COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A ballot battle over whether to keep Ohio's tough new restrictions on public employee unions could give labor supporters and Democrats a lift going into the presidential election year. But some Democrats fear losing the Nov. 8 referendum could be another dispiriting setback that saps enthusiasm from the party's progressive base.

     Unions have hoped that a backlash against Republican-led efforts to curb the rights of organized labor in state legislatures around the country could translate into victories for pro-labor Democrats in 2012.

     Labor leaders expect to get a better sense of voters' mindsets when Ohioans decide whether to toss out a law that bans public employee strikes and limits the collective bargaining rights of more than 350,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers, state employees and others.