A few key facts: Every single House Republication voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In May, the Recovery Act increased personal, disposable income by $17 billion. Last week, the Department of Education announced it was releasing $2.7 billion in aid to support state education budgets months ahead of schedule. And right now, over 2,000 highway projects are already under way and over $20 billion in transportation construction funds have been put to work. There’s absolutely no denying that without the Recovery Act our economy would be in much worse shape. According to a recent analysis by respected economist Mark Zandi, by the end of next year, the Recovery Act “…leaves the unemployment rate almost 2 percentage points lower” than it would have been otherwise.

To point: Earlier this week, the DNC released a TV ad calling on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to stop playing partisan games and start offering real solutions. Then yesterday, the DNC held a press conference call to talk about Recovery Act projects and job creation in Ohio, and released a new web video which highlights John Boehner’s (OH) extreme hypocrisy and factual inaccuracy in his claim that none of the contracts for Ohio infrastructure projects resulting from Recovery Act had been okayed. As the video’s narrator puts it: “His own state’s newspaper found that Boehner was flat wrong.” In fact, in Boehner’s district alone nearly $15 million has been authorized or awarded to recovery projects that are putting more and more Ohioans back to work everyday. You can watch the ad below.

UPDATE: In an oped this week, Republican Whip Jon Kyl called for the cancellation of the economic recovery money and said the funds are not putting Americans to work. Taking Kyl to task, Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director Luis Heredia and DNC Press Secretary Hari Sevugan held a conference call this afternoon to highlight the importance of economic recovery funding for Arizona projects. The DNC also released a new web video, "Job Killing John."

But on Friday night, only nine volunteers manned the 24 phones in the McCain campaign office. The phone bank began operating on a daily basis just two weeks ago. And since then, only five people have shown up on most weekdays to canvass local neighborhoods.

Obama's campaign, in contrast, has flooded this GOP bastion with volunteers. Some canvassers first hit the winding streets of nearby subdivisions in March during the Democratic primary, and they have worked almost nonstop since in search of supporters.

Ohio is a battleground in the presidential race, and here's the view on the front line: McCain's get-out-the-vote operation has struggled to build momentum, and it appears outgunned by Obama's.

For more information, visit Barack Obama's Ohio state page.

"I can take four more weeks of attacks from John McCain," Obama told 15,000 gathered in resplendent sunshine under deep-blue skies Thursday afternoon at Ault Park.

"But this nation can't take four more years of the economic policies of George W. Bush and John McCain."

Obama began his two-day tour of southern Ohio on a day when the stock market continued to plummet and the attention of voters is divided, with one eye on the campaign and one eye on the economy.

"It's tough times for Cincinnati, it's tough times for Ohio, it's tough times for America," he said. "I believe in all of you. I believe in this country. In this great nation of ours, there's nothing we can't do when we put our minds to it.

"This is the United States of America."

Meanwhile, the McCain campaign continues their dishonest and dishonorable dive into gutter politics in a desperate attempt "turn the page on the financial crisis" strategy while the Dow Jones crashes at historic rates and taking the savings of thousands of Americans with it.

My name is Roy Gross. I’m a proud member of Teamsters Local 299 in Detroit, Michigan.

When I was a young man and wanted to start a family, I went to Detroit and landed a job as an automobile transporter. I delivered new cars from the assembly plants to dealerships around the country.

It was a great job, a Teamsters union job. You worked hard and it paid good wages, plus health care and pension. I worked there for 18 years. Working class families were doing well in Detroit until the Bush Administration took office, then everything changed.

Manufacturing jobs were exported by the hundreds of thousands and replaced with minimum-wage jobs in the so-called “New Economy.” I’m one of the lucky ones; I still have a job. But many of my friends and co-workers have lost their jobs and their homes.

If you ask me, this so-called “New Economy” is not working. We need a renewed economy. That’s why I’m seeing so many of my friends in Michigan - Democrats, Republicans and Independents - putting aside their differences to join this campaign.

