(Compiled from Columbus Dispatch campaign report, March 11, 2004)

Gov. Bob Taft, Ohio chairman of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, often introduces President Bush to Ohio audiences. But Taft was absent yesterday when Bush spoke to businesswomen in Cleveland.

Taft, who’s approval rating was just 47 percent in a February Ohio Poll conducted by the University of Cincinnati, remained in Columbus, before heading to Cincinnati to speak at a seminar.

Has the Bush campaign gotten the message some protestors were trying to convey the last time the President came to town?

Protestors say Taft a liability for Bush