POLL PUTS OBAMA AHEAD IN OHIO
Jon Craig

Cincinnati.com
rticle/20081104/NEWS0106/811040361
Nov 4
OH

‘Final projection’ has him up 6 points over McCain

Barack Obama is likely to prevail over John McCain in the fierce
battle for Ohio’s 20 electoral votes, according to an Ohio Poll
released Monday.

The poll by the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Policy
Research – billed as a "final projection" of today’s results by
institute pollster Eric Rademacher, shows Obama with 51.5 percent to
45.7 percent for McCain.

Obama’s lead is outside the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus
2.7 percentage points.

It shows a small bump for the Democrat over a poll that Rademacher
conducted almost two weeks ago for a consortium of Ohio newspapers,
including The Enquirer. The Ohio Newspaper Poll showed Obama with a
3 percentage point lead with 49 percent support.

No Republican president has ever won the presidency without winning
Ohio. President Bush won the state four years ago, by a scant 118,000
votes out of 4.6 million cast. It was the final piece of the electoral
map puzzle for Bush, putting him over the 270 needed for election.

The Ohio Poll released Monday was conducted between Wednesday and
Sunday. The poll interviewed 1,308 likely voters by telephone.

Howard Wilkinson

Voter concert canceled

Organizers canceled a planned get-out-the-vote concert after sound
equipment for the show was delayed leaving Phoenix, officials from
Cincy Rocks the Vote Tour said Monday. The event, originally slated
for Fountain Square at 11:30 a.m., was to include performances from
Lennon John, Yung Millionairez and others. Bootsy Collins was to speak.

Ben Fischer

Flier questions Schmidt vote

In a last-minute broadside, independent congressional candidate David
Krikorian distributed a flier Sunday accusing U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt,
R-Miami Township, of accepting "blood money" for her opposition to
officially recognizing the Armenian genocide.

The flier compares Schmidt’s position opposed to the proposal, which
appeared in front of Congress earlier this year, with others who
support it. Also, Krikorian, of Armenian descent, accused Schmidt of
betraying her faith by supporting the Muslim Turks over the Christian
Armenians and said she needs psychiatric help.

He also said voters would be complicit in "crimes against humanity"
if Schmidt is re-elected today and called on her to leave the race.

In the 1910s, the Ottoman Empire killed 1.5 million Armenians. Many
countries and states have passed measures officially declaring
it genocide. However, many opponents say such a move from the
U.S. Congress would unnecessarily enrage Turkey, a vital U.S. ally
in the Middle East, which argues that the violence does not meet the
definition for genocide.

Schmidt spokesman Bruce Pfaff dismissed Krikorian as a "single-issue"
candidate and said she would not withdraw.

Ben Fischer

Who are these people?

Don’t be surprised if you see outside legal groups, voter rights’
organizations and international observers at polling places with the
nation’s attention on Ohio as a key state. The AFL-CIO’s "My Vote,
My Right" voter protection project plans to dispatch about 500 poll
observers statewide, including 105 in Hamilton County. Observers are
not allowed to interfere with voters inside polling precincts. Anyone
in line when polls close at 7:30 p.m. has a legal right to vote. You
will be asked to remove any campaign material when you enter the
polling location, so make sure buttons, posters or T-shirt logos can
be removed or covered.