Barack Obama will enact fair trade policies and work just as hard for us as we work for America. I will do everything I can, from now until Election Day, to put Michigan in the Obama column.

Monica Early, Ohio

I’m Monica Early from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Last January, someone sent me an e-mail containing so-called “facts” about Senator Obama. The e-mail painted a scary picture, questioning his faith and patriotism. I decided to do some fact-checking on my own and learned the truth.

What I discovered is that Barack Obama is a man of faith, a man of values and a man of action—someone who has shown his love for America by fighting for our people, helping communities left behind on Chicago’s South Side, fighting today for working families and the tax breaks we need to purchase a home, pay for college and save for retirement.

I am grateful for the e-mail that tried to scare me. It brought me here, an ordinary citizen, empowered by a leader who told me I could make a difference. Ohio is home to four of the fastest-dying cities in America. John McCain promises to continue the Bush economic policies that got us there.

Einstein said a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. If we elect John McCain, then, according to Einstein, we surely would be insane.

We need change. We need President Barack Obama!

Wes Moore

Hi, my name is Wes Moore. Twelve years ago, I took an oath on the Bible to defend, support and protect the United States of America. Today, I cannot fathom a more perfect expression of my allegiance as a soldier and citizen than giving my full support for Barack Obama to be my next commander-in-chief.

Before I deployed for Afghanistan, my grandparents gave me a Bible. Inside, they wrote four simple words: have faith, not fear. Those words protected and guided me and the soldiers under my command during some of the most trying days of my life.

I want a president who has a comprehensive strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan, and who can rally young people to serve, both in and out of uniform, and sees these as complementary, not contradictory goals. I want a president who believes in supporting our troops while we are fighting overseas, and supporting us with proper health care and education when we come home.

This election is not about history. Nor is it about making history. It’s about seizing history.

The charge my grandparents gave me—have faith, not fear—is the same challenge I issue tonight. A faith that this nation can rise to meet any challenge.

Tonight, Senator Obama is not asking you to have faith in him. He is asking you to have faith with him. Let’s make Barack Obama our next president.

The Honorable Janet Monacco, Florida

I’m Janet Monaco from Rockledge, Florida, by way of Long Island, New York. Fourteen years ago I moved to Florida to pursue my vision of the American dream. Within five years, I had bought a house and opened two pet stores. I was living well.

Then disaster struck: back-to-back hurricanes, and rising costs of food and gas. Today, I’m a struggling small-business owner who is diabetic and without health insurance. I work 70-hour weeks at the store and more hours in a part-time job and still can’t afford insurance.

I don’t tell this story to get sympathy. Everyone has challenges. But what gets me angry is that George Bush and John McCain have done nothing for people like me—and, in fact, have done plenty of things that make it even harder to get by. Huge tax breaks for those at the top. Looking out for the lobbyists and not the little guy. And billions spent in tax cuts for big corporations, but not enough for small businesses like mine.

I’m supporting Barack Obama, because we can’t afford four more years of the same. Yes, we can make a change!

Nathaniel Fick

Good afternoon. I’m Nathaniel Fick. My Marine platoon landed in Afghanistan on a moonlit night in 2001. A little more than a year later, we rolled into Iraq. I’ll never forget one dawn after a vicious gun battle. We’d just medevaced one of our wounded Marines, and I turned to see a small American flag hanging from a humvee’s antenna. For a second, it reminded me of the line we all know so well: “And our flag was still there.”

I registered as a Republican at 18 and voted for John McCain in 2000. It took seven years of hard experience to get me on this stage. But we cannot afford more of the same. That’s why we need Barack Obama and Joe Biden to lead us beyond the tired divisions of the past. They have the judgment to make the right decisions, leading our military, and uphold our highest ideals.

Everyone who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan has left something: a friend, a limb, a piece of their youth. In those palm groves and on those ridge lines, this is personal for us. I don’t want to retreat; I want to win.

