Ohio: Battered in the Buckeye State

President-elect Barack Obama stood on the factory floor of Cardinal Fastener & Specialty in suburban Cleveland four days before taking office in January 2009 and said, “The first job of my Administration is to put people back to work.”

Nearly three years later, Cardinal, which makes bolts for wind turbines and construction projects, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and down to about 25 workers from a peak of 65. Owner John Grabner, 58, says that although Obama was “the right man for the job” last time and he likes the President’s position on renewable energy, he hasn’t decided whether to support him in 2012. A Republican President, he says, might do more to spur job growth, plus Obama’s health-care overhaul “is a problem” for small- and medium-size businesses. “The incentives to grow jobs have not been there like it should have been,” Grabner says.