As Ohio Goes, So Goes the Nation...Again

MEDINA, Ohio<br>Nov. 6, 2007 &#151; -- If a Republican is going to win the White House next fall, he'd better pay some attention to Medina, Ohio.

In this quaint town with its picturesque white gazebo in the center square, southwest of Cleveland, voters who gladly pulled the lever for President Bush in the last two elections aren't as sure about voting for a Republican as they once were.

And Ohio is a critical battleground in the general election. No Republican has become president without Ohio since Abraham Lincoln's day.

Sandra Brausch voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004. But after casting her vote in Tuesday's local elections she said she's not convinced she can support a Republican candidate for president next year.

"I would like to hear a Republican candidate tell me they will end this war," Brausch said.

The Iraq War is just one issue that has some Republicans and independents in Ohio worried. Ohio's economy and job loss to globalization is an even more pervasive concern.

A poll conducted by Quinnipiac University in September found 42 percent of Ohio voters named the "economy" as the "most important problem facing Ohio." Twenty percent named "education."

The poll also found that 42 percent of Ohio Republicans are dissatisfied with the way things are going in their state.

Dr. Chris Kalucis, an ear nose and throat specialist in Medina, also voted for Bush twice. He said the current administration is not on the right path.

"What's the world going to be like when my kids grow up?" Kalucis asked. "What's happening now out there just scares me to death, you know, and I don't know what the right answer is… but this can't be the right answer."