In this Nov. 6, 2012 photo, United Auto Workers member Harry Van Uden attends a rally on Election Day at the UAW Region 1 technical training center in Warren, Mich. Only a couple of wee

In this Nov. 6, 2012 photo, United Auto Workers member Harry Van Uden attends a rally on Election Day at the UAW Region 1 technical training center in Warren, Mich. Only a couple of weeks after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, the man who would become his Republican challenger in the next election penned a New York Times column with a fateful headline: “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” Those four words would haunt Mitt Romney across the Rust Belt, where auto manufacturing remains an economic pillar _ especially Ohio, which every successful GOP presidential nominee has carried, and his home state of Michigan, where his father was an auto company executive and governor. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)