Obama to defend economic recovery in Ohio speech

President Barack Obama will defend his economic record on Thursday in the key swing state of Ohio, and Mitt Romney will be right there to listen.

The president is to deliver his first major speech about the economy at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, his 22nd visit to the state since taking office, The Associated Press reported.

Obama narrowly carried Ohio in 2008, and both sides are competing hard for votes.

The Republicans and Democrats each spent more than $1 million in advertising in Ohio last week, the AP said.

“They’re going to put on an impressive campaign, as they always do,” Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer told the AP. 

While Obama talks about the economy on Thursday, Romney is planning for a three-city tour on Sunday.

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The president’s campaign team today said he will emphasize Romney's policies are the same George W. Bush failed with, ABC News reported.

He will also ask voters to be patient, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

“The President believes that this election is a fundamental choice between two very different visions for how we grow the economy, create middle-class jobs and pay down our debt,” Carney said, according to ABC.

Romney has already suggested it won’t matter to Americans.

The GOP candidate told Reuters today that Obama will “speak eloquently” but “words are cheap.”

“He is not responsible for whatever improvement we might be seeing. Instead, he’s responsible for the fact that it has taken so long to see this recovery, and the recovery is so tepid,” Romney told Reuters.

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