during the Bush II administration. I guess miners don't really care if the exit a mine alive as long as the country stay wedded, in perpetuity, to a 19th century fuel source.


I just hope that everyone who wants to vote is able to on election day. Polls should only close when the last person in line has voted.

I was an election inspector back in 1992 in New York. I know how tired the volunteers are, but I don`t want anyone turned away, like back in 2004.

Todd T

I do enjoy articles trying to find anyway possible to make it seem like Obama has any sort of chance to win. He doesn't. The Democrats took power in 2006 as a result of republicans starting to screw up. The Democrats, including then Senator Obama killed the economy. Obama takes power and created the great recession using great depression economics with full and total control of the government.

The Democrats screwed up as demonstrated by the Republican take over of the house. (Sorry liberals but no party "wins" it is the other side in power screwing up and losing that causes power to change sides).

The current election is simply the completion of handing out the pink slips to the morons in the Democrat party that screwed up. If you are one of these intellectually challenged people who somehow think Bush is all at fault, even with Obama and his side in full control, well too bad. The fact is the party in power gets the credit and more importantly the blame for failure and misery.

The FACT is Obama is now an incumbent. He has a failed record. The economy is terrible and unemployment high and not a single incumbent won a second term in these conditions.

Obama started losing when he forced Keynesian economics and yet more socialism on America, the result of those actions was 4 years of recession and the people are going to fire the fool over it.

It is as simple as that. All this analysis by liberal wishful thinkers who think coal or cars matter is just a distraction meant to try and make it seem like Obama has some sort of chance here.

Not only has he lost but it is likely to be an overwhelming landslide AGAINST obama and the democrats.

What is stupid here is the democrats only had to keep their insane socialism on hold for a couple of years or at least keep it less of a negative impact and the economy would have recovered and hidden everything they did. BUT good thing democrats are predictable and overreached so far into Marxism, they basically ensured defeat in 2012 from the day Obama took power.

supamark in reply to Todd T

Wow, that's a very long post. The more amazing part is that it didn't include a single fact, only oppositon talking points that don't bear even a passing resemblence to reality.... that's quite an "accomplishment".

I've taken the time to write a "tl;dr" for you:

Hi, contrary to reality, I blame Democrats for everything that's wrong with our country because I'm incapable of independant thought and cannot distinguish fact from fantasy.

WT Economist

I believe the natural gas industry has waged war on coal, not the President.

Funny how American business is now ascribing all of their outcomes to the government, since their grand plan of paying workers less and selling them more has collapsed. Hey overpaid whiners, get a new idea or at least cut your pay and pay some dividends!


No contest. The Car industry is universally liked, good paying jobs making shiny, new American products. The Coal industry is dirty, dirty products, dirty businesses, usually powerless coal miners victimized by owners' dismissal of safety regulations, and a "black Lung" condition that kills many long before their time.

Many, many more voters will cast votes based on the Auto bailout than we cast them based on an industry in clear decline, losing out to cheaper, cleaner alternates like Natural Gas. The "EPA" fantasy is for low intelligence voters only.

minersmom in reply to RoyFan51

You are obviously a democrat, because you are totally ignorant of the coal industry's people.I DO know what I am talking about when I say that the employees of the coal company my daughter works for do not resemble in any way the description you wrote above. You are DIRTY MINDED!!!!

minersmom in reply to RoyFan51


minersmom in reply to RoyFan51


supamark in reply to minersmom

mmmm, delicious black lung disease for the miners, and soot and heavy metals like mercury for all to breathe - yay coal!

If you'd like to see what a coal energy future looks like, move to Bejing China where you can enjoy the air heavy with coal smoke (and a shortened lifespan).

supamark in reply to minersmom

actually, I'm living in the present - there is no such thing as "clean" coal. All coal fired power plants spew heavy metals into the atmosphere. Heavy metals have a nasty habit of causing cancer and other bad health effects, so the sooner we get off coal the better. I like having mountain tops and clean streams and rivers in (West) Virgina too.

Coal is literally a cancer on our society, even the Chinese are trying to stop using the stuff.


"A bigger worry for Mr Obama ought to be coal, again concentrated in the poorer Appalachian east of the state. "

It might be lost on them that, more than any carbon limits, natural gas is rock bottom cheap and undercuts coal on cost. If that price structure remains, Appalachia should seek other occupations or another use for coal.

teacup775 in reply to E Pluribus Unum

I'll stick with gas on the assumption the extractive cost is about the same.

In a global economy, that coal will go to whoever can pay for it, as does all fuel costs now, and for the most part if fuel becomes that scarce many nations will face and overcome the situation in some way or go extinct.

