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COLUMBUS, Ohio -The Democratic Party's electoral prospects in the Midwest may look increasingly grim this fall, but party strategists are regaining confidence in Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland's chances for re-election.

A series of polls out this week show that Strickland has narrowed the gap against Republican challenger John Kasich, and the Democratic Governors Association plans to move more money into Strickland's race with a new ad buy launching later this week. Other races in the state look difficult for Democrats, too, but party strategists point out that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is spending more money in the Buckeye State this fall than in any other state.

Nationally, Democratic strategists believe holding the ultimate swing state's governorship will be crucial to President Obama's re-election efforts next year, and in an interview aboard his campaign bus on Tuesday, Strickland suggested that it would give Obama a better shot at a second term.

Strickland said that Obama carried about nine states in 2008 that usually vote for Republicans but now appear to be trending back toward the GOP.

"If Barack Obama is able to hold on to the states that most normally vote for a Democrat, and he holds Ohio as the one state out of the nine that flips, by my calculation, he will be elected president with 270 electoral votes," he said. "So I do think that Ohio can be viewed as a firewall for the president's re-election."

"We've done the math and we've shared that math with the Obama administration," he said.

The Ohio Democratic Party has touted the Buckeye State's importance in presidential elections in its fundraising literature, citing early redistricting data that projects states that reliably go for Republican presidential contenders will gain eight Electoral Votes in 2011.

"Projections suggest that Democratic stronghold states will lose as many as eight electoral votes to growing Sunbelt-area states, giving the GOP nominee another Kentucky or a second South Carolina just from the reapportionment of the Electoral College," ODP documents note.

Obama has traveled to Ohio more frequently than any other state during his presidency, and Strickland has not distanced himself from the president in the way that other Democrats have during this election cycle.

ODP executive director Doug Kelly echoed that point during an interview at the sprawling party headquarters on Tuesday. He said Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and former President Clinton have given the state "an enormous investment of time this year." He added, "You don't do that if you don't think it's going to do well."

Strickland's lieutenant governor, Lee Fisher, is running for the open Senate seat this year against Republican former Rep. Rob Portman, but Fisher's poll numbers have not gained as quickly as Strickland's have. In a brief interview after he spoke to about 40 students at Ohio State University on Tuesday night, Fisher argued that he is surging and that the energy is on his side.

But his campaign is not airing TV advertisements now, just five weeks before Election Day and during this early voting period, and strategists have said for several months now that the only way he can win the race is by having enough money behind his message.

Asked when his campaign will go back on the air, he said, "That's a decision we'll have to make, but I guarantee that given our resources, you'll see us back on the air."

Fisher strategists conceded over the summer that the candidate was spending the bulk of his time in areas with conservative Democratic voters who could vote to re-elect Strickland but choose Portman in the other race. Kelly suggested that while the DSCC has helped Fisher strategically, the committee is unlikely to invest any money into Fisher's race.

Still, a caffeinated and bullish Kelly deadpanned, "We are going to win the governor's race." He asked an aide for a pen to sketch out a chart showing how much money is flowing into the Buckeye State and tossed the pen back in favor of a blue-ink pen: "I don't want red ink. It's a Republican color," he said gruffly with a chuckle.

Seven groupings of national money have poured into the state, Kelly pointed out, including national donors, Organized Labor and five party committees, including those that support state offices. He stressed that just because one of those isn't helping now - the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in this case - it doesn't mean that the whole state is lost for the party, but he believes that's how it's been portrayed.

"People want a fight," Kelly said. "They want you to stand up for values." He complained that some Democrats in Washington are spending too much time hand-wringing and backing down. In fact, he said that after ODP Chairman Chris Redfern used an expletive in an appearance before steelworkers recently, rather than back down, the party backed the sentiment. Kelly said 200 new volunteers joined the party's efforts after.

Kelly has led a massive overhaul of the ODP in four years' time and pinned on the wall of a conference room at the party's sprawling headquarters a small map of Ohio stamped with "UFC" for "Ultimate Fighting Championship," his motto for Ohio's role in this year's midterms. He said Strickland is the focus of the party's efforts, but its multimillion dollar mobilization program reaches all levels.

He shared a slide show with RealClearPolitics on the party's plans for this fall's election revealing that the party's mobilization team has made nearly 2 million voter contacts already and plans to do more than double that between now and Election Day. The team has deployed well over one hundred field staffers throughout the state and has more than 26,000 volunteers.

The Democrats' strategy for Ohio relies on swamping Republicans in mobilization efforts, and Kelly said the party is tracking early votes daily and considers every day Election Day now that the early period has begun. That is largely the message for Obama Democrats, especially those concerned with 2012.

The impending presidential campaign was also on Strickland's mind during a Tuesday afternoon rally at the University of Akron.

"We are coming after you Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty and all of the right-wing extremists," Strickland shouted to the cheering crowd. "We are coming after you in 2012, and we will reelect Barack Obama to be a second-term president of the United States of America."

Strickland has been a strong advocate for Cleveland to host the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and he said that he has talked to Clinton at least twice about the possibility.

Charlotte, Minneapolis, and St. Louis are the other three finalists cities for the convention, but Strickland said that it "makes sense" to hold the event in Ohio.