The latest campaign swings through Ohio come as thousands lose jobless benefits. State officials say since April 1st, 50,000 have lost benefits and by the end of the year, unemployment checks will disappear for 230.000 more Ohioans.

Perhaps its little surprise then that more than a thousand job-seekers turned out Wednesday at Columbus State Community College.

“I want a job, I’ve been laid off since November.”

Forty-five-year old Carlos McElfresh worked for years as a business analyst. He traveled nearly 60 miles, from Coshocton County to get face time with potential employers at a job fair hosted by Republican congressman Steve Stivers. He says while he spends time looking for work he also keeps an eye on the 2012 presidential campaign.

“Personally, I’m for Obama. Not the best thing to say at a Stivers job fair. But, I just believe Obama’s working hard to get us the jobs.”

Several steps away, 58-year old Connie Smith of Grove City is clutching a folder filled with resumes as she scopes out employer booths at the job fair. She’s been unemployed for more than a year after spending a career in medical office management. Smith says she’s already made up her mind in this fall’s presidential contest.

“If the election were today, Mr. Romney. Its time for change.It was time for change four years ago, I don’t think we got it.”

Smith says too few jobs have been created during the past several years. And, she adds,

“And although its supposedly against the law to discriminate, someone my age is having a very difficult time finding a position.”

While Smith speculates her age might be an obstacle to getting a job offer, April O’Brien, a recent college graduate is looking to get her career started.

“My qualifications, you know I’m bi-lingual and I was valedictorian of my college class and I still haven’t heard anything. Its very disappointing. You can never do enough it seems.”  Says O’Brien.

O’Brien has sent out hundreds of resumes. She pays little attention to the race for the White House or the debate over the economy.

“I don’t know whether there is any helping the economy at this point. Its really unfortunate there are so many college graduates out on the street and can’t find anything.”

Ohio State University political scientist, Paul Beck, says job and economic issues will likely determine the outcome of the presidential race in Ohio even though in past elections the unemployed have turned out in lower numbers than those who have jobs.

“The fact that there are unemployed is going to affect the voting of a lot of people who are employed. We’re in an economy right now that I think most people, including me regard as quite fragile.” Says Paul Beck. “They’re worried about that. They’re worried about  whether things will be better for their children then the were for them. There is that sense of unease. “

Beck says both President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are battling over how to frame their economic message to voters and  Ohio again gets a front row seat, because….

“Both of them think they can win Ohio.”  Says Beck.

Six Democrats now plan to run for the new Franklin county district.  Former mayor’s writing- in candidate Jeff Brown and Darius Mitchell join former State Rep. Joyce Beatty,  State Rep. Ted Celeste, Former Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy and  Columbus City Council member Priscilla Tyson.

Also Congressman Steve Stivers.. Has two primary opponents   Ralph Applegate and Charles Chope  – both of Columbus have filed papers to run.

Congressional candidates had to file papers again after Ohio lawmaker made slight adjustments to the first congressional map approved in the fall.

The decision Friday by U.S. Rep. Steve Austria of Beavercreek avoids a GOP faceoff with U.S. Rep. Mike Turner for the 10th congressional district in southeast Ohio drawn by state lawmakers in a protracted redistricting process.

Austria, in his second term represents the current 7th congressional district which includes an area south of Columbus.

In a statement, Austria said he is angry and frustrated that the current 7^th district has been divided into three different districts.

Turner, in his fourth term, thanked Austria for his service in a statement.

The new GOP-drawn map shrinking the state from 18 to 16 districts still pits Democratic U.S. Reps. Dennis Kucinich  and Marcy Kaptur against each other in the March primary, while Democrat Betty Sutton faces Republican Jim Renacci.

Mary Jo Kilroy’s Clintonville home is not included in the new 3rd Congressional District. Instead, she will be in the 12th congressional district, a seat now held by long-time GOP Congressman Pat Tiberi of Genoa Township.

Last week, Kilroy filed to run for U.S. Congress in the new district against State Rep. Ted Celeste, former State Rep. Joyce Beatty, and Columbus City Council member Priscilla Tyson.

Kilroy can still run for the 3rd District seat even those she does not live in the district, but she will have to re-file along with the other candidates, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

Celeste, who lives in Grandview Heights, will remain in the 3rd District. However, the majority of Grandview Heights will not. As the map was drawn earlier this year, most of Grandview Heights was included in the new district. But now only about 800 homes will remain in it.

Celeste said he does not think the new map will hurt his campaign despite the majority of his neighborhood being excluded from his district.

“The former map was more indicative of where I live. But I am happy with the map,” Celeste said.

