OHIO 20 Electoral Votes
Population 
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Ohio Secretary of State
Total Population, July 1, 2008 11,485,910
Total Registration
  8,287,665
Ohio has: 88 counties.
Largest counties: Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Montgomery, Summit. >
Five largest cities: Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron. >

Government
Governor: Ted Strickland (D) elected Nov. 2006.
State Legislature: Ohio General Assembly  House: 99 seats  Senate: 33 seats
Local: Cities and Villages, Counties  NACO Counties
U.S. House: 11R, 7D - 1. S.Chabot (R) | 2. J.Schmidt (R) | 3. M.Turner (R) | 4. J.Jordan (R) | 5. B.Latta (R) | 6. C.Wilson (D) | 7. D.Hobson (R) | 8. J.Boehner (R) | 9. M.Kaptur (D) | 10. D.Kucinich (D) | 11. S.Tubbs Jones (D) | 12. P.Tiberi (R) | 13. B.Sutton (D) | 14. S. LaTourette (R) | 15. D.Pryce (R) | 16. R.Regula (R) | 17. T.Ryan (D) | 18. Z.Space (D). 
U.S. Senate: Sherrod Brown (D) elected in 2006, George Voinovich (R) re-elected in 2004. 
2008
update
 U.S House:  In the 1st CD (Cincinnati), State House Minority Whip Steve Driehaus (D) managed to dislodge Rep. Steve Chabot (R), winning by 155,455 votes (52.47%) to 140,683 (47.48% ).  Three House seats were open due to retirements by long-serving Republicans.  The 7th CD seat (south of Columbus) stayed in Republican hands as State Sen. Steve Austria (R) defeated attorney Sharen Neuhardt (D) by 58.22% to 41.78%.  In the 15th CD seat (Columbus), State Sen. Steve Stivers (R) and Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy (D), the '06 nominee, ended up in a too-close-to-call race that was finally settled on Dec. 7; Kilroy defeated Stivers by 139,584 votes (45.94%) to 137,272 (45.18%).  In the 16th CD seat (Northeastern Ohio including Canton), John Boccieri (D) defeated State Sen. State Sen. Kirk Schuring (R) by 55.36% to 44.64%.  Also interesting was the race in the 2nd CD (Cincinnati area) where Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) again defeated Victoria Wulsin (D), by a margin of 44.83% to 37.46% with 17.7% going to David Krikorian (I).  In addition to these seats, the 11th CD (Cleveland) opened due to the passing of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D) on Aug. 20.  Democratic officials selected Warrensville Heights Mayor Marcia Fudge (D) to appear on the Nov. 4 ballot; Fudge also won the Oct. 14 Democratic primary and a Nov. 18 special election.  The House delegation goes from 11R, 7D to 10D, 8R for the 111th Congress.
    > Democrats pick up three U.S. House seats and gain control of the House in the General Assembly.  MORE

 State of Ohio
Secretary of State

Green Party of OH
Libertarian Party of OH
OH Democratic Party
OH Republican Party
Constitution Party of OH

Columbus Dispatch
The Plain Dealer
Cincinnati Enq./Post
Newspapers
TV, Radio

Politics1-OH


The Buckeye State
General Election -- Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Voting Eligible Population*: 8,541,239.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 66.7%.

About 30% voted absentee:
1,744,753 absentee ballots were issued, of which 1,717,256 (98.4%) were counted...these included over 214,000 voters who voted in person by absentee from Sept. 30-Oct. 24.


206,859 provisional ballots were issued, of which 166,870 (80.7%) were counted.
Official Amended Results >

Baldwin/Castle (Const.)
 12,565 (0.22)
Barr/Root (Lib.) 19,917 (0.35)
Duncan/Johnson (Ind.)
 3,905
 (0.07)
McCain/Palin (Rep.)
 2,677,820 (46.91)
McKinney/Clemente (Grn.)
 8,518
(0.15)
Moore/Alexander (Soc.)
 2,735 (0.05)
Nader/Gonzalez (Ind.)
 42,337 (0.74)
+Obama/Biden (Dem.)
2,940,044 		(51.50)
w/ins (6)
 509
 -
Total........5,708,350


Total votes cast: 5,775,369.
 2008 Overview
After an intense campaign, Obama-Biden prevailed in battleground Ohio by 262,224 votes (4.59 percentage points).  The Republican ticket carried 66 counties to 22 for the Democrats.
General Election Details
Obama/Allies  |  McCain/Allies   |  Nader

Presidential Preference Primary -- Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Total registration for the March 4, 2008 primary: 7,826,480.
Total turnout for the primary: 3,603,523 - Democrats 2,386,945 and Republicans 1,136,668.
Democrats
Ohio Democratic Party press release: Become a Delegate
161 Delegates (141 Pledged and 20 Unpledged) and 24 Alternates.
3.98% of the 4,049 Delegate Votes.

