That word: "Myth."

It's a "myth" that President Bush will end his term with fewer jobs than when he started, Snow told an audience of 850 at the Hancock County Republican Barbeque Monday, according to the Findlay Courier.

The Kerry campaign seized on the statement with a new Ohio-only campaign ad Thursday.

"How out of touch is George Bush with Ohio?" the narrator intones. "Over the last four years, we've lost over 230,000 jobs in our state. Now George Bush sends his treasury secretary to Ohio to tell us these job losses are a 'myth.' Do you think it's a myth that we've lost jobs? Over 100,000 Ohioans have lost their health insurance. Family incomes have fallen by $1,500. When is George Bush going to face reality?"

Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards, has incorporated the "myth" remark into his speeches, and Kerry surrogates have been carrying that message the last 48 hours.

That the country has lost jobs in the last four years is hardly in dispute. But a Treasury spokesman said Wednesday that Snow never denied that.

"He didn't say the job losses were a myth. To say this administration has a poor record on job creation is a myth," said spokesman Tony Fratto. "Clearly, since Bush Administration policies have been implemented, we've seen steady job growth."

The official Treasury position: the country has lost jobs as a result of the 2001 terrorist attacks, corporate scandals and a stock market bubble that began to burst before Bush took office. But since Congress passed Bush's economic program in 2002, the country has gained jobs.

It's not the first time the Kerry campaign has jumped on remarks by the Treasury secretary in Ohio as insensitive to workers. In March, the Toledo native told the Enquirer outsourcing is "part of trade."

"It's one aspect of trade, and there can't be any doubt about the fact that trade makes the economy stronger," Snow said - a quote the Kerry campaign characterized as a statement by the president that "sending jobs overseas is good for the economy."