LIMA, Ohio, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama told supporters in Ohio Republican nominee Mitt Romney is trying to scare auto workers with an ad two U.S. automakers have called false.
Obama attacked a Romney radio ad that accused the administration of selling out Chrysler employees, CNN reported. The ad says the president sold the company to Italians -- the Italian automaker Fiat is now the majority owner -- who plan to move Jeep production from the United States to China.
"I know, you know, we're close to the election, but this isn't a game. These are people's jobs, these are people's lives," Obama said, addressing almost 3,000 people at a rally in Hilliard. "You've got folks who work at a Jeep plant who have been calling their employers, worried, asking is it true, are our jobs being shipped the China? And the reason they're been getting these calls is that Governor Romney is running an ad that says so. It's not true. Everybody knows it's not true. The car companies themselves have been telling Governor Romney to knock it off."
Fiat plans to open a Jeep plant in China but says the vehicles made there will be for sale in China.
Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co. have both said Romney's assertion they plan to move U.S. production jobs to China is false.
Obama suspended campaigning for most of the week because of Hurricane Sandy. Romney also stopped campaigning, although he returned to the trail Thursday.
The president also spoke to overflow crowds at high schools in Springfield and Lima, Ohio. The president noted the progress made on the economy in recent months but said more has to be done.
"As long as there is a single American who wants a job and can't find one; as long as there are families who are working harder and harder but falling behind; as long as there's a child somewhere in Lima or anywhere in Ohio, or anywhere in the country who is languishing in poverty and barred from opportunity, then our fight goes on," Obama said at Lima Senior High School. "Our work is not yet done."
CNN posted dueling pieces by Obama and Romney, each titled "My vision for America."
"I believe America's prosperity was built on the strength of our middle class," Obama said. "We don't succeed when a few at the top do well while everyone else struggles to get by -- we're better off when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules."
