Ohio: Gm

Brunner also questioned the economic rationale that GM used to decide which of its dealerships
will remain open.

"When America's taxpayers are footing the bill to the tune of billions to keep these car giants
afloat, they deserve to know how and why the money is being spent," Brunner said in a release.
"While cuts may be inevitable in the process, decisions to manufacture cars overseas and sell them
in the U.S., while cutting jobs at dealerships who sell them, may be just short of ludicrous to
American taxpayers."

In her release, Brunner also noted that she and her husband own a GM truck and a Chrysler
car.

Brunner, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and state Rep. Tyrone Yates all have announced plans to seek the
Democratic nomination next May for the Senate seat that George V. Voinovich is vacating, and trade
and the future of the domestic auto industry are critical issues in the Democratic bastion of
northeastern Ohio.

The rate, which was up 1.4 percentage points from the revised number for the previous month, was the largest one-month increase since 1980.

Also yesterday, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the country's economic output dropped by 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter last year, a major shift from the 3.8 percent drop that had been expected. The dramatic fall in the gross domestic product showed that the economy is deteriorating faster than had been thought.

The deteriorating economy in Ohio was manifested last month by more major layoffs, an increasingly commonplace occurrence. Ohio's job losses in January were unusually high, even by the standards of the current downturn.

Lucious Plant is feeling the effects.

Democrats say the $8 billion or so expected to flow into Ohio will help create or save thousands of jobs, allow Gov. Ted Strickland to reduce the state's budget shortfall and give more than 4 million Ohioans at least a modest tax break.

Even so, Strickland speculated yesterday that the package still could leave a hole of $400 million or $500 million in his proposed $54.7 billion, two-year budget, based on previous assumptions of how much federal funding would be approved.

The governor said he needs more details about the final bill and last-minute changes, but he said that additional cuts to his proposed budget are possible, except in education spending, which he vowed to protect.

U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain) and George Voinovich (R-Cleveland) expressed disappointment late Thursday following the failure to break the Republican filibuster of legislation to provide bridge loans to the U.S. auto industry.

"It's unfathomable to me that Senate Republicans would turn their backs on millions of American families," Brown said. "During the recent campaign we heard a lot from Republicans about the people that make up the real America and even the Carhartts they wear. I guess that was then."