It is possible to spin that away as fraud, but it is also equally valid to look at it as a shift in the electorate for this particular election. Which is it? I don't know, but I do know that my district sent a rabid liberal to Congress to occupy a seat that had been in 'Pub hands for generations. Combine that with the demographic shift I see evidence of every day, and I am inclined to go with the electorate changing explanation. In the end, the result is the same, the 'Rats get the votes. To win back OH, the 'Pub candidates are going to have to come up with candidates and policies that the voters can support, especially on the economic issues. The 'Rats, especially Obomba and Brown, killed us with those last time out, and the 'Pubs never really came up with an effective counter to blunt those attacks.
Now, without question, some of that is the black thing, some of it is the perceived youth thing, a little bit is the "hope/change" crap without specifics. But there is also an absolute absence of a counter argument as to why socialism is bad.
You hit the nail on the head...economic issues-big one trade...my hubby said when McCain went not once but three times to Michigan and said the jobs were not coming back...then during the campaign talked of re-training that it was over for McCain...re-training is a dirty word here because re-train for what? The health sector? Tech-moving jobs overseas hand over fist.