"This administration is the enemy of organized labor," Gephardt told 40 union electricians, sheet metal workers, plumbers, and other trades at the Plumbers, Pipefitters & Mechanical Equipment Service Workers Local 392 in Over-the-Rhine. "Ohio has lost more jobs in relation to its population than any other state in the union. I hope people will look at those facts when they go out to vote."

Gephardt represents the most recent wave of what's likely to be an 18-day bombardment of campaign "surrogates" - those lesser, but still prominent politicians of both parties who campaign in places the candidates can't always get to.

Part of Gephardt's role Thursday - at union halls and on local talk-radio stations - was to continue the Democratic post-debate "spin" on the issues of jobs, foreign trade and the minimum wage.

"George Bush has no answers on those subjects. He says nothing," Gephardt said. "He got off the minimum wage so fast, I forgot what had been asked.

"The Republicans are always trying to change the music," he said. "They want you to concentrate on the gun issue, on the abortion issue, on the gay marriage issue.... If you don't have a job, nothing else means anything."

Gephardt hails from Missouri, a former battleground state where Kerry has pulled his advertising after an increasing Bush tilt to the poll numbers.

Make no mistake, Gephardt said, Ohio is now the battleground.

"There's no more important place in this election than where you live," he said. "Ohio is going to give us the answer in this election."

Emphasizing the importance of the union vote, he told them, "You are Karl Rove's nightmare. That ought to make you feel pretty good." Rove is President Bush's chief political adviser.

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com