Ohio Gov. Bob Taft's State of the State speech wasn't memorable oratory but his voice probably carried far enough.

Taft's key audience wasn't in the Ohio Statehouse, where the address was delivered. It was in Washington, where the president is adding up the states he is going to need this fall to win re-election.

"Jobs, jobs, jobs," was the theme of Taft's speech. He might as well have been screaming out "leverage, leverage, leverage." Jobs are what Ohio has lost - 250,000 in the past three years. Leverage is what Ohio has got - no Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio, and George W. Bush knows it.

"Even as the nation's economy has started to rebound, Ohio employment has not," the governor said in his speech.

He noted that an estimated 4,000 engineering, programming and accounting jobs leave the United States every week; that Ohio suffers a $150 million "ethanol penalty" for pumping environmentally-conscious gasohol into our cars (ethanol is taxed at a lower rate than gasoline, which means Ohio gets back proportionally less in fuel tax-based road funds); and that Ohio military bases could be targeted in the next phase of closings by the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission.

Taft filled out his speech with a few modest proposals such as appointing a "Jobs Cabinet," which means various members of his administration already working on workforce and employment issues will now hold some joint meetings. He also announced formation of "an All-Ohio Task Force to Safe Defense Jobs," which will help Cleveland, Dayton, Springfield, Columbus, Lima and Youngstown spend $1.5 million already allocated for campaigns to keep BRAC at bay. Military bases in those cities employ a total of 38,000 Ohioans.

Taft's power to affect any of these issues is limited, which is why the real target for his message was Washington. The governor knows, for instance, that the president has the authority to accept or reject BRAC's recommendations.

There is other evidence that Bush is aware of the subtext that was in Taft's message. Last week, just before giving the State of the Union address, in which he vowed to support local community college programs that provide workforce training and placement, the president visited Owens Community College in Toledo. Owens, the president said, is the kind of place that deserves federal support for such programs.

More support for Ohio is likely to show up Monday, when the president announces his 2005 budget proposal. One tidbit came out Thursday, the day after Taft's speech. The president is asking Congress for $45 million to clean up polluted sediment in the Great Lakes. That's up from the $10 million he asked for in the 2004 budget, according to a release from Sen. George Voinovich, who like Taft, is not shy about reminding Washington of Ohio's importance this year. A good chunk of the requested money would go to cleaning up Ohio's Maumee, Cuyahoga, Black and Ashtabula Rivers, which flow into Lake Erie.

When the federal budget announcement is made on Monday, a series of coordinated announcements is expected in regions that will benefit from the president's proposals. One of those is likely to be Zanesville, Ohio, where voters will learn the president wants $66 million for the Appalachian Regional Commission, about twice what the president asked for last year. Ohio has 20 counties designated as part of Appalachia, and they will be eligible for a share of those funds for use in community development projects.

Taft's speech may not have been eloquent, but the message was loud and clear.

David Wells is editor of the Enquirer editorial page. Contact him at (513) 768-8310; fax: (513) 768-8610; e-mail: dwells@enquirer.com. Cincinnati.Com keyword: Wells.