By Spencer Hunt
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Gov. Bob Taft has always seen himself as one of the best tools to persuade voters to pass or defeat statewide issues.

Taft spoke directly to voters to help pass school construction and environmental cleanup issues in 1999 and in 2000. Last year he led the effort to defeat a controversial drug treatment issue.

This time, Taft may have been his own worst enemy.

Voters on Tuesday rejected Taft's signature issue, the Issue 1 referendum that would have authorized $500 million to help create what he calls Ohio's Third Frontier. The vote was 51 percent opposed.

"I don't think this was about one person," Taft said. "I think the issue was about jobs. I don't think it was about my job."

Many observers thought Taft had done everything needed to win.

"I don't think this really was a referendum on the governor," said John Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute for Applied Politics at the University of Akron. "I think of it more as Taft was the salesman, and he wasn't a particularly popular salesman at this point."

The governor's approval ratings plummeted after he endorsed billions in new taxes to fill a $4 billion, two-year budget deficit. An Oct. 8 Ohio Poll showed 44 percent of Ohioans thought the governor was doing a good job. The poll has 3.4 percentage point margin of error.

Ohio has also lost more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs due to the recession. That might be one reason why Issue 1 won in Cuyahoga and other northeastern counties where Ohio's job losses have been felt the heaviest.

But in 30 largely rural counties, voters came out more than 60 percent opposed. In Butler, Clermont and Warren counties, voters soundly rejected Issue 1. The Hamilton County vote was closer, but still a defeat for Taft, with 50.5 percent opposed.

"There wasn't enough support for it there as you may have thought," Green said. "They weren't buying the Third Frontier."

Email shunt@enquirer.com