Snow Says Not Campaigning, Pays Ohio 7th Visit

[Rose Siding]

TOLEDO, Ohio (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow paid his seventh visit of the year on Friday to the electoral battleground state of Ohio but said his trip had nothing to do with the fast-approaching election.

"I go where I am invited," he told reporters in Toledo when asked what had brought him so frequently to the state. "I have been delighted to be invited all around Ohio."

Snow said he was not involved in campaign efforts.

Critics frown on Cabinet secretaries using taxpayer-funded travel to promote political campaigns.
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"I know that it hasn't been easy. As a manufacturing state, Ohio has recently felt the pain of an economy that was in decline," Snow's opening comments read. "The citizens of this area have lost jobs. Getting them back to work is a top priority for President Bush (news - web sites), and for me."

In a round-table discussion, he said Bush would seek to simplify and cut taxes in a second term.

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