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   WASHINGTON - They talked about panic and pain. They identified enemies abroad and foes at home.
   They described ignorance among many politicians and public officials of manufacturing's key contributions to the U.S. economy.
   "People just don't get it," said Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, an organization described as the nation's largest industrial trade association.
   Jasinowski spoke Tuesday during an association-sponsored forum about manufacturing's future in the United States. The meeting, attended by about 250 people, preceded a full-scale lobbying effort the next day, when manufacturers large and small met with Capitol Hill lawmakers or members of their staffs.
   "We live in a town where the importance of manufacturing is under-appreciated" by the media, by many members of Congress and by some in the Bush administration, Jasinowski said. Manufacturing drives research and development, innovation and productivity, he said, typically pays higher than average wages and creates business activity and jobs in other sectors.
   He described as "insensitive" observations made Monday by Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, when he released the Economic Report of the President. Mankiw said that "outsourcing" of manufacturing work and jobs overseas is "the latest manifestation of the forces of free trade" and that an open trading system "is generally a positive contribution to economic prosperity." He acknowledged that such economic change "can cause painful dislocations for some workers and their families."
   Jasinowski told manufacturers that Mankiw "completely misses the reality of the global competition you face," as well as the impact of escalating nonproduction costs in the U.S., including the expense of offering health care benefits for workers. He said he objects also to "this notion that it is a natural phenomenon to lose national manufacturing jobs."
   The loss of jobs in the sector - nearly 3 million lost since the summer of 2000 - has stirred enough political heat to push manufacturing into the arena of the presidential campaign. Both Bush and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Democrats' emerging front-runner, have pledged their help. Each has received praise and criticism from the National Association of Manufacturers.
   Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., told forum participants Tuesday afternoon that there are pros and cons to such spotlit campaign prominence. Americans need to learn more about the crisis in manufacturing, he said, but related political rhetoric could create divisions between employers and workers and overlook important policy changes that must occur.
   Forum speakers frequently cited the impact of foreign competition.
   "American manufacturers find themselves on the front lines of the most intense competition the world has ever seen," said Michael Baroody, executive vice president for the National Association of Manufacturers.
   Leo Reddy, chief executive officer of the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing, said the factory and service jobs that already have left the United States will be followed by jobs in research and development.
   "It's fatuous and delusional to think that if we lose manufacturing we are going to retain our technology base," Reddy said.
   Reddy described a "Manufacturing in America" report released in mid-January by the U.S. Department of Commerce as a positive sign of growing awareness by the Bush administration of manufacturing's vital role in the national economy.
   But like Jasinowski and others, Reddy and Baroody said manufacturers must continue to educate Congress, both about their sector's plight and its importance.
   "Members of Congress, policymakers of this town, can't value what they don't understand," Baroody said.
   And several speakers argued that a more informed understanding will show that American manufacturers are challenged also by flawed domestic policies, over-regulation by federal agencies, frivolous lawsuits, escalating health care benefits expenses and the high cost of energy - particularly natural gas. Cheap imports from low-wage countries such as China cannot fully account for the sector's competition woes, they said, although they do inhibit raising prices of goods manufactured to cover nonproduction costs.
   "If you want jobs in America, the first thing you have to do is put a priority on manufacturing competitiveness," Jasinowski said.