The state happens to reflect the country as a whole demographically and there is this massive fact: The last time a Republican presidential candidate won Ohio but not the White was 1944 when Dewey beat FDR by about ten thousand votes in the state; and no Republican has ever become president without winning Ohio. It may be argued that if Kerry can peel off Ohio from the Bush red states of 2000, and hold Pennsylvania, he can become president. While Bush seems to have more options to pick up blue states than Kerry has to pick up red, it would seem that Bush needs to hold the Buckeye state. His organization on the ground recognizes this and they have put a Herculian effort into it. Bush is an omnipresent presence here, as is Kerry. As with other battleground states, the Democrats have added many thousands of new voters on to the voting rolls. But more on that later, as well as on a court's interpretation of the provisional ballot issue, both of which may have an effect on the outcome.
