"Outsourcing, George. What are you gonna do about outsourcing?" Sam Moyer of Garfield Heights asked as Voinovich stopped his Friday morning remarks to take a few questions. "We have lost a lot of manufacturing, and it's almost totally gone here in Ohio."

The concern over Ohio's economic situation, and particularly the loss of manufacturing jobs, is hardly limited to the workers of ISG. Voinovich believes his three-pronged effort to create an energy policy, stop frivolous lawsuits and better enforce our trade laws can help turn around Ohio's employment doldrums.

"I understand the problem better than most people because I have lived with your industry for a long time," he told workers at ISG, a plant that reopened more than two years ago and now employs 1,500.

Riding the same bus that served as Sen. John McCain's "Straight Talk Express" in the 2000 presidential primary, Voinovich kicked off his re-election campaign Friday with stops in Cleveland and Toledo that allowed him to highlight accomplishments and discuss his keys to stabilizing Ohio's manufacturing sector.

The three-day bus trip stops in Cincinnati this afternoon, where Voinovich will tour the University of Cincinnati Breast Cancer Research Center.

The first-term Republican expects to spend more than $6 million to hold off the challenge by fellow Cleveland resident, state Sen. Eric Fingerhut, who points to Ohio's 200,000 lost jobs, most of those in manufacturing, since 2001 as proof that Voinovich's ideas are not working.

Voinovich, 68, began Friday by showing off the modest Collinwood neighborhood where he delivered newspapers and was raised in a crowded home.

"I grew up in a working-class, middle-class neighborhood in a family with six kids and a school with kids of all ethnic groups," he said. "It gives me special eyes other guys in the Senate don't have."

Meeting with Cleveland steelworkers, Lorain college officials and Toledo autoworkers, Voinovich repeatedly stressed that if jobs are going to stay in the U.S., businesses must be put on a more equal trade footing. That means stopping China from stealing American product ideas and manipulating currency to make their products cheaper, he said.

"We have got to compete in the global marketplace, but the bottom line is we need fair trade," Voinovich told about 30 workers outside the DaimlerChrysler Jeep plant in Toledo, which employs 4,500 and is developing a new supply plant expected to open in 2006.

Voinovich on Friday also repeatedly stressed the need to enact an energy policy that reduces costs for businesses, and reform Ohio's civil justice system to reduce frivolous lawsuits against businesses and doctors.

Fingerhut, 45, said Friday evening that Voinovich voted to give China favored nation status. "Unfortunately the mess we're in with China is of the senator's own doing," he said.

And while Voinovich on Friday visited a pair of manufacturing facilities that reflect positive job news, Fingerhut said they are much more the exception than the norm in Ohio. He stresses the need to invest in modernization of plants across the state.

"Voinovich has supported policies that encourage investments to leave our state," he said.

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E-mail jsiegel@enquirer.com