NAVARRE, Ohio/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The busy shop floor at Miller Weldmaster Corp could make a great location for an Obama campaign ad.

As workers assemble the family-owned company’s hot-air fabric welders, used to manufacture everything from inflatable rafts to truck tarps, it’s hard to know the recession of 2007-2009 ever happened.

Ten clocks on the wall of the plant in Navarre, Ohio, show local time from Norway to New Zealand and tell Miller Weldmaster’s comeback story in a word: exports. Sixty percent of the company’s business now comes from outside the United States.

Manufacturing growth, surging exports: These are central promises of Obama’s reelection bid, especially in blue-collar industrial states that could determine the election.

Mindful of the Indiana surprise of 2008, when a spike in unemployment helped Obama win the reliably Republican state, the White House has every reason to fear payback in states like Ohio, this time from any deepening of Europe’s financial crisis.

Already there are warning signs. One in four of Miller Weldmaster’s machines is sold in Europe, and sales are down 5 percent so far this year. A further drop could force the company to consider layoffs.

“We’ve taken a sigh of relief – we’ve been over the crunch,” says Jeff Sponseller, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing. “The chance that this could happen again brings a lot of anxiety.”

NAVARRE, Ohio/WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) – The busy shop floor at Miller Weldmaster Corp could make a great location for an Obama campaign ad.

As workers assemble the family-owned company’s hot-air fabric welders, used to manufacture everything from inflatable rafts to truck tarps, it’s hard to know the recession of 2007-2009 ever happened.

Ten clocks on the wall of the plant in Navarre, Ohio, show local time from Norway to New Zealand and tell Miller Weldmaster’s comeback story in a word: exports. Sixty percent of the company’s business now comes from outside the United States.

Manufacturing growth, surging exports: These are central promises of Obama’s reelection bid, especially in blue-collar industrial states that could determine the election.

Mindful of the Indiana surprise of 2008, when a spike in unemployment helped Obama win the reliably Republican state, the White House has every reason to fear payback in states like Ohio, this time from any deepening of Europe’s financial crisis.

Already there are warning signs. One in four of Miller Weldmaster’s machines is sold in Europe, and sales are down 5 percent so far this year. A further drop could force the company to consider layoffs.

“We’ve taken a sigh of relief – we’ve been over the crunch,” says Jeff Sponseller, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing. “The chance that this could happen again brings a lot of anxiety.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama released tax forms on Friday that reveal he will probably pay a higher tax rate on much lower income than likely Republican opponent Mitt Romney in 2011, adding fuel to a Democratic election-year effort to raise taxes on the rich.

Obama and his wife, Michelle , paid an effective tax rate of 20.5 percent on income of $789,674 last year, the White House said. Romney has estimated he will pay a 15.4 percent tax rate on income of $20.9 million, though he has not filed his return yet.

Obama and his fellow Democrats have spent much of the week touting the “Buffett Rule,” a plan to ensure that millionaires like Romney pay at least 30 percent income tax. The rule is named after Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who has noted that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Obama’s return shows that he pays a lower effective rate than the 35.8 percent rate that Buffett’s longtime secretary, Debbie Bosanek, has said she pays. Obama also pays a slightly lower rate than his own secretary, the White House said.

“The tax code should not (be) written in a way that allows for the wealthiest Americans to pay taxes at a lower rate than middle-class Americans,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

The Democratic-controlled Senate plans a Monday vote on the Buffett rule, one day before the U.S. tax-filing deadline.

The proposal has almost no chance of overcoming Republican opposition, but it will provide ammunition for the November 6 presidential and congressional elections as Democrats say their rivals are more concerned with protecting the wealthy than addressing the concerns of less affluent Americans.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle paid an effective federal tax rate of 20.5 percent on income of $789,674 in 2011, the White House said on Friday amid a debate over tax burdens that is likely to shape the November presidential election.

Obama and his fellow Democrats have accused likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney of backing policies that would shift the burden from wealthy taxpayers to the less affluent.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have spent much of the week promoting a minimum 30 percent rate for millionaires, known as the “Buffett Rule,” after billionaire financier Warren Buffett, who famously noted that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Romney, who is worth up to $250 million, paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent in 2010.

The Obamas earned about half of their income from his presidential salary of $400,000, while the remainder came from sales of Obama’s books, the White House said.

They donated $172,130, about 22 percent of their adjusted gross income, to 39 different charities, the White House said. The biggest beneficiary was the Fisher House Foundation, a scholarship fund for children of soldiers who have been killed or disabled, which received the after-tax proceeds from Obama’s book sales – a total of $117,130.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Vicki Allen)

By Andy Sullivan

(Reuters) – Three weeks ago, President Barack Obama stood in front of a sea of gleaming solar panels in Boulder City, Nevada, to celebrate his administration’s efforts to promote “green energy.”

Stretching row upon row into the desert, the Copper Mountain Solar Project not far from Las Vegas provided an impressive backdrop for the president.

Built on public land, the facility is the largest of its kind in the United States. Its 1 million solar panels provide enough energy to power 17,000 homes.

And it employs just 10 people.

Three years after Obama launched a push to build a job-creating “green” economy, the White House can say that more than 1 million drafty homes have been retrofitted to lower heating and cooling costs, while energy generation from renewable sources such as wind and solar has nearly doubled since 2008.

But the millions of “green jobs” Obama promised have been slow to sprout, disappointing many who had hoped that the $90 billion earmarked for clean-energy efforts in the recession-fighting federal stimulus package would ease unemployment – still above 8 percent in March.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Rick Santorum’s exit from the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday was good news for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who now will have an easy path to the November 6 election against Democratic President Barack Obama.