The past seven years have been hard, often heartbreaking. Our flag, however, is still there. Let’s move forward in our quest to live up to the idea of America.

Teresa Brito-Asenap, New Mexico

Buenas noches, good evening.

I am Teresa Brito-Asenap from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The first nine years of my life my grandparents worked with me to study and learn. They always talked about the importance of education. But it was not until third grade that I realized that mi abuelita, my grandmother, could neither read nor write.

But because of them, today I hold a doctorate in education. I owe them and my parents everything. Strong families raise strong students. All they need are world-class schools and dedicated teachers. Yet because of George W. Bush and John McCain, our schools don’t have the resources they need to meet the high standards of No Child Left Behind.

We don’t need four more years of the same. We need to turn the page and put our kids at the head of the class. Barack Obama will invest $10 billion a year in early education funding and give any student who wants to go to college a $4,000 tax credit. That’s the change we need and the change Barack Obama will bring as president of the United States.

Arriba y adelante – si se puede!

Pamela Cash-Roper, North Carolina

I’m Pam from Pittsboro, North Carolina. Wait till you hear what’s happening to me.

You might find my story familiar. Maybe it’s happening to you.

My husband, Keith, and I used to have a modest home we could afford, cars, money in a 401(k) plan, health insurance, and our health. We educated ourselves, got good jobs with benefits, worked night and day, raised four happy children, and saved some money.

It was the American dream. We did everything we thought you were supposed to do to live it. We really felt America was working for us.

Then, eight years ago, our American dream turned into a nightmare. Keith needed open-heart surgery. He lost his job and with it the family’s health insurance. I couldn’t afford to pay for health insurance on my nurse’s income, so we don’t have any.

Having no health insurance works – as long as you stay healthy.

Five years after Keith’s surgery, I had a quadruple bypass, and our medical expenses grew.

I’m a lifelong Republican who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Bush. But I can’t afford four more years like this.

That’s why I am supporting Barack Obama as my president.

Barney Smith, Indiana

My name is Barney Smith.

For most of my life, I was a proud Republican.

Growing up in the Indiana heartland, America was a place of boundless opportunity. You could go to the town factory and get a job the same day. You could start a family and buy a house with your salary.

My father started at Marion’s RCA plant in 1949, manufacturing picture tubes for TV sets.

I started in 1973. My wife worked in a high school cafeteria. Together, we made a living and raised a family.

Then, in 2004, the plant closed. Today, a foreign worker does my job.

After 31 years, I received 90 days’ severance pay and was unemployed.

Thirteen months later, I got a job at a distribution center.

Republicans talk about putting “country first,” but tell that to Marion, Indiana. They sent my job overseas.

America can’t afford more of the same. We need a president who puts the Barney Smiths before the Smith Barneys.

I’m going to put country first by voting Barack Obama for president.

The heartland needs change. And with Obama, we’re going to get it.

I stand before you as a woman who has seen how this opportunity can lift people up. And when I see Barack Obama and Joe Biden, I see the same decency and values that my hard-working parents taught me.

I see the wonderful promise of America, and I see the opportunity of a lifetime to bring about the change we need.

I’m a Democrat because I believe in the power of opportunity.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden will fight, so that all Americans can pursue their dreams. And that’s change we can all believe in.

McCain has bragged about supporting President Bush's failed policies 90 percent of the time, most recently chronicled in a video distributed by the Democratic National Committee earlier this week. For example, in 2005, McCain said on Meet the Press that "The fact is, that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed" and that he agreed with President Bush on the "transcendent issues" of the day. View the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4DrL8-UA4U.

The following is a summary of events around the country:

Arlington, VA
Democratic Activists will deliver a More of the Same birthday cake to John McCain's campaign headquarters.

Denver, CO
Democrats will hold a John McCain's More of the Same birthday party at the Rialto Café on 16th Street.

