COLUMBUS — Jobs and the economy have overwhelmed all other issues in this year’s race for governor and for good reason: The state has lost 397,600 jobs since Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland took office.

But a Dayton Daily News examination of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Ohio began hemorrhaging jobs long before Strickland took office. Those job losses accelerated dramatically after January 2008, when the nationwide financial meltdown hit.

The numbers help frame the debate over how each candidate would address the key issue in this year’s campaign.

Since January 2001, when Republican George W. Bush became president, Ohio has lost 571,000 jobs — more than 10 percent of its employment.

That’s the nation’s second worst job loss rate, behind only Michigan.

Meanwhile, Ohio ranks eighth in job losses since December 2006, the month before Strickland took office, and 99 percent of those job losses came after January 2008. Only North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Louisiana, Alaska and Wyoming gained jobs during the four years Strickland has been governor.

Republican challenger John Kasich blames Strickland, President Barack Obama and the Democrats who run Congress for the record on jobs. His get-well prescription: cut taxes and regulations and replace the development department with a not-for-profit corporation governed by a board of business executives and entrepreneurs.

Strickland, on the other hand, puts the finger on Bush and “shenanigans” on Wall Street, where Kasich, a former Columbus-area congressman, was a managing director for Lehman Brothers, the investment bank whose collapse was linked to the nation’s economic meltdown.

Strickland’s jobs platform calls for focusing on education and creating “green jobs” by developing solar, wind, biomass and other alternative energy sources.

As the incumbent during tough times, the governor has a target on his back, said economist Ned Hill of Cleveland State University. “Strickland just happens to be the designated piñata,” Hill said.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDaily News.com.