Here’s what Santorum’s departure means for Romney and the U.S. presidential race in the weeks to come:

- Santorum’s decision immediately improves Romney’s prospects in the matchup against Obama. Romney held a prohibitive lead in the race for the Republican nomination, but Santorum’s continued presence would have forced Romney to shore up his right flank rather than reach out to the centrist, independent voters who will decide the election. A prolonged primary fight would have drained Romney’s campaign war chest and drawn out divisions between the party’s establishment and its grassroots conservatives. At worst, Romney could have faced embarrassing defeats in southern states such as Arkansas that hold their primary contests in May.

- Romney’s remaining Republican rivals pose a negligible threat. Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich has vowed to stay in the race until the party’s convention in Tampa in late August, but he has not won a primary contest since he carried his home state of Georgia on March 6. On Sunday, Gingrich said that he would work to elect Romney this fall if he is the nominee. U.S. Representative Ron Paul has been unable to translate his fervent grassroots following into any primary victories so far and is more focused on spreading his libertarian message than winning votes.

– Romney will have to reach out to women, Hispanics and other voters who have been turned off by the bitter, months-long Republican campaign, which has forced him to take stands on hot-button issues like immigration and birth control that could haunt him in the November election. A Washington Post/ABC poll released on Tuesday found Obama leading Romney by 51 percent to 43 percent in a head-to-head matchup.

– Romney’s march to the nomination has been boosted by allies in the Restore Our Future “Super PAC” who have spent roughly $39.6 million on negative television advertising aimed largely at his Republican rivals. Voters should expect attack ads aimed at Obama to pop up on their TV screens soon, especially in the dozen or so battleground states that will be particularly crucial in November.

– Santorum’s exit allows Romney to focus on his core economic message. Obama could be vulnerable here: The Washington Post/ABC poll found that voters see Romney as better at handling the economy and reducing the federal budget deficit.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – He hasn’t held office since 1989. In fact, he’s been dead since 2004. But former President Ronald Reagan has been a regular presence on the campaign trail this year.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has made pilgrimages to Reagan’s home town and the factory that makes his favorite candy as he tries to rally conservative voters to his fading campaign. Newt Gingrich regularly calls himself a “bold Reagan conservative.” Mitt Romney has proposed a “Reagan economic zone” to boost free trade.

Even Democratic President Barack Obama has gotten in on the act, suggesting that the champion of the modern conservative movement would be viewed as too moderate in today’s Republican party.

“Ronald Reagan, who, as I recall, is not accused of being a tax-and-spend socialist, understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control, that for him to make a deal he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases,” Obama told the American Society of News Editors on Tuesday.

“He could not get through a Republican primary today,” Obama added.

Romney challenged that notion one day later.

“I actually think Ronald Reagan would win handily in a primary and frankly in all the primaries,” he told the same group on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With a sweep of three presidential primaries on Tuesday, Mitt Romney graduated from Republican front-runner to underdog in a November match-up against Democratic President Barack Obama.

Romney’s wins in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C. gave him a prohibitive lead in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination, analysts said, and effectively consigned chief rival Rick Santorum to also-ran status.

Now the former Massachusetts governor faces an uphill climb as he takes on a well-funded opponent who travels to campaign events by Air Force One.

The jousting already has begun.

Obama criticized Romney by name while blasting a Republican budget plan on Tuesday, a move the president had avoided until now. Romney made no mention of Santorum or any other Republican rivals in his victory speech in Wisconsin late Tuesday, focusing instead on Obama.

“In Barack Obama’s government-centered society, the government must do more because the economy is doomed to do less,” Romney told supporters in Milwaukee. “When you attack business and vilify success, you will have less business and less success.”

As Romney pivots to take on Obama in the November 6 election, he faces a daunting to-do list.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With a sweep of three presidential primaries on Tuesday, Mitt Romney graduated from Republican front-runner to underdog in a November match-up against Democratic President Barack Obama.

Romney’s wins in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C. gave him a prohibitive lead in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination, analysts said, and effectively consigned chief rival Rick Santorum to also-ran status.

Now the former Massachusetts governor faces an uphill climb as he takes on a well-funded opponent who travels to campaign events by Air Force One.

The jousting already has begun.

Obama criticized Romney by name while blasting a Republican budget plan on Tuesday, a move the president had avoided until now. Romney made no mention of Santorum or any other Republican rivals in his victory speech in Wisconsin late Tuesday, focusing instead on Obama.

“In Barack Obama’s government-centred society, the government must do more because the economy is doomed to do less,” Romney told supporters in Milwaukee. “When you attack business and vilify success, you will have less business and less success.”

As Romney pivots to take on Obama in the November 6 election, he faces a daunting to-do list.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate’s top Republican called on his party to unite behind leading presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday as rival Rick Santorum vowed to stay in the race beyond a likely defeat in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell stopped short of endorsing Romney in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” show. But McConnell did say the former Massachusetts governor would make an “excellent nominee” and left little doubt about whom he supported in the battle to take on Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

“It’s time to turn our attention to the fall campaign and make the case against the president of the United States. “It’s important to get behind the person who is obviously going to be our nominee,” McConnell said, referring to Romney.

A victory in Wisconsin’s Tuesday primary would give Romney an almost insurmountable lead in the Republicans’ state-by-state nominating contest. McConnell joined a chorus of other top Republicans who have called for the nominating process to wind down.

Santorum said a defeat in Wisconsin would not force him from the race and predicted he would do well in May, when several conservative states hold their primaries.

“The map in May looks very, very good for us,” the former Pennsylvania senator said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Santorum said the Democrats had been strengthened in 2008 by a primary battle that stretched to June, when Republicans had wrapped up their nomination by March.