Dayton, OH
Ohio Democrats will bring a hold a rally at John McCain's announcement of his running mate in Dayton. The event will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

Youngstown, OH
Local democrats will join the county Democratic Party chair, the county treasurer, and labor leaders for a birthday party for John McCain. The event will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

Pittsburgh, PA
The Allegheny County Executive and the chair of the county Democratic Party will host a birthday party that will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

Washington, PA
Local labor leaders will host a More of the Same McCain birthday party that will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

Erie, PA
Local Democratic activists will host a More of the Same McCain birthday party that will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

Harrisburg, PA
Local Democratic activists will host a More of the Same McCain birthday party that will feature the DNC's "more of the same" mobile billboard and a birthday cake for Senator McCain.

But along with the beauty and promise of America, a big, diverse state like Ohio also lives with the challenges of the American economy. And tonight, at kitchen tables across Ohio and the heartland, mothers and fathers are worried. They’re worried because DHL just said it was planning to cut 8,200 jobs, and they wonder if their jobs are going to be next.

They’re worried because they have a child in Iraq, risking life and limb in a war that has taken too many lives, cost too much money and injured too many families. And when their child returns to America, they worry that their child might have to leave their hometown again to find a job.

They’re worried because Midwesterners are more likely to lose a neighbor to foreclosure than gain a neighbor who buys a house. And can you imagine? There’s now a realtor’s group outside Cincinnati offering a class called “foreclosure opportunities.”

And while families are losing sleep tonight trying to figure out some way to make their paycheck stretch through one more day, John McCain is sleeping better than ever. He's sleeping better than ever because he thinks “Americans, overall, are better off…” thanks to President Bush.

And would you believe he said last week that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. He has no problem hitting the snooze button on the economy, because he's never been a part of the middle class. And I would say to him: Senator McCain, it’s time for your wake-up call. Because we just can’t afford more of the same.

Now, when I was a little boy, I went to a one-room school house. One of the rules we had in school was that when you made mistakes on your homework, you had to correct them because if you didn't correct your mistakes, you would repeat them. If John McCain doesn’t know the economic policies he’s been supporting for eight years have failed the heartland—and failed this country—he's destined to repeat those mistakes.

Now, I could say that John McCain represents four more years of Bush policies. But I don’t have to, because his campaign is telling you the very same thing. He and the Washington lobbyists who run his campaign are offering policies that are stuck in the past and that will keep our economy stuck in reverse. Stuck-in-the-past policies that mean Warren Buffet, one of the wealthiest men in America, pays a lower rate of income tax than his secretary, and he’ll be the first to tell you, that’s wrong.

Stuck-in-the-past trade deals that mean a father has to give up his high-skilled job manufacturing refrigeration equipment, for a low-wage job, stocking the freezer aisle at a grocery store; a stuck-in-the-past energy policy that can’t look beyond old fuels like oil to new sources like wind and solar, because oil lobbyists wrote the policy; and a war that sends 10 billion of our tax dollars per month to build the Iraqi economy, while bridges and roads collapse here at home.

You know, it was once said of the first George Bush that he was born on third base and thought he’d hit a triple. Well, with the 22 million new jobs and the budget surplus Bill Clinton left behind, George W. Bush came into office on third base—and then he stole second. And John McCain cheered him every step of the way. For Ohioans and all Americans, we can’t afford more of the same. It’s time for a change—and Barack Obama will bring the change we need.

Barack Obama will give a $1,000 tax cut for the middle class, and end the tax cuts that encourage corporations to send jobs overseas. He’ll invest in advanced manufacturing and green industries. He’ll work to bring down the cost of health care and make college more affordable. He’ll remove roadblocks in front of new small businesses and start-up companies.

For Ohio and for the nation, there’s more than hope in these ideas—there are jobs. Investing in advanced energy industries will create 5 million green jobs across this country. In Ohio alone, investing in wind power could boost wages by more than $3.5 billion by 2020. That’s the change we need.

It’s the change from thinking everyone’s born on third base, to making sure everybody has their chance at bat. That people don’t have to sit out in this economy anymore because they can pay for college, can get a loan to start a small business, can afford the treatment they need to get healthy.

