Ohio voters remain angry about Republican attacks on unions

Republicans have to feel a little dispirited about Ohio, even with polling showing an extremely tight race in the state's Republican primary today. That's extremely tight as in multiple polls have it tied, or Rick Santorum ahead within the margin of error, or Mitt Romney ahead within the margin of error. But it's not extremely tight in the excitement-building sense of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008; rather, it's within the context of an Ohio electorate that remains pissed about Republican attacks on public worker unions and is giving Obama a lead in general election polling.

Voters soundly defeated Issue 2, which would have taken collective bargaining rights from public workers, in November, after a campaign that built capacity in the state for unions and the Democratic party and drew a strong bipartisan vote against a signature Republican issue:

"I am socially conservative, I am a registered Republican voter and voted a strict Republican ticket in 2010 - but I am voting with Democrats in '12," said Brian Barnhart, 33, a lieutenant with the Columbus fire department.

"The main reason is the attacks on workers that I have been seeing with the Republican Party," he said.

If the Issue 2 fight is likely to hurt Republicans in the general election, it's also probably not doing Mitt Romney any favors today; back in October, he angered some conservatives by visiting a Republican phone bank on Issue 2 and another ballot measure opposing health care reform, then saying "I’m not saying anything one way or the other about the two ballot issues ... But I am supportive of the Republican party’s efforts here," when he'd already formally endorsed the Republicans' Issue 2 effort months before. Add that to his many affirmations that he would have let the auto industry go bankrupt, as the revived auto industry adds jobs in Ohio, and it's no wonder he's not walking away with this thing.