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In Ohio, Romney says he’ll bring ‘big change’ to Washington

CINCINNATI, Ohio – Mitt Romney isn’t sparing any “change” – telling Ohio voters repeatedly that he is the one who will bring “big change” to Washington.

Campaigning in a state that Obama carried in 2008 with his own appeal for change, Romney told voters here in conservative-leaning Hamilton county that he is now the reformer.

“We need to make sure that Ohio is able to send a message loud and clear: We want real change, we want big change,” Romney told a crowd of several thousand who waited in long lines to see him on the factory floor of Jet Machine, a company that assembles equipment for the military and oil and gas industry.

And he tried to cast Obama as desperately clinging to power with attacks on him.

“He continues to launch these misdirected attacks on me. So his campaign gets smaller and smaller, focused on smaller and smaller things,” Romney told a crowd of about 4,000 in a county that went for Obama in 2008 but George W. Bush in 2004.

Romney got his best response when he continued to project an air of optimism – despite polls that give Obama a slight edge in Ohio and national polls showing the race to be nearly a dead heat.

“If I’m president … When I’m president,” he said, earning a standing ovation.

“The Obama campaign doesn’t have a plan. The Obama campaign is slipping because it’s talking about smaller and smaller things.”

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman told the crowd: “How about after this event we get in our cars and go down to Broadway and vote early.”

A Time poll yesterday gave Obama 5-point lead in Ohio, with people who already voted backing Obama two-to-one, while a Rasmussen poll had the race tied. Obama hits Cleveland tonight for his own rally after a multi-state tour.

Romney rapped Obama for continuing to “shrink our military,” adding, on a day when his campaign released a new ad bringing back the issue of the size of the Navy.

“Think of the jobs we’ll lose here in Ohio,” Romney said.

Jon Hayes, who lives in a Cincinnati suburb and helps sports players – including one member of the Giants — manage their hefty finances, said he sees more “excitement and passion” from Romney’s supporters.

“Four years ago with Obama, even though I didn’t vote for him, I thought that he would be able to help a divided country,” he said.

“I thought his charisma, his personality would be a force that would help bring us together. Unfortunately I think he chose a different path. Gov. Romney has a track record,” he said.

Romney is bussing across Ohio – a state he needs to win to take the White House – today and then returns again on Friday.