The Heartland Tour as part of the campaign for President Barack Obama made stops Monday in Painesville and Newbury Township to discuss the middle class and the economy.

At the Painesville stop was former Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Bob Boggs; Susan McGuinness, candidate for Ohio House of Representatives District 61; and Obama for America-Ohio Rural Vote Director Michael McCandlish.

In Newbury, appearing were McCandlish and Deborah Reiter, Chardon Councilwoman and chairwoman of the Geauga Democratic Party Women’s Caucus.

Meanwhile, the campaign for Republican Mitt Romney hosted Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for a campaign briefing Tuesday morning at the Richmond Heights Victory Center.

The Obama campaign said the economy in both counties is improving, citing 4,900 new jobs in Lake County, and 2,200 jobs in Geauga County since March 2010, sourcing the statistics to an Ohio Labor Force Query.

Also noted was the unemployment rate in Lake County dropped from 8.4 percent in July 2009 to 6.2 percent in July this year.

In Geauga County unemployment dropped from 7.2 percent in July 2009 to 5.7 percent in July this year.

The Obama campaign also noted there have been signficiant infrastructure investments made through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the agricultural safety net and access to capital has greatly expanded through crop insurance and emergency disaster assistance.

Campaign officials also said that through the new health care law an estimated 1,462 young adults who otherwise would have lacked insurance now have it through their parents’ plan in Lake County and 634 young adults in Geauga County.

In Richmond Heights, Sen. Rubio was slated to discuss why the country needs a president who will address the growing national debt that has more than doubled under the Obama Administration. 

The Romney campaign said that almost four years after taking office, and several visits from Obama to the Buckeye State, Ohioans are not better off under Obama.

Romney officials said as the nation has $16 trillion of debt things would continue to get worse and that Obama has failed to lead and instead relied on budget “gimmicks” instead of actual spending cuts.

John Arthur Hutchison

JHutchison@News-Herald.com

Twitter: @newsheraldjah