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WVXU's political correspondent, Howard Wilkinson will be on the scene for the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.

Kasich: Ohio on the upswing, being held back only by Obama

Ohio Gov. John Kasich Tuesday night gave a full house at the Republican National Convention in Tampa a glowing  report of all the good things he says have happened in Ohio since he took office, but blamed President Obama for holding the state back.

"When I came into office we were 48th in the country in job creation,'' Kasich said in an eight-minute speech to the delegates at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. "We had 89 cents in our rainy day fund. Most kids have more than that in their piggy banks."

Now, Kasich said, the state is fourth in the nation in job creation and has a $500 million surplus.

"But the wind is in our face,'' Kasich said. "The president has given us headwinds."

Obama, Kasich said, wants to raise taxes and "his regulations have had a smothering effect on job creation."

That will end, Kasich said, when Mitt Romney is elected president.

A statement issued by the Ohio Democratic Party called Kasich's speech a "fairy tale."

"Gov. Kasich continues to spin his preposterous tales about balancing Ohio's budget without raising taxes, when, in reality, he slashed school and community budgets to the bone, forcing layoffs, school levies and tax increases across the state,'' Ohio Democratic Party chairman Chris Redfern said in a written statement.

Hamilton County GOP chairman Alex Triantafilou, who was on the convention floor for Kasich's speech, called it "a great statement on how far we have come. And he delivered it really effectively, speaking from the heart."  

Howard Wilkinson is in his 50th year of covering politics on the local, state and national levels.