From a regular reader in Ohio:
Dear Jonah,
You shouldn’t draw too much aid and comfort from Steubenville, I’m afraid. This is where Kerry was ambushed by the Franciscan students six or so week’s ago. Franciscan U. in Steubenville (where I worked for 1 year before getting my gig at OU) is kind of a Catholic Hillsdale, with about 1,000 deeply committed traditionalist and charismatic Catholic students who have a lot of enthusiasm (and a lot of spare time in a very dumpy place) to engage in pro-Republican politicking and they are mostly supported in this by their professors, who are also 90% + Republican. On the other hand, the “other Steubenville” that dominates the politics of the town has lots of the remnants of Union Steel groups, poor and minority groups on welfare won’t demonstrate as much enthusiasm but will often troop out to the polls where they will pull the lever for democrats. Just because things look a certain way in Steubenville gives you little to no sense of Ohio as a whole – and probably no where does, since we are such a mish-mash of several major urban areas with lots of minorities and dem types but a very strong rural/small town section that is solidly red. I grew up here and the politics of this place remain a mystery to me…