Tom FarEast LA

"David Johnson, who runs a tile-making business out in the depressed east of the state and is also the chairman of the Columbiana County Republican Party, thinks things are very different now. John McCain, he reckons, was a poor candidate, “and this time we have an excellent one".
Things must really be Republican Greatly Depressed in Columbiana Cty to cause even a County Chair to view Mitt Rmoney and Ryan anything other than excellent liars and snakeoil salesmen.
And, as we have all seen, there is no Depression like a Republican Great Depression. Never again!!


Third Presidential Debate

The third debate, monitored by grandfatherly Bob Schieffer,
was expected to show how the candidates differ.
That, however, was not the case
as Obama and Romney sat down face to face.

They started by talking about the Middle East
where they believe U.S. authority should be increased.
There was little dispute about how this could be attained
as Romney claimed with more gunboats their goal would be gained.

Each one said he was the best friend of Israel
although neither mentioned the Holy Grail.
Barack bragged that thanks to him the war in Iraq was over and done
but made no mention of why it had begun.

Mitt, also known as the Shallow Man,
is determined to wage war against Iran.
He claims that country its neighbors wants to attack.
and indeed to invade other countries it once had the knack.

When known as the Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great
it quickly knocked down its enemies’ gate.
It did not take long the Lydian and Neo-Babylonian empires to overthrow,
but that was two thousand five hundred years ago.

Romney has discovered Latin America where a huge opportunity lies in wait,
that could for the U.S. of A. provide a golden gate.
Is he hoping that region once more to loot
by resurrecting the neocolonial United Fruit?

Concerning Afghanistan Romney appears to be completely off track
with his policy of one step forward and two steps back.
About China he continues to bray
but what his opinion is depends on the day.

One day China is a security threat.
The next day it’s the U.S.’s best bet.
Mitt, instead of about China making a fuss
to help him add he could ask them to teach him how to use an abacus.

The debate was announced as being about foreign affairs,
but they strayed off the subject as they squirmed in their chairs.
The monitor did not take either Barack or Mitt to task
when they kept answering questions he did not ask.

With his permanent preset smile,
Miitt said from Obamacare he’d run a mile.
How many voters did he think would be swayed
when he promised to give the States Medicaid?

Apart from that, instead of trying Obama to screw,
to whatever he said Mitt replied with a resounding “Me too”.
Unlike the last debate when he would constantly the President interrupt
in a manner many described as boorishly abrupt.

With the election about to be held
there’s one problem about which many have dwelled.
How to make sure the votes are correctly added
especially in Florida and Ohio where they are often padded.

In Ohio, an election battleground state, they’re skating on ice that’s thin.
because, when all the votes are safely in,
questions will be asked about whether each and every voting machine
was giving a result that could be considered clean.


May we ask whether, by any chance,
the voting machine company partly owned by the Romney family is simply a matter of happenstance?

Severus Dumbledore

anyone who fails to vote because of the weather is daft....I am an American living abroad, who is practically homeless, is faced with multiple health problems, [WHICH NEARLY KILLED ME THIS YEAR] and I sent my absentee ballot anyway.

Did the grim reaper knocking on the door stop that WWII veteran from voting? No. Get off your butts and vote. Preferably, vote Obama. But even if you are leaning Republican, you should understand that duty comes before getting wet.

I take this comment back....this storm is not about getting wet. Its about getting killed. It doesn't matter if you are a Limbaugh listening dittohead or a Michael Moore following hippie, a conservative, a liberal, a centrist or a bull moose. postpone the damn election. who can vote in the middle of the climate change storm of the century?


Reasons NOT to vote for Romney
1. Planning to add $2.1 trillion to the US debt for killing machines will not solve the unemployment problem. It means risking sons and daughters in the military.
2. Starting a trade war with China costs Americans more for products that are no longer produced in this country. Returning fabricating capability to the US takes time.
3. Complaining about China’s currency value being too low can make it more expensive to pay back the loans. Lesson 1: don’t make your banker mad.
4. Romney’s council from Koch, Rove, Cheney and a host of wealthy donors makes his “victims” comment not only true but increases the percentage.
5.The Romney tax plan is a hoax, shutting down deductibles to offset a 20% cut is not even a zero sum game. No detail on deductibles. You can be sure the wealthy will not be negatively impacted as payoff.
6. Romney’s record of pandering speaks to character deficiency. Ryan is an apt choice as pandering and lying make the team complete.
7. Romney’s plans are slogans and lack substance. Canceling Obama-care may encourage better health practices but is a problem for those needing medical help.
8. . GOP is the party of individualism for men but men tell women what choice’s they have according to Mormon doctrine.
US is better off with Romney vacationing in the Cayman Islands permanently. Add your own reasons and pass it on.

Severus Dumbledore in reply to ja98052

When the magical revenues fail to appear, Romney will have to borrow money to double the size of the navy- a project with the purpose of scaring China- on a massive scale. What country borrows money from the rival they are trying to scare?


