Coal miners and their families want to know if Romney will fight for them and win

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"Hundreds of coal miners and their families stand in line while waiting to attend a rally at the Century Mine near Beallsville, Ohio, for Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012," ap photo via Pittsburgh Tribune Review

8/18/12, "Can Mitt seize Ohio opportunity?" Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune Review

"How much of this dissatisfaction can be turned into votes for Romney depends on how well Romney can establish himself as the champion of these swing voters.

They want to know: Will Romney fight for them? And, if they place their faith in him, is he going to be a winner?

How important is Ohio? If money is any indicator, both campaigns have spent small fortunes on political ads in the state this summer.

Ohio has voted for the winner of every presidential election since World War II except in 1960, when it chose Richard Nixon over Jack Kennedy. It is the quintessential bellwether state, earning the motto, “As goes Ohio, so goes the nation.”

Nichols said many analysts believe Romney cannot win the election without carrying Ohio, “a state George W. Bush won only by about 200,000 votes in 2004.”...

Romney will not be able to simply rely on such extreme dissatisfaction to drive swing voters into his camp. Ohio voters are dissatisfied enough with Obama to cost him the state; however, they are not yet sold sufficiently on Romney to indicate to pollsters whether they will make the switch in November.

In short, a bad economy has provided Romney the opportunity to upset Obama. Now, he has to seize it. To do so, Romney must find a way to connect with working men and women of America, said Nichols.

“He cannot rely on economics or policy disagreements to drive dissatisfaction,” he explained. “Rather, Romney must exude the kind of command presence and confidence that converts potential supporters into followers.”"...via Doug Ross Journal, via Legal Insurrection, ap photo

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