Working class woes key for Obama and Clinton in Ohio

DAYTON, Ohio (Reuters) - This former manufacturing hub, now struggling with skyrocketing unemployment and foreclosures, presents a microcosm of woes faced by America's working class -- and voters are seeking answers from U.S. presidential candidates.

Once a thriving hub for the U.S. auto industry, the Dayton metropolitan area now has thousands of out-of-work auto employees and one of the nation's highest foreclosure rates. A local food pantry for the unemployed handed out 286,000 meals last year, up from 47,000 in 2004.

"It's a tough place to be right now," said 51-year-old Rick Tincher, who once earned $80,000 a year making auto parts and now mows grass and picks up part-time jobs to make ends meet. "People are struggling."

This week, as Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, Ohio is a key battleground.

Ohio holds its nominating contest on Tuesday and polls show the race in the state -- once a Clinton stronghold -- tightening as Obama gains momentum in the bid to represent Democrats in the November presidential election.

Opinion polls show Clinton, who would be the first woman U.S. president, has strong support from Ohio women and elderly voters. Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, garners favor from young people and college-educated voters.

But both candidates see support from Ohio's deeply rooted blue-collar base as essential. Each stresses remedies for unemployment and onerous health care costs. Both pledge to renegotiate trade deals that they say encouraged the movement of U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas.

"The notion that the white working class is Senator Clinton's main constituency is just wrong. He has an equal shot at that," Case Western Reserve University political analyst Alexander Lamis said of Obama, who has used rousing rhetoric to make his case to voters.

The presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, has been campaigning in the state but faces little opposition.

BLEAK REMINDERS

Dayton, population 95,000, has an unemployment rate of 6 percent, which matches the state figure and exceeds the 4.9 percent national average.

Lost jobs have translated to lost homes. According to Mortgage Bankers Association data, Ohio had the country's highest percentage of homes - 3.7 percent - in the process of foreclosure in December. Foreclosures in Dayton were up 145 percent at the end of 2007 over 2006.

The economic decline here is tied tightly to the struggles of U.S. auto giants. The 2005 bankruptcy of General Motors Corp spinoff Delphi Corp, among the world's largest auto parts suppliers, helped spell the end to thousands of Dayton jobs.

Plants that made brake components, air conditioning units and chassis systems have closed. Others have downsized and cut wages. Once-thriving neighborhoods around plants now have blocks of boarded-up homes and businesses as bleak reminders.

"There used to be 10,000 people getting off work down here. Now they're gone," said 66-year-old Phil Mullen, a former auto worker who carts Hillary Clinton campaign signs in his truck but hasn't yet decided whom to vote for.

Clinton made a mid-February visit to Dayton focused on the home foreclosure crisis, while Obama followed with a rally this week that drew about 11,000 people.

Opinion polling data shows that Clinton's proposals for jobs creation and health care reform helped generate early support from Ohio's working class voters. But that base appears to have eroded as Obama has landed key endorsements from labor groups, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Tincher, who this week was busy helping at the food pantry, is still a solid Clinton supporter. He sees her plan for required universal health care as the best way to help American workers and employers break free of skyrocketing health care costs. Obama's plan to make health care coverage more affordable but still voluntary falls short, he said.

But Tony Curington, who spent 22 years at a Delphi brake plant before it closed, plans to support Obama, whose campaign has stressed a message of hope.

"He comes across and presents that message that people want to hear," said the 57-year-old Curington, an African-American. "We need hope. And to a blue-collar mentality that is just to work -- and bring home enough in wages to live on."

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Beasley; Editing by Deborah Charles and Vicki Allen)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/