Clinton  |  Obama
former
Dodd - endorsed by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (OH-17)
Edwards
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) announced a second campaign for president on Dec. 12, 2006 but ended his effort on Jan. 25, 2008. >

More Activity
Debate: Feb. 26, 2008 at Cleveland State University.

+Hillary Clinton
 1,259,620
53.49%
John Edwards
      39,332
1.67%
Barack Obama
 1,055,769
44.84%
Total
2,354,721

Hillary Clinton won in 13 CDs (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 18) and Barack Obama won in 5 CDs (1, 3, 11, 12 and 15).  Clinton's strongest CD was the 6th in eastern Ohio along the Ohio River from the Mahoning Valley in the north to Portsmouth in the South (69.5%).  Obama fared best in the 11th CD (Cleveland), where, despite Rep. Tubbs Jones' endorsement of Clinton, he garnered 70.3%.  The closest result occurred in the 15th CD (Columbus), where Obama won by less than one thousand votes (49.75% to 49.21%).

Reaction

[Ohio for Feingold in 2008]

 Republicans
88 Delegates: 3 RNC; 31 at-large; 54 by CD (3 x 18 CDs).
3.70% of the 2,380 Delegates.
Allocation: At-large winner-take-all per statewide vote; CD winner-take-all per CD.

McCain  |  Huckabee  |  Paul
former
Giuliani: John W. Kessler, Central Ohio State Finance Chair 
also PRH Consulting Group, LLC >
Romney

Official Results (at large):
Mike Huckabee
 		335,356
30.60%
+John McCain
 		656,687
59.92%
Ron Paul
 		50,964
4.65%
Mitt Romney
 		36,031
3.29%
Rudy Giuliani
 		16,879
1.54%
Total
1,095,917
 
John McCain's best showings were in the 11th CD (66.97%) and 10th CD (65.32%).  Mike Huckabee did well in the 8th (37.53%), 18th (37.40%) and 3rd CDs (37.36%).
General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Voting Eligible Population*: 8,427,696.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 66.8%.


Total Registration: 7,979,630.
Voter registration deadline for the November general election was October 4, 2004.
Official Amended Results 


Badnarik/Campagna (NP)
14,676
(0.26)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
2,859,768
(50.81)
David Keith Cobb (w/in)
192
 - 
Other w/in (3) 166 - 
Kerry/Edwards (Dem.) 2,741,167
(48.71)
Peroutka/Baldwin (NP) 11,939 (0.21)
Total........5,627,908

Final results (post-recount) --amended official results as of January 4, 2005.

2004 Overview
Because of its importance to both campaigns, the Ohio was seen as the Florida of 2004, a must-win state.  The candidates made frequent visits, and their allies poured in resources.  Intense legal activity in the weeks leading up to Election Day suggested the possibility of Florida-type post-election debacle.  The focus led to high turnout; 925,910 more votes were cast in the race for president than in 2000.  Although the Kerry campaign held out thin hopes for Ohio as Election Night segued into the morning after, on the afternoon of November 3 Kerry conceded.  Nonethess legal activity continued into the post-election period, a recount of sorts occurred, and investigations were begun.  Final results following the recount put Bush's plurality at 118,601 votes (2.10 percentage points); the Republican ticket carried 72 counties to 16 for Kerry-Edwards.
General Election Details  |  Photos
Kerry/Allies  |  Bush-Cheney '04

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Voting Eligible Population*: 8,295,592.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 56.7%.


Total Registration: 7,535,188.
Official Results  


Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
13,473
(0.29)
Buchanan/Foster (Ind.)
26,721
(0.57)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
2,350,363
(49.99)
Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
2,183,628
(46.44)
Hagelin/Goldhaber (NLP)
6,181
(0.13)
Harris/Trowe (w/in)
10
- 
Nader/LaDuke (Ind.)
117,799
(2.51)
Phillips/Frazier (Ind.)
3,823
(0.08)
Total........4,701,998

.

Total votes cast: 4,795,989


2000 Overview
This bellweather battleground state which had gone to Clinton-Gore in 1996, returned to the Republican column.  Bush won with a plurality of 166,735 votes (3.55 percentage points) and carried 72 counties to 16 for Gore.  Historic Maps.
General Election Activities

1992 and 1996 General Elections

1992
Clinton (Dem.).....1,984,945 (40.18)
Bush (Rep.).........1,894,310 (38.35)
Perot (Ind.)..........1,036,426
 (20.98)
Others (5+w/ins)......24,283
(0.49)
Total........4,939,964

1996
Clinton (Dem.).....2,148,222 (47.38)
Dole (Rep.)..........1,859,883 (41.02)
Perot (Ref.)............483,207
 (10.66)
Others (4+w/ins).....43,122
(0.95)
Total........4,534,434

2004 page >
2000 page >

Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.