Ohio No Stranger To Political Spotlight

Hard-Fought, Pivotal Races Mark Midwestern State's Role In National Elections

(AP)  The presidential spotlight shines on this Midwestern state every four years, and for good reason. As Ohio goes, so goes the nation - at least for the past 44 years.

Given the storied history and high stakes, it's easy to see why Ohio, in primaries and general elections alike, always seems to host races that are hard-fought, if not determinative.

This year is shaping up as more of the same.

"You're going to grow probably weary of seeing me in Ohio," likely GOP nominee John McCain told voters last week as he campaigned throughout the state. He mentioned at every turn that no Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio.

Not to be outdone, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton - Democrats competing for the chance to face the Arizona senator - repeatedly played to Ohio's pride of having chosen the eventual president in every election starting in 1964.

Republicans, Democrats and independent analysts expect a neck-and-neck contest again for the state's 20 electoral votes in November. Ohio tipped the election to President Bush four years ago, and could be poised for another high-profile role.

A recent Ohio Poll by the University of Cincinnati's Institute for Policy Research showed that no matter which Democrat wins Tuesday's hotly contested primary, the general election race will be tight. Each Democrat is in a virtual tie with McCain in hypothetical head-to-head matchups.

So, what, exactly, makes Ohio so closely divided politically and such a strong barometer of the country's pulse?

The answer starts with the state's birth as part of the Northwest Territory in 1803. Liberal-leaning New Englanders traveled west to settle Northern Ohio while conservative-tilting Virginians moved up to inhabit Southern Ohio.

Over the years, unions established a major presence across the state's industrial north as steel mills, tire factories and other blue-collar jobs flourished along Lake Erie. Small businesses and agriculture were the norm in the south and elsewhere.

Today, there's a Republican stronghold in the southwest, a Democratic bastion in the northeast and swing-voting regions everywhere else that, like the nation, vacillate between electing Republicans and Democrats to the White House based on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Ohio tends to pick by the narrowest of margins. The winner of the most recent presidential elections won by less than 6 percentage points. Democrat Bill Clinton prevailed in 1992 and 1996; Bush, in 2000 and 2004.

Long considered a microcosm of the nation, the state is home to an incredibly rich mix of people from every income category, education level, ethnicity and political leaning. It's all reflective of the state's geographical diversity, with seven major urban centers - Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown - as well as a slew of middle-sized cities, suburbs, exurbs, small towns, rural areas and tiny Appalachian hamlets in the southeast.

"Politically, Ohio has a very good mix of people from both the extremes and many who are in the middle when it comes to the issues facing the country," said Eric Rademacher, co-director of the Ohio Poll. "There is a great deal of socio-economic diversity in Ohio that's representative of the nation, and there's also an ideological diversity in Ohio that does a good job of representing the politics of the remaining 49 states."

Two years ago, Ohio's independents, who long have leaned right, shifted to the left to help Democrats sweep scandal-plagued Republicans out of the governor's mansion and other statewide offices.

This fall's election will indicate whether that shift was lasting or a fluke in a state whose political leanings tend to go in cycles.

For example, a pair of two-time Bush voters turned up at a Clinton event last week in Zanesville and said they are considering voting for a Democrat because they are angry about where the country is headed with a Republican at the helm.

"For the first time in my life, I'm leaning toward the Democrats," said Debbie Kirsch of New Concord, 47, a Republican-voting independent. "I've been so frustrated this year. I don't feel that any of them are in tune with what I want - jobs and health care, someone who is going to focus on those issues that affect my everyday life."

"I want better for my kids," added Kirsch, a welfare-to-work adviser who has a second job teaching English at night. It's a two-job lifestyle that she has seen repeated among three of her adult children; a fourth goes to school full time and also works full-time.

Next to her, Georgeanna Meighen of Pleasant City echoed Kirsch's sentiments. She expressed deep disappointment about the past eight years: "Nothing has gotten better."

Meighen, a 42-year-old working toward a degree at a state technical college, said she, too, is not yet sold on any of the candidates.

"I want to really look at what everybody is saying, the values and beliefs they have to see if they are the same as mine," she said. "I want someone to fight for us."

[kmccliment]

HILLARY 08

YES WE CAN!!!
YES WE CAN!!!
YES WE CAN!!!

[user168-2009]

A lot of voters are abandoning Hillary.
Here''s an editorial by a dog supporting Obama.

http://www.animalinternet.com/animatorial/view/4591/

Posted by CaseyAnimal


Thanks, doggy well said.

Here''s from my dog:

Hope is what I live to, starting when I open my doggy eyes each morning. When this Hiltery (something like that) woman says that I have "false hope", it is such a blow, hard, really really hard blow. I felt my head spinning and my heart chocking. I was sick to my stomach too - what am I to do - all this hope thing is false? Why does she say my hope is false? I wonder if she has ever hoped like I did, and so is hers false too? I wonder if there is a non-false hope that I can hope to hope to hope? But you know, the other day I heard someone named Obama say something very true, "There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America - there''s the United States of America." Then I realize my hope was true, is true, and will be always true. Why O'' why does that Hitler (something like that) say I have false hope and almost killed me?

[peacedreamer-2009]

Hey, ho! Way to go Ohio!

