What's so great about Ohio?

[Canuck]

Give me a US geography lesson here.  I've always thought of Ohio as a pretty insignificant state.  When I think of large states I think of New York, Florida, California, maybe Pennsylvania. How is it that Ohio is so important?  Are there more people living there then I think?

[Booner]

7th most populous state. ~11.5 million

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Not only does Ohio have a large population, but it's also a swing state. In the general election, you know NY and CA are going to the democratic nominee. FL and OH are the two big prizes that can go either way and will most likely decide the election.

[Scraper]

I live in Ohio and it gets a bad rap because a lot of people confuse it with Iowa. For being a midwestern state Ohio has a very large population (11.5 million as someone pointed out). There are 3 major cities in Ohio: Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus, as well as several smaller size cities like Akron, Dayton, Toledo, Canton, Youngstown, etc.

And yes when it comes to elections it is close every year between the Ds and the Rs. There is a large farming population in Ohio as well as a strong conservative base in Cincinnati and there is a large liberal population as a result of the other cities. So every year Ohio can fall in either direction.

For instance in 2004 the christian conservatives put an issue on the ballot ammending the constitution to prevent gay marriage. This in turn had the conservatives show up in mass numbers to vote for the issue and at the same time Bush recieved more votes than he might have if that issue weren't on the ballot. Thus Bush recieves the Ohio electoral vote and wins the general election.

[denoginizer]

For instance in 2004 the christian conservatives put an issue on the ballot ammending the constitution to prevent gay marriage. This in turn had the conservatives show up in mass numbers to vote for the issue and at the same time Bush recieved more votes than he might have if that issue weren't on the ballot. Thus Bush recieves the Ohio electoral vote and wins the general election.

This is certainly true.  But not just in Ohio.  In 2004 eleven states had gay marriage bans on the ballot.  They passed in all eleven states.  G W Bush carried all but 2 of those states.  Oregon and Michigan being the only exceptions.

[Andrew Mallon]

For instance in 2004 the christian conservatives put an issue on the ballot ammending the constitution to prevent gay marriage. This in turn had the conservatives show up in mass numbers to vote for the issue and at the same time Bush recieved more votes than he might have if that issue weren't on the ballot. Thus Bush recieves the Ohio electoral vote and wins the general election.

This is certainly true.  But not just in Ohio.  In 2004 eleven states had gay marriage bans on the ballot.  They passed in all eleven states. 

Not correct--The gay marriage ban failed in Arizona.

[denoginizer]

For instance in 2004 the christian conservatives put an issue on the ballot ammending the constitution to prevent gay marriage. This in turn had the conservatives show up in mass numbers to vote for the issue and at the same time Bush recieved more votes than he might have if that issue weren't on the ballot. Thus Bush recieves the Ohio electoral vote and wins the general election.

This is certainly true.  But not just in Ohio.  In 2004 eleven states had gay marriage bans on the ballot.  They passed in all eleven states. 

Not correct--The gay marriage ban failed in Arizona.

True.  But I believe that was in 2006. (I'm too lazy to do the google search.) The point that many states putting a gay marriage ban on the ballot in 2004 helped Bush win the election is still valid IMHO.