Ohio has had it rough in the past decade or so, losing almost 300,000 manufacturing jobs between 2000-2010. Between 2008-2009 alone, the state lost 17.5% of its manufacturing workforce.

The U.S. trade deficit with China hasn't been helpful to the Buckeye state either, costing 103,397 jobs between 2001-2010.

With jobs, jobs, jobs first and foremost on the minds of Ohioans, it will be interesting to see how voters receive visits today from both President Obama and his GOP rival, Mitt Romney.

The president will speak at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, and Gov. Romney will visit Seilkop Industries in Cincinnati.

Ohio is a strongly manufacturing-centic state, so both candidates are likely to talk about their plans for U.S. industry.

In the State of the Union, President Obama called for more efforts to ramp up high-tech manufacturing, plus the creation of a new trade enforcement task force.  Despite the president's concerns about "unfair trade practices in countries like China," he has not taken action on China's deliberately undervalued currency, which artificially lowers the price of China's exports.

In contrast, Mitt Romney has pursued a hard line on China, vowing to designate China as a currency manipulator on day one of his presidency.  He has also vowed to bar China from U.S. government procurement contracts until Beijing provides reciprocal access for U.S. firms.

Read more about Ohio as a battleground state.