GOTTAVOTE BUS TOUR

In a sea of campaign buttons at a canvass kickoff at the OFA office in Twinsburg, Ohio, one button stands out: Republicans for Obama.

Its owner, Bill, a retired teacher from Macedonia, Ohio, says he no longer recognizes the Republican Party he's affiliated with his entire life. "The Republican Party, which I have been a member of for about 60 years, has been hijacked by the far right wing, and I don't agree with it. I think we have to be more centrist, I think we have to look at both sides of things, I think we have to compromise. And my Republican Party is not willing to do that."

So he crossed party lines and cast a ballot for Barack Obama in 2008—and he did it again this year when he cast his early ballot. That's not all. He's putting his money where his mouth is. Today, Bill stopped by the kickoff to drop off a donation for the only candidate in this race who shares his values.

"President Obama actually has a lot of the values that I have. I worked with children all my life. He's in favor of things that help kids. I worked with poor people all my life. He's working to help poor people—he's not willing to write them off. I know a lot of people who struggled to work their way up and did so. He just embodied a lot of things I believe in."

Pitch in

Olivia Munn can name a lot of personal reasons why she supports President Obama—the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," support for military families—but what motivates her the most is what's at stake for women in this election if Mitt Romney becomes president. "He thinks women aren't capable of making choices over their own bodies," she says. "That is very scary to me. Ask yourself: How does that affect you? How does that affect your girlfriend? Your mother? Because if you believe in an America where women can make their own choices about their own bodies, then you gotta vote."

So today, she hopped on the Gotta Vote bus in Ohio to fire up college students who've seen her on The Newsroom or The Daily Show—and make sure they vote. At each stop, she asked students point-blank if they were registered to vote. If the answer was yes, she passed out high-fives. If the answer was no, she asked why not—and urged them to get it done. "Every single vote matters, especially here in Ohio," Munn says. "You have this power as young people. We get to decide how our world is going to be. We don't have to wait for everyone else who's been telling us what to do with our lives. We have to get out there and vote."

And to make sure her high-fives were not in vain, Munn led the students on a march across campus to cast their ballots—for many, their very first presidential ballots—for Barack Obama.

Are you registered to vote? Don't let Olivia Munn down.

Gotta Vote

This election is personal for so many families in Ohio.

RoseMarie, who lives in Middleburg Heights, tells a story that resonates across the state: "This year, it's very, very meaningful to me emotionally—because he saved my daughter's job." RoseMarie's daughter, a single mother supporting three children, has worked for General Motors for 15 years here in Ohio. Three years ago, when the American auto industry was on the very brink of collapse and Mitt Romney was telling anyone who would listen that we should "let Detroit go bankrupt," President Obama made the tough call to lend Detroit a hand. That decision—politically unpopular at the time—saved nearly 850,000 jobs in Ohio alone.

"He saved so many jobs here," says RoseMarie. "People don't realize that the auto industry carries so many people. It just domino-effects—to people making gloves or the wax on the factory floor, to people working in the cafeterias and restaurants. So many people in the industry are grateful to be working today, my daughter especially."

Today, RoseMarie's entire family is campaigning for President Obama—even her seven-year-old grandson, who wears Obama buttons on his UAW T-shirt. If you ask, he will tell you he likes President Obama "because he saved my mom's job."

So, on behalf of three generations of her family, RoseMarie is committed to doing whatever it takes here in Cuyahoga County to deliver a "strong, strong, strong Ohio" for the President.

"I think we're going to win this election," she says, "and there's going to be nobody happier than my little family."

Jackie from Lorain, Ohio, voted early—in fact, she was so excited to cast her ballot for President Obama, she arrived before the polls even opened. Pointing to the "for all" button she wore to today's Gotta Vote event, Jackie says she supports the President because he doesn't divide people into 47 percent and the 53 percent.

"Mitt Romney is just so far away from the people like me. President Obama represents everybody. I was fortunate to be able to see him at Kent State, and I don't think he was politicking when he said, for those people who don't support him, who are against him, 'I'll be your president too.' Not 'their' president, like he's separating people. We're all in this together. He's for everybody, and I just appreciate how hard he works for all of us."

Gotta Vote