Celeste said should Kilroy decide to re-file to run for the new congressional seat, voters would recognize her name from her prior service even though she lives out of the district.

Kilroy represented the 15th congressional district from 2009 to 2011, losing to U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers in 2010. Kilroy did not return our phone calls.

After only one term in Congress, Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy lost her seat to Republican Steve Stivers. But now that republicans have redrawn the state’s congressional district map, Kilroy said she’ll run again. The proposed district in Franklin County is heavy with registered democratic voters which could give Kilroy an advantage at the polls.

“I had close races in a swing district and a winning race in a swing district. This is a very different district,” Kilroy said.

Kilroy has run on jobs and healthcare in the past, and she said those will be among her campaign issues this time.

“We need to make sure that we are fighting for jobs. We have to protect Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. I have a track record of standing up to Wall Street and working for better protection for consumers, and I will continue to be that voice for this community,” she said.

This would be Kilroy’s fourth run for Congress. She lost to former U.S. Representative Deborah Pryce in 2006.Two years later, Kilroy defeated Stivers who currently holds the seat after last year’s win.

15th district congressman Steve Stivers shook hands and talked up  job seekers as they lined up at an OSU campus building. The republican congressman says he sponsored the job fair to help unemployed constituents.

“We have a jobs crisis, that’s what today’s about and we have a debt crisis,” Stivers said. “And we need to address both things.”

Inside, Randy Stillings was recruiting truck drivers for Schneider National.  He often works job fairs, but never one sponsored by a member of congress.

“That was a big surprise, When I got that information in an emai I think  I’ve never seen that before. That was a new one to me,” said Stillings.

Stivers and other members of congress have turned their attention to the job market after agreeing to raising the nation’s debt ceiling earlier this month. But, Stillings says congress could do more to focus on job growth.

“I don’t think they’re there yet,” Stillings said. “They’re talking about it but hopefully they will.”

Across the street from the event, at least 60 protesters carried signs. One read, ‘Stivers, Stop Voting Against Jobs.’

“This is just a front. that’s all this is, its a front just to make himself look good,” said protester Gary Russell.  “And does he look good?   No.”

Gary Russell of Columbus helped organize the protests by a coalition of unions and OSU student democrats. Russell says the protesters are tired of what he called “political rhetoric.” He points  to  Stivers support of a house budget plan that he says would lead to job losses not job gains.  Stivers said he’s saddened by the protests.

“Its too bad that politics has come to this that you can’t hold a job fair to help people without getting protestors,” Stivers said.

Protests aside, the Stivers job fair certainly was good politics.  Back in line, Anthony Hamilton, who’s been looking for work for nine months, said it wasa good idea and in the future he’ll look more favorably on Stivers.

“He is helping out the community and like I said I appreciate him a lot,” Hamilton said. “Hopefully, I can find something that will fit my schedule. I do have a son on the way.”

The job fair featured 65 employers in fields ranging from banking to healthcare and manufacturing.

With a Tuesday deadline looming, Republican Congressman Steve Stivers said Boehner’s plan meets his requirements.

“It really does make the structural changes we need as well as cutting spending and making sure we don’t default on our debt. Those are the three pieces of the Boehner plan, and I think all three make sense to me,” he said.

While the plan makes about $900 billion in spending cuts and extends the nation’s borrowing cap, it also requires another debt limit increase next year. And it does not call for any new tax revenue. Democrats struck down a similar measure, and the White House promises a veto.

The conference was sponsored by several groups including the Horn of Africa Rescue Committee and the Department of Homeland Security. The speakers at the event were a diverse group. Mussa Farah, the Horn of Africa President spoke to the audience first in the Somali language but the words radicalization and extremism were evident.

Farah told the audience that Somali youth were the most important assets in their community. But he said, it was the responsibility of older adults to work, invest, advise and educate them so they become good leaders of tomorrow.

“We are very proud to live in a country that respects and takes care of many religions and countries in the world,” Farah said. “But we cannot take the safety and the security of our country for granted. As leaders of our community, the Somali community, we have the responsibility to engage the Somali American youth in an open discussion and strengthen the country’s safety and security.”

The safety and security of the United States was the focus of a message brought by Rob Glenn from Ohio’s Department of Homeland Security.

“The fact that we are all here today tells us that we acknowledge a threat to our way of life and it’s our way of life and it’s the American way of life and the Ohio way of life,” Glenn said. “Ohio and Columbus is no stranger to terrorism. We’ve had several of those who have been linked to Al Qaida and those who have engaged in terrorism but not from the Somali Community, not yet and hopefully that will never be the case.”

