On the Today Show, this morning, Tim Russert said that if, in the 2000 election, it was "Florida, Florida, Florida," this time around it's "Ohio, Ohio, Ohio."
Hailing from the Buckeye state myself (which I'm currently very upset with for its recent DOMA, I must admit), I'm perhaps more aware than most of what's been happening there. The economy in our county (part of the Rust Belt) has tanked, and that's perhaps the main reason Bush cannot confidently count it as a Red State like he did last time around.
And, if Ohio is going to be an important battleground state, this bit of information is very encouraging:
Among independents and Republicans who voted in Georgia, where the race was closer than elsewhere, Mr. Kerry was less popular than Senator John Edwards. But he pulled even with Mr. Edwards among independents in Ohio.
If Ohioan independents are currently not put off by Kerry, I think that bodes very well for his chances come November. As the exit polls show, Edwards still took more votes in Ohio than Kerry, but the difference is small.
Perhaps most importantly though is 49% of those polled in Ohio said that the economy is the issue that matters most to them, whereas only a combined 12% said it was the War on Terror or the War in Iraq (and yes, I know some folks consider it the same thing, but the pollsters broke them out).
UPDATE: Sentence above should read "Edwards still took more independent votes in Ohio than Kerry."
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