Presidential Election -- Politics

Ohio is a toss-up; leaning to Obama.

Fracking is a godsend for the state.

A 2011 study conducted for the Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program projected that oil and gas producers will spend more than $34 billion on exploration and development, [fracking], midstream, royalties and leasing through 2015.  

The study also concludes the oil and gas industry will create nearly 205,000 jobs in the state during the period. In addition, it predicts that oil and gas industry wages in the state will exceed $12 billion in annual salaries and personal income by 2015.  

Such projections signify good news for Ohio's high school and college graduates, displaced workers and career changers who wish to find a good-paying job in the oil and gas industry and stay in the region. Such a prospect was often unimaginable in Eastern Ohio in recent decades before the development of the Utica Shale, but it is keeping folks on the frontlines of oil and gas workforce development very busy.

Yup.