Why I think Ohio will be blue...

On the Road: Marietta, Ohio

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/on-road-marietta-ohio.html

(snip)

The other day at Obama's rally in Toledo, the local organizer asked everyone in attendance to (1) early vote; (2) make 40 phone calls or knock 40 doors; and (3) take Election Day off to help the volunteering effort. This is routine practice at every single event the campaign holds, even at Denver's Invesco Field acceptance night speech. The largely Democratic crowd is given concrete, practical and manageable field tasks to accomplish.

The goal is gathering a larger and larger volunteer base. A whole night's shift of phone calls may seem intimidating to a lot of people, particularly introverts, but it's pretty hard to say no to four calls. Cleverly, Obama's campaign reasons that the most difficult part of volunteering is the first four calls or knocks. The first part is always the hardest, particularly for volunteers who've never worked for a campaign before. Once over the comfort threshold, a potential shift volunteer now feels invested in the work.

Here in Marietta, on the Ohio River in the heart of steel country, the Obama organization is as strong as anywhere. Southeast Ohio is the swing area in one of the great swing states. Marietta, Athens, Zanesville, Steubenville, New Philadelphia... these are the places in the southeast counties where Barack Obama needs to perform well in order to carry the state. During our stop in Columbus, Deputy Communications Director Tom Reynolds pointed to the recent Washington Post Ohio poll that showed Obama ahead of John Kerry's performance four years ago in southeast Ohio. Joe Biden's stops in St. Clairsville, Marietta, Athens and Lancaster show how seriously the Obama campaign is taking this region.

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Later in the story, the writer provides a picture of the Republican gound game in Ohio. Short version: it's almost nonexistent.

Excellent, excellent read. Highly recommended.

Strickland got in to office on his strength in the Southeast part of this state. He has been in there for and WITH Mr. Obama. SE Ohio loves Ted, and trusts him.

Now, SW Ohio is another matter (no offense to SW Ohio DU'ers...you know what it is like Cincy way). If that area goes blue, God help the Republican party. It may not survive that kind of blow.