Before the 2008 recession people forget that the midwest has been in recession since the early 2000s due to outsourcing. Kerry campaigned on punishing outsourcing along with campaigning hard to win Ohio in 2004 when polls showed that Bush would win Florida but things were closer in Ohio.
But Bush did better in Michigan in 04 than in 00. In 04 he won working class Macomb County while losing it in 00. He also did better in Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Pennsylvania.
You don't get it right? He campaigned heavily in Ohio but not as much compared to Ohio in Iowa and Pennsylvania, Michigan, and didnt campaign in trending heavily GOP states back then like Missouri and Indiana. Had he campaigned in Michigan, Iowa and Pennsylvania the way he did in Ohio by having so much rallies and spending money the margins there would had went up but his campaign was heavily dependent on flipping Ohio to win the election.
Had the economy not been sluggish in the midwest then states like Michigan would had been a toss-up instead of lean Kerry.
