WHY OHIO MATTERS

Reporting by Katie Cleary

With eight, Ohio has the highest number of presidents elected from one state. In 2004, NBC’s Tim Russert exclaimed “Ohio, Ohio, Ohio!” when it came down to which state would determine if George W. Bush would be re-elected or if John Kerry would take office. In March 2004, the final Democratic primary debate was held in Cleveland.

Historically, Ohio has always played an important role in deciding the nation’s next president. In recent history no Republicans and only two Democrats have won the presidency without winning Ohio. But will this hold true for the 2008 general election?

Ohio is known as a swing state because you never know which way the state will vote. Ohio helped elect Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, and then a Republican, George W. Bush, in 2000 and 2004.

Ohio is also unique for two other reasons: Ohio has been called a miniature United States — with ethnic, class and educational diversity that can be paralleled to how the country is thinking as a whole. And unlike most of the country — where campaigns can predict how people will vote — Ohio is always up for grabs.

“The states that aren’t part of (the) electoral college regularly become the key states for the two campaigns," says political science professor Thom Yantek. "Winning the 'open' regions, then, basically determines the winner of the election.”

Although primary turnout around the country was up, it is still not very high. Yantek has a few ideas of how this can change, including moving elections to weekends, having a national voting holiday and having the government play a more active role in recruiting voters. All campaigns go after the “youth vote,” 18- to 24-year-olds, who seem to be much more invested in this election's turnout.
And that demographic is increasing in numbers. The turnout at the Ohio March 4 primaries of voters younger than 30 jumped 12 percent from 2004, according to an analysis conducted by Maryland’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement.

"The idea that a woman or a black man actually might break the white-male stranglehold on the presidency seems genuinely to appeal to a younger generation," Yantek says.

“President Bush seems to have energized the new generation of voters in a way that has not been seen in a long time. So, to a considerable degree, the ‘excitement’ is the result of an anti-Bush backlash.”

In November,  it looks as if the state can add another president to the list of those elected because of Buckeye votes.

In November, the nation will decide who will lead it through the next four years. If the catchphrase is true, Buckeye votes will continue to play an important role in U.S. elections.

As Ohio goes, so goes the nation.