President Obama to tout American manufacturing in Wisconsin visit

[Tx4obama]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- President Barack Obama will try to use his Wednesday visit to a Milwaukee padlock manufacturer to highlight an improving economy and showcase companies that are bringing jobs back to the U.S., even though the Wisconsin company's success isn't reflective of the state.

Master Lock, which Obama mentioned in his State of the Union address, is a good story for the president - especially in Wisconsin. It's a unionized company that recently brought back 100 jobs from China, and the state's Republican governor is being targeted for recall largely because of his proposal that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers.

However, in the face of national growth, Wisconsin has lost private sector jobs in each of the past six months. Democrats have been using that to hammer embattled Gov. Scott Walker, who promised during his 2010 campaign to create 250,000 jobs during his first term.

Obama's visit to Wisconsin will be his first in more than a year and a recognition that he must win the state, which he carried by 14 points in 2008 but where Republicans captured nearly every statewide office two years later. Wednesday also marks the one-year anniversary of the first widespread protests against Walker's union proposal.

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Full article here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WISCONSIN_OBAMA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-14-17-13-03