By Carl Weiser and Spencer Hunt
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - If Ohioans were hoping for a break between Super Tuesday and the rest of the presidential election campaign - tough.

Barely 12 hours after the polls closed, the Bush campaign was unveiling its first ads. They will begin airing today in Cincinnati and 15 other battleground states nationwide as well as on national cable-TV networks.

The other side hasn't wasted any time either. Move-On.org, an anti-Bush group not connected to the John Kerry campaign, will air ads starting today in Ohio. Kerry campaign spokesman Dag Vega also promised Wednesday that Kerry would return to the state repeatedly.

It's only 243 days until Election Day.

The ads will be aimed at voters like Skyline Chili franchise owner Mike Misleh, 43, of Anderson Township, who is leaning toward Bush but not entirely sure.

"Frankly, I think the economy is better. However, I do not think the country is safer. Both issues are very important to me," he said. "I think security is number one. Without security we have a weak economy."

Ohio has been called "the new Florida," "Ground Zero," and the No. 1 battleground state in the November election.

"My dream is to bring the Hardball show out there for a couple nights and just talk to the people, because you people in Ohio are going to decide the election," MSNBC's Chris Matthews told Gov. Bob Taft on Tuesday night.

On Sunday's Meet the Press, Tim Russert simply wrote, "Ohio, Ohio, Ohio" on his dry-erase board and declared: "This is the state."

"We have a microcosm of the entire country. And it's the must-win state," said Taft, chairman of the Bush campaign in Ohio. "It's a 50-50 state in the presidential battles although we have almost all the Republican offices now throughout the state. But it will be a number one battleground."

No Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio.

"It's going to be a critical state," Vega said. "With the job losses in the state, we think a lot of people in Ohio are looking for new leadership." The state has lost 265,000 jobs in the past three years.

Bob Bennett, Ohio's Republican Party chairman, said Wednesday was the "start of what will be the most extensive and aggressive re-election battle in Ohio history." He said attacks from Kerry and other Democrats during the campaigns have victimized the president.

"The Democrats have had their moment, and now I think it's time to respond," Bennett said. "Our message to the opposition is simple: Get ready."

Bennett said his party also will organize a statewide push to register at least 90,000 new Republicans in Ohio for the general election. He said the shrinking number of Ohio voters who could be considered independents or undecideds will make turnout critical.

Even before Tuesday's primary, both parties were spinning the fall election.

Bush's top event Super Tuesday was at the Department of Homeland Security, where he celebrated its first anniversary. That dovetailed with his campaign's chief message as shown in the ads: Bush is making the country safer.

"He has made this country more secure at home and abroad," campaign manager Ken Mehlman said.

The ads show positive images of President Bush and first lady Laura Bush against a backdrop of ominous events of the past three years, including the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. While Kerry has intensified his attacks on how Bush has handled the economy and the war in Iraq, Bush's ads attempt to portray him as a strong leader who has led a country through dangerous and unprecedented challenges.

On the economy, the Bush message is that he inherited a recession and the dot-com bust, but the economy is turning the corner.

Democrats hope to win the election on the economy. Move-On.org's ads show a beaten-down factory worker struggling to work, pay bills and raise a family.

"When it comes to choosing between corporate values and family values, face it, George Bush is not on our side," the ad says.

Rep. Rob Portman, a Terrace Park Republican who often stumps for Bush in Ohio, said one other issue, not covered in today's ads, likely will play a big role in November's elections: values.

Portman cited Kerry's vote against banning so-called "partial-birth" abortions.

Ohioans, he said, "would find it hard to support a candidate who didn't think that practice ought to be banned."

Taft brought up gay marriage, telling Matthews that Kerry's vote against the Defense of Marriage Act "will hurt him in some parts of the state."

Former Democratic Sen. John Glenn said earlier this week that Republicans' efforts to bring up values were a sign of desperation. He contended they bring out such wedge issues any time the administration's poll numbers are faltering.

"I don't think that's going to sell," he said. "People will be more concerned about the economy and their ability to get a job and health care. The election's going on to those issues, not on issues like partial-birth abortion."

Asked about the millions Bush will spend to air his ads, Bennett said it's necessary to counter a multimillion-dollar opposition campaign already under way that Democrats and allies are underwriting.

"The Democrats and their liberal interest-group allies will spend probably about $1 million a day," Bennett said.

Jo Ann Davidson, Bush's Midwest campaign chairwoman, said she realizes the eyes of the nation will be focused on Ohio.

"We understand our need to deliver this state for George W. Bush."

Contributing: Greg Korte of the Enquirer and Chuck Raasch of Gannett News Service. Spencer Hunt reported from Columbus.