The three most prominent names in Columbus terrorism plots are Iyman Faris, Christopher Paul and Somali immigrant Nuradin Abdi. Abdi, who entered the U.S. illegally, was an adult when he plotted with others to blow up a Columbus shopping mall. Conference speakers stressed that intervention should begin while Somalis here are still in their teens.

“We have seen young boys take up their arms in a false pretense of glory,” Glenn said. “They’re fighting for the creation of a revolutionary state that would seem to bring Islamic justice to the world. But I can tell you this, I do not want Columbus or any other Ohio city or any city in the United States to be a haven of violence and extremism of any type.”

Time at the conference was set aside for evening prayers but not before attendees heard from Pastor Emmanuel Inah of Columbus’s Victory Church of God.

“It’s not just about Muslim but we have extreme views about Christian also,” Inah said. “We have Christians that are radicals also. It’s not about Muslim, it’s about an extreme view of whatsoever that you believe, and sometimes it can carry you across borders to do things that are contrary to what God has really laid down for us.”

Pastor Inah quoted passages from the Bible and the Quran to make his point. He warned Somali young people to guard against the wrong sorts of outside influences.

“I want to use this opportunity to encourage our youths to do not have this game played in your mind about what violence you can do in the name of God and you are going to profit anything,” Inah said.

Later, the audience heard from Isse Ali from the group Somali Unified Youth who explained the challenges facing Somali young people in the U.S.

“Somali young males in particular suffer from negative stereotyping and frequently unwarranted police attention,” Ali said. “Unemployment and poor housing are also seen as problems for the Somali community which also affects Somali youth as well through a lack of positive role models, poorer health and poverty and so on.”

Congressman Steve Stivers also addressed the conference. Stivers spoke about testimony that has taken place on Capitol Hill.

“Before the House Homeland Security Committee there has been testimony by FBI agents talking about attempts by some to take advantage of the Somali community — not here but in Minneapolis — to attempt to radicalize especially the youth in the Somali community,” Stivers said. “And we take that very serious here and we want to make sure that we take steps to prevent that from happening here.”

Ohio Homeland Security’s Rob Glenn urged Somalis to contact law enforcement officials if they suspect terrorist activity is being plotted.

“I would like to echo Rep. Stivers’ plea that the door is open and it’s up to you to engage with your government,” Glenn said.

Interview with 15th District U-S Congressman Steve Stivers at the Holiday Inn in Worthington with WOSU Reporter Tom Borgerding and WTVN reporter Matt Bruning. The interview was conducted after a breakfast meeting with approximately 150 members from Chambers of Commerce from Worthington, Columbus, Upper Arlington, Grandview, and Clintonville.

Borgerding: First thing, the budget battle, let me ask about that first, Representative Ryan says he’s going to cut 32-billion dollars from this year’s budget. The Obama Administration says he wants a pledge from Republicans not to shut down government. How’s it going to be resolved. Are you going to compromise or stalemate? Stivers: Well, I think we’ve got to compromise. But, we’ve got to figure out how to cut government. You can’t balance a budget by freezing expenditures, We’ve got to actually cut expenditures. We have a spending problem in this country. So, you know we’re going to work together, but even the President recognizes that we’re spending too much money. So, the good news is we agree on a lot of things. And, hopefully we’re going to be able to come together and find a compromise that works for everybody.

Borgerding: In your remarks, you said you’re going to start with the easy stuff. Can you tell me, what is the easy stuff?

Stivers: The easiest thing was cutting Congress’ own budget. And we cut congress’ budget first. And we’re going to move on to looking at line by line, especially things that on a performance basis may be aren’t doing the things that they used to do or aren’t as effective as they should be. There’s for example, about 2-billion dollars in money that subsidizes union activity in this country. You know, the unions are doing okay, I don’t think they need any more subsidies. You, know, if unions want to do something they should pay for it. So, there’s things like that. That’s another easy thing. There’s probably ten or twenty of those that we can do. But then we’ve got to figure out how to look again, line by line, to say, is this program working? Is it effective? Is it efficient? Because what the American people want and what the people in my district have told me they want is government that is effective and efficient and does the job that it needs to do without taking any excess money out of their pocket.

Bruning: Wanted to ask about health care here real quick, if you’ve got a moment. You know, where are we going with this? We’ve had the judge rule parts of this is unconstitutional, the whole bill’s void. What’s next?

