Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland spoke to a small crowd today in Athens, Ohio. He's urging Ohioans to get out and vote.

He says the state is important to President Obama's re-election bid, one he feels is much deserved.

"Well I think the President deserves four more years because he has done a very good job under the most difficult of circumstances. He inherited this recession from George W. Bush. 800,000 jobs were lost in the month that he took the oath of office and he immediately went to work. He passed the Recovery Act, which stopped the bleeding. He fought to save the auto industry which affects so many counties in Ohio," says Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland.

The stakes are high in the Buckeye State. No Republican has ever been elected President without winning Ohio.