As President Barack Obama traveled to Ohio last week for the Betting on America bus tour, Sen. Rob Portman was using the opinion pages of The Plain Dealer to push Mitt Romney's message of economic gloom and doom in Ohio.

It's a message that Ohioans just aren't buying.

So now Portman and Romney are trying to distort the president's record. The truth is that Ohio is back on track, thanks in large part to the president's policies. For example, because of his commitment to bringing back manufacturing, Ohio has added 44,700 manufacturing jobs in the last two years -- the first time the state has added manufacturing jobs since the 1990s. And the president ignored Romney and the other naysayers to make the bold decision to rescue the American auto industry, saving the hundreds of thousands of Ohio jobs that depend on it.

The president's policies have created more than 4.4 million private-sector jobs nationwide and 28 consecutive months of job gains through June 2012. Since the economic recovery began, Ohio has added 148,300 jobs.

Instead of distorting the president's record, Romney and his surrogates should take a look at Ohio's recent history. We are a state that was plunged into a recession through Wall Street greed and the failed economic policies of the previous administration -- the very same policies Romney wants to return to. We are a state climbing its way out of this recession thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of our people assisted by President Obama's commitment to rebuilding the economic security of the middle class.