The ability of the Republicans to frame the struggles of the coal industry as EPA-driven (and thereby Obama-driven) has been one of their big wins in this election season. The reality, of course, is that coal's decline is not driven primarily by the clean air regulations, but by the growth of natural gas which is heavily supported by both parties.

supamark in reply to Quibbler

Don't forget that burning coal actually kills people because it contains heavy metals like mercury, which are spewed into the air and breathed by local residents. We really, really need to abandon coal as an energy source.

1 Kyat Drone

The race looks like it's coming down to Florida, Ohio, and Virginia, plus four smaller close swing states (NH, NV, CO, and IA).

1. If Obama wins Florida, then the race is likely decided.

2. If Obama wins Ohio plus one of the four smaller states, then the race is likely decided.

3. If Obama wins Virginia plus two of the four smaller states, then the race is likely decided.

Romney is polling slightly ahead in Florida and Virginia, so IMO Ohio will be the most interesting state to watch.


I must admit, I'm undecided. Here in Ohio, living right where the blue turns red, I don't say that out loud where campaign workers might hear. It's bad enough already with Romney messing up the traffic tomorrow by giving a speech a mile from my house. It's even worse when Obama's using my local airport. Familiarity does, in fact, breed contempt.

Obama was right to stop the construction of coal power plants. The auto bailout was a sweetheart deal for the auto unions, it ran roughshod over the bond holders and should have been rejected by the bankruptcy court. Obamacare is nothing to be proud of, but the next congress won't have the votes to overturn much of it, so it's a moot point. Romney blows with the wind, but he might be able to form a coalition for some useful reforms in a congress with a narrow Republican house and a 50/50 senate; certainly Obama has shown he can't. Voting for Obama is essentially giving up on doing anything for at least 2 and probably 4 years. Voting for Romney offers a chance for change, but it might be safer to wait for the Tea Party movement to die out some more before trying change. And I'm happy with Obama on the foreign policy front (Romney's too friendly with Netanyahu).

So, I'm undecided. I'm not voting early. I might just decide to vote against all of the incumbents, or maybe not. It might depend on breakfast that morning. Do you suppose I could get myself a nice catered breakfast Nov. 6 if I announce I'm undecided?

Tom FarEast LA in reply to Ohio

Cannot comprehend "undecided". When you have had 365 days of Rmoney presenting 730 different policy positions, and with career politician, Lyin' Ryan, who helped create this whole Economic Disaster, lying about everything including his race participations and times, how can you believe anything they say?

Obama's reign has been disappointing. But that has mostly to do with a Refusenik neo-GNOP Senate minority intent upon working at odds with the Country's needs, and dealing with a Republican-created Economic Disaster - they dare not tell us how bad it was - or is.

It is obvious that the neo-GNOP does NOT have We the People's best interests at heart.

It appears that the Democrats will hold the Senate and probably regain a narrow majority in the House - depending upon how many Big Lies the Koch Bros will pay Carl Rove to spread in the waning days.

How can you be "undecided"?

teacup775 in reply to Ohio

I'd go for the best darn breakfast money can buy!

I agree with your take on things. I just have dim view of the conduct of the Republican party low these last few decades. Tea party included, I just can't see my way to rewarding malign strategies. Churlish and selfish partisanship should be punished in the polls with extreme prejudice, because that's the one thing voters can clearly say at the polls.

A Reasoned Voice in reply to Ohio

Unlike some of the others here, I can understand your dilemma. You stated it quite well. I think all of us understand that every choice has pros and cons. Of course the partisans who post here, who have their minds firmly made up, can't understand how anyone could not see it their way.

I agree with your take on the Tea Party... that is the reason that has tipped me. IMHO, it is the extremes (of both parties) that we have to fear most, especially when it comes to deficit reduction which I think is essential. And it simply can't happen if either side is unwilling to compromise. And their willingness to use the fillibuster for every issue really scares me. (I'd be equally concerned if Democrats were so willing to use it for every issue where they were in the minority.)

The Big Dog in reply to Ohio

When a point is made as coherently and objectively as yours, it's easy to empathise.

For what it's worth, this is my advice:

Your economy is slowly picking up, a sudden economic doctrine of striking polarity is the last thing you need. The markets above all else desire stability. Compound that with this thought; a vote for Romney delivers power to a party whose fiscal plan, literally doesn't add up. Don't take my word for it, Google it. Every serious economic mind and financial authority that's reviewed it, including Republican-leaning bodies, refute it. Vote in favour of facts, not sound-bites.

Furthermore, it seems you would vote for Obama if over the next four years, you were confident he could hold the sway of the house. Whilst that's of no certainty, if you vote against Obama you are rewarding a party responsible for the most cynical and depraved example of policy obstructionism in your nation's history. Meet the GOP. Vote for them and you absolve them of their polluted conduct. Conduct by the way, which to have been as successful as it was, required an entire party to function as one big, deceitful instrument.

Good luck and enjoy your election day breakie. ;)


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