The president concluded his remarks in Columbus by asking his supporters to exercise their right to vote and encourage others to do the same.

During campaign stops in Columbus and Cincinnati on Monday, President Barack Obama emphasized that the support of Ohio voters is key if he is to win reelection in November.

In Cincinnati, the president spoke to supporters at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park.

“Just 15 days from now, starting on Oct. 2, you guys can start voting and you’ve got a big choice to make,” he said. “I honestly believe that this is the clearest choice in a generation. Not just a choice between two candidates or two political parties, but it is a choice between two fundamentally different viewpoints with how we move forward as a country.”

In Columbus, President Obama reiterated his support for Pell Grants and low-interest rates for student loans.

“No family should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don't have the money,” the president told a crowd of 4,500 who gathered in Schiller Park in German Village near downtown Columbus.

President Obama said investing in renewable energy such as wind turbines and long-lasting batteries will not only help the environment and reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil but stimulate the economy as well.

“That’s creating thousands of jobs right here in Ohio,” he said.

President Obama said his plan for deficit reduction calls for restoring the tax rate to that of the Clinton administration in the 1990s, when those making more than $250,000 paid more taxes.

“Let’s reduce our deficit without sticking it to the middle class,” President Obama said.

President Obama said Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and vice presidential running mate Paul Ryan have not provided enough specifics about how their plan would reduce the deficit without cutting funding for education, scientific research and other programs.

“You cannot make it work. You can’t cross the T’s and dot the I’s (in Romney and Ryan’s plan),” the president said. “And Columbus is the type of town where you have to dot the I’s.”

President Obama referred to The Ohio State University Buckeyes football team, drawing an analogy in which the 106,000 fans who pack Ohio Stadium on game day would be asked to pay for tax breaks for wealthy Americans.

“The guys who would get a tax break would be the guys in the box seats” of the stadium, President Obama said. “I am not going to ask middle class families to pay more so that millionaires and billionaires can pay less.”

President Obama said Romney and Ryan plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program.

“We’ll reform Medicare, but we’ll do it the right way: reducing the cost of health care, not asking seniors to pay more,” the president said.

President Obama also noted that he has kept his 2008 campaign promises to end the war in Iraq and take steps to do the same in Afghanistan.

The president concluded his remarks in Columbus by asking his supporters to exercise their right to vote and encourage others to do the same.

“And if you’re willing to stand with me… we’ll win Franklin County again,” he said. “We will finish what we started, and we’ll remind everyone why the United States of America is the greatest nation on Earth.”