As for the comment about the 2004 election, we Ohioans basically felt John Kerry was unelectable. But the nomination was already decided before our primary that year. I voted for Edwards, but since Dems insisted on Kerry, who I thought was a terrible choice for president, I didn''t really have any choice but to vote for someone else in the general election. Give us better choices and we''ll vote for better presidents!

[destardi]

nfortunately, I have Hillary as my Senator and she has done NOTHING. I think that the fact that she is a Senator from New York says everything you need to know about Hillarys'''' convictions. She was not born here, she was not raised here, she was not educated here, and although she owns a house (to establish residency - lol) she lives in Washington. The ONLY reason she is a NY Senator is because the party bosses owed Bill Clinton. Those party bosses, because NY is so heavily Democratic and entrenched in party politics, put her up for election knowing they could get Goofy elected in this state if they wanted to - oops, on second thought I guess they did.

She is a carpetbagger, through and through. She had no vested interest in New York, only vested interest in Hillary - and that continues today. She is showing little regard for the party by continuing this charade, but she''''s Hillary - and therefore entitled.

-------------------------------

Wow, as a Chicagoan, you could substituate Obama''s name in every instance; he is exactly the same as Hillary.

Only Hillary is intelligent.

[vmcneal2]

News flash for Republicans. You can not use the ole tax and spend liberal BS anymore. The new term is "borrow and spend" conservatives. You "conservatives" have wasted billions of our tax dollars, and screwed up our economy so bad that it will take years to get back on track. The next"conservative"at the White House will be parking Hillary or Obama''s car.

[realpatriot1]

Hillary08,

The "tax and spend liberals" took office 1 year ago. Before that the GOP controlled all branches of state government for 20 years.

It wasn''t the liberals who screwed up the economy, it was the Republicans in Washington & Columbus.

[craigh9]

Unfortunately, I have Hillary as my Senator and she has done NOTHING. I think that the fact that she is a Senator from New York says everything you need to know about Hillarys'' convictions. She was not born here, she was not raised here, she was not educated here, and although she owns a house (to establish residency - lol) she lives in Washington. The ONLY reason she is a NY Senator is because the party bosses owed Bill Clinton. Those party bosses, because NY is so heavily Democratic and entrenched in party politics, put her up for election knowing they could get Goofy elected in this state if they wanted to - oops, on second thought I guess they did.

She is a carpetbagger, through and through. She had no vested interest in New York, only vested interest in Hillary - and that continues today. She is showing little regard for the party by continuing this charade, but she''s Hillary - and therefore entitled.

[whitepicks2]

It''s unfortunate that Hillary''s campaign to Ohio voters was about fear and deception - just like Rove/Bush in 2004. It does make the voters there appear susceptable to these tactics. Very unfortunate.

[pavom15]

Bush is the exact reason why the people in Ohio are losing their jobs and jobs are being moved over seas. Yes we may have great crops, but if you are not a farmer, Bush has done nothing for us. I have voted in every election since I was 18 and have always voted Democrate. Last election I swayed to President Bush and voted for his wonderful speeches and changes. This year NO way will I vote to place a republican back in office. If we do not have someone do something now for the U.S. as well as Ohio, one day there is not going to be an Ohio Left.

[rushlimpdrug]

Your right, they have the third highest corp & business taxes in the country, the tax and spend liberals in Ohio have destroyed that state.
Posted by hillaryin08 at 08:57 AM :


Thank God that bush has been there for them all these years.
He''s shown Ohio that it takes a conserv to help them.

[colvinatch]

Your right, they have the third highest corp & business taxes in the country, the tax and spend liberals in Ohio have destroyed that state.

Better a tax and spend liberal than a borrow and borrow and borrow and spend on the Iraqi people / infrastructure CONservative, this bill that the Rethuglicans have run up will have to be paid someday.

[hillaryin08]

I HOPE OHIO DOES IT RIGHT THIS TIME. THEY LOST MORE THAN 250,000 JOBS IN THE LAST 7 YEARS. BUT THEY STILL GAVE THE PRESIDENCY TO BUSH IN 2004. VERY TYPICAL...


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by RepDemApart at 08:52 AM : Mar 04, 2008

Your right, they have the third highest corp & business taxes in the country, the tax and spend liberals in Ohio have destroyed that state.

[repdemapart]

I HOPE OHIO DOES IT RIGHT THIS TIME. THEY LOST MORE THAN 250,000 JOBS IN THE LAST 7 YEARS. BUT THEY STILL GAVE THE PRESIDENCY TO BUSH IN 2004. VERY TYPICAL...

[bikermomx2]

I voted in Ohio. Interesting mix of people. I always vote and I always take my children so they can see the process. Got in line and a couple behind me was very upset. Stating "they" changed things and you have to know your precint. It isn''t done alphabetically...huh? I''m always in this line and it is even the same poll workers each time I vote. They went on and on and on how they were first in line and now...blah, blah. So I got out of line thinking I was wrong. No I was fine I knew what I was doing...but then they took off their coats and had HUGE Obama buttons on. You can''t do that! My 10 year old even knows you can''t do that. Then they started going on and on about Obama and being democrat. My 3 year old even said they talk too much! Gesh! Ok Ohio...get out in vote! Even if those around you don''t have a clue!