It’s time for a president who will bring our jobs back and bring our troops home. For the change we need, it’s time for Barack Obama.

Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, their health care, their pensions. Trillions of dollars for an unnecessary war paid with borrowed money. Tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air, at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis, while all the president’s oilmen are maneuvering to grab Iraq’s oil.

Borrowed money to bomb bridges in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. No money to rebuild bridges in America. Money to start a hot war with Iran. Now we have another cold war with Russia, while the American economy has become a game of Russian roulette.

If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold. World records for violations of national and international laws. They want another four-year term to continue to alienate our allies, spend our children’s inheritance and hollow out our economy.

We can’t afford another Republican administration. Wake up, America. The insurance companies took over health care. Wake up, America. The pharmaceutical companies took over drug pricing.

Wake up, America. The speculators took over Wall Street. Wake up, America. They want to take your Social Security. Wake up, America. Multinational corporations took over our trade policies, factories are closing, good paying jobs lost.

Wake up, America. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more. War against Iran will mean $10-a-gallon gasoline. The oil administration wants to drill more, into your wallet. Wake up, America. Weapons contractors want more. An Iran war will cost 5 to 10 trillion dollars.

This administration can tap our phones. They can’t tap our creative spirit. They can open our mail. They can’t open economic opportunities. They can track our every move. They lost track of the economy while the cost of food, gasoline and electricity skyrockets. They skillfully played our post-9/11 fears and allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many. Every day we get the color orange, while the oil companies, the insurance companies, the speculators, the war contractors get the color green.

Wake up, America. This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left. This is call for you to go from down to up. Up with the rights of workers. Up with wages. Up with fair trade. Up with creating millions of good paying jobs, rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems. Up with creating millions of sustainable energy jobs to lower the cost of energy, lower carbon emissions and protect the environment.

Up with health care for all. Up with education for all. Up with home ownership. Up with guaranteed retirement benefits. Up with peace. Up with prosperity. Up with the Democratic Party. Up with Obama-Biden.

Wake up, America. Wake up, America. Wake up, America.

As a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, I was overjoyed to be a part of history at the beginning of the 110th Congress with Stephanie. We became two of the five CBC members who would chair full committees in the House of Representatives.

Her life and legacy is full of history making—as the first black woman to become a member of Congress in Ohio and the many “firsts” she accomplished as a successful attorney in the state. One thing is clear: to be a first in so many areas, to be such a trailblazer in public service you have to be strong. You have to be committed to making a difference in the lives of others.

The role of a first is not to walk through a door and then close only to prevent future entry by others. The role of a first is to walk through that door of opportunity, open new doors, and create new opportunities for others. And so, my challenge to all of us is: to avoid the legacy of the one and only.

We don’t need to create any more opportunities that die with an individual. We need more legacies like Stephanie’s—the kind of legacy that lives on. Her legacy demands that we do what Gandhi once said—to “be the change you want to see in the world.” This is the change we see in Barack Obama. So, let’s continue to trail blaze, to take the road less traveled, so that someone else can walk down that road. Then our living will not be in vain.

We’re going to see a video tribute to other great Democrats who passed away over the last four years.

Now let us observe a moment of silence to honor Stephanie’s memory.

After Senator Obama prevailed, the Congressional Black Caucus met with Senator Obama, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones led us in standing rock-solid in support of him as our candidate for president. She knew the importance of making sure that every vote counts and every vote is counted.

After the 2004 election when so many votes went uncounted in Ohio, Stephanie Tubbs Jones met with me and other House members in Columbus, Ohio to hear the testimony of hundreds of Ohioans angry at the way their secretary of state had misconducted the presidential election. She returned to Washington with one vow: “Never again.” Never again would we see justice left undone. Never again will votes go uncounted. Never again will the voice of the people be ignored.

Before leaving this convention, with Senator Obama nominated as our candidate, I ask that we honor the memory of Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and speak with one voice, as she would. “Never again. Never again. Never again.”