If Mitt Romney defeats Rick Santorum in the bellwether primary here on Tuesday, it will be in no small part because he managed to win over one of the most hotly contested and elusive segments of the electorate: white working-class voters.
At a metal works in Canton and a welding factory in Youngstown, in mailboxes and on the radio, Mr. Romney’s intense focus on these Republican-leaning voters was in evidence on Monday as he made his closing appeal in Ohio — if not as an everyman, then at least as a chief executive who knows how to generate blue-collar jobs and get factories running again.
At a metal works in Canton and a welding factory in Youngstown, in mailboxes and on the radio, Mr. Romney’s intense focus on these Republican-leaning voters was in evidence on Monday as he made his closing appeal in Ohio — if not as an everyman, then at least as a chief executive who knows how to generate blue-collar jobs and get factories running again.
“Other people in this race have debated about the economy, they’ve read about the economy, they’ve talked about it in subcommittee meetings, but I’ve actually been in it,” Mr. Romney told workers at a guardrail factory in Canton, where he walked among huge coils of steel. “I understand what it takes to get business successful, and to thrive.”
Introducing a new slogan — “more jobs, less debt, smaller government” — Mr. Romney’s factory visits were not just about the Ohio primary. They were part of a broader strategy, hatched at his Boston headquarters, to fight Mr. Santorum for both working-class voters and conservatives on what aides consider to be Mr. Romney’s turf, the economy, rather than on social issues.
the economy, rather than on social issues.
And while Mr. Romney’s immediate goal is a strong showing in Ohio, one of 10 Super Tuesday states and a crucial test of whether Mr. Santorum can remain a credible challenger for the nomination, he is also seeking to prove he can maintain his party’s traditional advantage among working-class voters in a general election matchup with President Obama.
Mr. Santorum, who has mixed his faith-based appeal with a workingman’s sensibility born of his Pennsylvania coal and steel country roots, was not about to cede that ground.
At Dayton Christian School in Miamisburg on Monday, he urged a capacity crowd to vote for “a guy who grew up in a steel town in western Pennsylvania who no one gave any chance to be standing here in Ohio in March, because he went out and believed in free people” and in “building a stronger economy based on manufacturing.”
Noting that Mr. Romney’s far better-financed campaign had vastly outspent him in Ohio, he added: “Money’s not going to buy this election. The best ideas and believing in the American people is going to win this election.”
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Mr. Santorum’s success with working-class voters in some states, notably Iowa and Michigan, has helped expose Mr. Romney’s potential vulnerabilities with them. Mr. Romney’s background as a wealthy private-equity manager and some of his off-the-cuff remarks — like his comment at Daytona two weekends ago that “I have some great friends who are Nascar team owners” — have only emphasized his challenge in connecting with blue-collar voters.
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Mr. Santorum’s success with working-class voters in some states, notably Iowa and Michigan, has helped expose Mr. Romney’s potential vulnerabilities with them. Mr. Romney’s background as a wealthy private-equity manager and some of his off-the-cuff remarks — like his comment at Daytona two weekends ago that “I have some great friends who are Nascar team owners” — have only emphasized his challenge in connecting with blue-collar voters.
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