Stivers: Well, what we’re going to focus on is trying to reduce costs in health care. We’re going to focus on things like tort reform , even the President talked about it in his State of the Union. We’re going to focus on dealing with the fix that needs done on the 1099 provision, it’s a bi-partisan issue. We’re going to try to deal with the individual mandate that’s keeping small business from hiring new people. We’re going to try to deal with making care more affordable by doing Food and Drug Administration reform. We’re going to try to pass more consumer behavior by expanding health savings accounts, not limiting them like the bill did last year. So, there’s a lot of little bills and they’ll be done one at a time. I’m going to work on a bill that keeps 26 year old folks on their parents insurance. We’re all going to work on lots of individual bills that won’t be one massive 27-hundred page monster. It will be individual bills moving. And the ideas will rise and fall on their own merits.

Borgerding: What is your sense? Is there more urgency on getting health care reform or more urgency on some of the economic development. In this group, obviously a small business group, there are a lot of small business questions but the animated questions really came about health care.

Stivers: I think jobs is issue one but the two issues are linked. When small business can’t add jobs because they’re worried about the mandate, when small business can’t afford to operate because of health care costs, we’ve got to deal with costs. So, the two are linked. But jobs is clearly issue one. And I talked, for most of the hour I talked about, It was about jobs. And there’s all different aspects of jobs and cutting spending is part of job creation and growth in this country too. Cutting federal government spending and getting government more efficient and effective.

Bruning: I heard one question was asked about the budget and linking jobs, he said, hey you know the budget’s not been approved. There’s no defense spending, you know, we can’t add jobs if we’re not getting contracts. When will we see a budget passed?

Stivers: We’ll pass a continuing resolution, on February, I think its 17th, in the House. And then it will go to the Senate, hopefully they’ll pass it quickly and we’ll have a budget for rest of this year. We’re already working, and you saw Chairman Ryan release some things yesterday. We’re already working on next year’s budget too. So, we’re trying to work ahead to make sure that , so we can make sure that the problem of last year’s congress is not the problem of this congress and that we’ll get next year’s budget done on time before October when the fiscal year ends.

Borgerding: Congressman, I’ve got one more real quick question. CBS News last week identified you as among a group of freshman congressmen that’s actually bunking in your office in Washington. Why are you doing that? Stivers: Well, you know I decided to stay in my office early-on here because frankly , I didn’t want to make a bunch of commitments to a rent payment that I didn’t know what made sense for my family. And, my commitment is to my family here in Columbus first. I spend most of my time here in Columbus too. I didn’t think it made sense to have a $2,000 apartment in Washington, and that’s what things cost up on Capitol Hill, if I was going to be here in Columbus most of the time. For the temporary time I’m staying on an air mattress in my office and just go down to the House gym and shower in the morning. It allows me to work later at night and get back to work earlier in the morning. I don’t know that I’ll do it forever, but it’s the right thing to do for doing more work. I kind of look at this as a temporary deployment like when I went to Operation Iraqi Freedom and so I’m sleeping on an air mattress again to turn our country around.

Bruning: I had a real quick question about this unemployment compensation because I know the state is obviously is facing this eight-billion dollar budget deficit. This is something just to add to that a little bit. I guess, what can the federal government do. Will they forgive that? Is there something we can work with?

Stivers: I don’t know that we can forgive the money that was borrowed because, again, we want to encourage states to be responsible and if you forgive money like that it actually encourages people to be irresponsible. But, there might be something we can do on the interest, like Andy Doehrl had suggested and I look forward to meeting with people and talking with them about it. Ironically, when I was a state senator I tried to solve this mess before it came and I said we’ve got a pending crisis in our worker’s comp or in our unemployment comp fund we’ve got to get it fixed and unfortunately it didn’t get fixed. Sometimes that’s the way it goes, you win some, you lose some. But, I wish I could have solved this one before it came but now we’re going to try to do what we can to help from Washington.

Borgerding: One more question, this district has changed parties, obviously twice in the past two elections. You know, how do you keep the pulse of voters and have you made any changes in plans in the wake of Gabrielle Giffords incident.

Stivers: You know, I’ve not changed anything that I do based on the way , what happened, the sad tragedy that happened to representative Giffords. But what I want to make sure we do, and that we’re going to continue to keep an eye on is make sure people feel safe meeting with their representative. I was lucky and I think I was glad that over one hundred people this morning felt safe and comfortable coming here to meet with me. We want to make sure that people feel safe when they come to meet with me. And so we’re going to make sure that we employ active and passive security measures . And its something that I started even before the Giffords shooting, the tragedy in Tucson. We made sure that we built the system that had active and passive security measures so when people wanted to visit with me they were safe. And I think that’s really important because our system of government depends on interaction between the people and their representatives.