Note to Mitt: GOP Creates Jobs

The unemployment figures released on Friday were rather ugly, but there was a silver lining: 17 states that elected a Republican Governor had a drop in unemployment!

To cite these figures is a clear winning strategy for Romney and the Republicans. The campaign and RNC must heavily and frequently cite these figures, and I guarantee you that you'll see further blog posts and Tweets from me to lobby the party and campaign leaders to do so.

Let's look at some of those states, which just so happen to be states Romney needs to win.

Florida: The Sunshine State was ravaged by unemployment during this recession, especially the I-4 Corridor of Central Florida. With the state's smart move of electing Rick Scott as Governor, they are on the right track. He stands by his convictions, time and time again, and has shown he's a believer in no-fear politics. Florida will be a very important state this fall and I stand by my prediction it will be red. Focusing on the recent improvement in the unemployment situation and reminding the voters that the Federal Government had nothing to do with it, especially in the I-4 Corridor, where a campaign is won or lost, further puts Florida in Romney's corner, while helping Connie Mack push Bill Nelson out of the Senate.

Wisconsin: The voters have clearly approved of Scott Walker's method of cutting the budget and improvement has been clearly observed through the improved numbers in unemployment. Mitt Romney and Reince Priebus (whose home state is Wisconsin) must make the connection between his vision for the United States with Walker's record of success. Doing this may very well put Wisconsin in the red column for the first time in a while and could also help down the ticket to clinch a win for Former Governor/HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson in his US Senate race.

Ohio: Even though the Buckeye State lost electoral votes in reapportionment, it is still very important this November. Ohioans elected John Kasich their governor and although he was not successful with a more restricted collective bargaining law (Leftists trashed the Columbus statehouse just as they did Madison.), the state has been made more business friendly and jobs have clearly been created to force the unemployment numbers down. Romney needs to focus on the Cincinnati to Dayton corridor, as well as the Columbus suburbs, as the election will be won or lost in these Republican leaning areas. Furthermore, Romney must also appeal to disaffected Democrats in the eastern, blue collar areas of Ohio such as Akron, Canton and Youngstown. He may or may not choose Rob Portman as his VP to push Ohio over the edge, but focus on the theme of GOP job creation in a state that benefited and Portman may be able to stay in the Senate.

Nevada: A state of growing importance that went Democrat in 2008, it has seen the consequences of that state with the high unemployment, foreclosure rate and war declared on Las Vegas by the President. While they didn't push out Harry Reid in 2010, they did elect Brian Sandoval as Governor, who has made budgetary changes to lower taxes, in order to attract more business to his state. This drop is a good start and while there is still more to go, Romney must jump on it and remind voters that their governor's agenda had something to do with it and a Romney presidency will be more of the same.

Republicans have a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory (1992, 1996, 2006, 2008) and their actions, in 2012, must follow their words. (Note Reince Priebus's speech that I attended on Capitol Hill earlier this year.) If Mitt Romney pretends Obama is Newt, and uses the statistics of job creation in states with Republican Governors, to remind voters why they should vote for him and not just against Obama, while tying the unemployment issue to Obama, Mitt Romney may have a fighting chance to be the 45th President of the United States.