Ohio: the middle class families that could decide US election

Ohio is the ultimate US presidential election bellwether. Its voters have chosen the candidate who went on to win the White House in every election since 1960 - and no Republican candidate has become president without capturing the Buckeye state.

Which explains why both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have each been here more than a dozen times this year - and will return again and again before 6 November.

They are trying to appeal to middle class families like Dale Short's from Middletown. Both the town and the family have seen better times.

The BBC's Steve Kingstone spoke to four members of the Short family - from three generations - about their struggles to find work and maintain the quality of life they were accustomed to.

Produced by the BBC's Franz Strasser, Rozalia Hristova and John Landy.

Archive photographs courtesy of Middletown Historical Society.