So the Republican Party has chosen Cleveland, Ohio, for its national convention in 2016!
This is a very interesting selection, to choose a strong Democratic city to hold their convention!
It is true, however, that Ohio is the ultimate “swing state”, as it, most recently, decided the Presidential Election Of 2004 in favor of President George W. Bush over Senator John Kerry.
And Ohio gave us six Presidents, all Republicans, from 1868-1923, with the elections of Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding.
Only Grant and McKinley were reelected, however, and only Grant served two full terms, with Garfield and McKinley assassinated in office; Hayes denied renomination of his party; Taft defeated with the worst popular vote percentage and lowest electoral vote for an attempted reelection in 1912; and Harding dying of natural causes in office. Also, Grant and Harding presided over the greatest corruption in American history on the national level until Richard Nixon came along!
Overall, these six Ohio Presidents did not add much to the record of the Presidency in a positive manner, with McKinley being rated the best of the group; Grant usually the worst, although now undergoing some historical rehabilitation; Harding also near the bottom of the list of Presidents, but also being reevaluated by some scholars: and Garfield seen as possibly the major loss of the group, due to his short time in office before being assassinated.
Ohio is also the home of Governor John Kasich, former long term Congressman and one of the leaders of the GOP in the House of Representatives, who is seen as one of the longer shots who might run for President, and this author has already mentioned him as a potential candidate, with some positives greater than the list of candidates usually mentioned in print as the most likely candidates.
But the reality is that Ohio is likely to go Democratic as it did in 2008 and 2012, and the Democratic Party can win the Presidency without Ohio.
For the Republican Party to believe that holding their convention in Ohio insures their victory for the White House in 2016 is truly delusional!
Those Ohio Republican U.S. Presidents carried a slate of party base states now with the Democrats.
Last year the Republican Party picked a convention-hosting state they carried was in 1992. It was the home state of the unseated George Bush—Texas. Last year the Republican Party picked a convention-hosting state they carried in a year the party won the election dates back to 1988—Bush and Louisiana.
It doesn’t matter where the Republican Party has their convention—although I do extend my sympathies to Cleveland, Ohio well in advance.