Every presidential election has them: swing states. Overly campaigned, undecided, and necessary for victory. Swing states are the most desperately fought over pieces of the electorate and can make or break a bid for the White House.

Take the State of Ohio; no presidential candidate has won the election without winning this precious piece of Mid-Western real estate since 1960. Considered one of the “Big Three” swing states with Florida and Pennsylvania, Ohio has already seen every single presidential hopeful make multiple stops within its borders, and is readily positioned to help decide the Democratic nominee for president come its Tuesday primary.

Herb Asher, professor of political Science at The Ohio State University says the amount of attention on Ohio right now is high.

“It really is like a general election atmosphere here,” said Asher. “So many states are seen as identified with one party, either Republican or Democrat, Ohio is a state that is up for grabs, it truly is a battleground.”

These aptly named swing or battleground states are just as the name implies or as Wikipedia defines: “A swing state (also, battleground state or purple state) in United States presidential politics is a state in which no candidate has overwhelming support, meaning that any of the major candidates have a reasonable chance of winning the state’s Electoral College votes.”

The amount of importance Ohio carries in presidential elections can be enormous, as it all but decided the 2004 election between President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry. It also consistently ranks with a margin of victory of less than five percent, and indeed in 2000, former Vice President Al Gore lost the state by just 3.51 percent, according to official election results.

Daniel Tokaji, professor of law at The Ohio State University, credits much of Ohio’s battleground status to its regional diversity.

“Ohio is like a microcosm of the country. Parts of it are industrial, rural, and urban much like a combination of the North and South,” he said.

Sitting in the middle of Ohio is Columbus, the state’s capital and largest city, a must win for any Democrat. To the east is the state’s largest manufacturing and coal mining regions as well as the city of Cleveland, and looking west you’ll find a plethora of agriculture and some of the state’s most conservative areas, save for the city of Cincinnati which remains a liberal area.

Ohio also houses the country’s largest Amish population, but their anti-voting posture makes them a non-factor in national elections. Slate.com delves into the various regions and Ohio’s swinger status here.

More than a week before Tuesday’s primary, the candidates, their spouses and hosts of other supporters began to bombard Ohio. On the Republican side of things it appears all but over, a fact that Cuyahoga County GOP Chairman Robert Frost would tend to agree with.

“The presidential mood is McCain has it locked it up,” he said.  

The race for the Democratic presidential nomination remains hot, however, as Sen. Hillary Clinton looks to end Sen. Barack Obama’s current winning streak, where according to the New York Times, grass-roots support will be the key.

“It is the street-by-street ground war that will determine the outcome of the Democratic primary on Tuesday. Phone calls must be made, doors knocked on, and every declared supporter dragged to a polling place, even if it means helping an elderly voter get dressed and providing escort to a waiting car”

A recent survey by the Cleveland Plain Dealer has Sen. Clinton 4 percentage-points ahead of Sen. Obama at 47 percent to 43 percent. While Sen. Clinton badly needs a victory in Ohio, a narrow margin might not be enough in the overall race.

“But a small Clinton win in the Buckeye State would only marginally help her since she and Obama would split the state s 141 pledged delegates, people who have committed to support a specific candidate.

All other preliminary polling done within Ohio has Sen. Clinton leading Sen. Obama, by a margin of anywhere between 2 percent and 12 percent, with an RCP Average of 6.4 percent according to RealClearPolitics.

But what of the impending two-horse race for the presidency?

According to Maggie Nafviger, Executive Director for the Hamilton County GOP Party, Ohio is simply too close to call.

“McCain is literally neck and neck with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton,” she said.

Cuyahoga County GOP Chairman Robert Frost says he believes that Ohio will be close but end up in the Republican column when things are all said and done.

If there is one thing to learn from Ohio and its swinging partners, it is that calling the end result is never an easy task. Take Florida’s hanging-Chad debacle in 2000 and Ohio’s own debated results in 2004.

Seattle Times Chief Political Reporter David Postman notes the significance of Ohio to Republicans, but sees a blurry picture before Election Day.

“There has never been a Republican elected unless they have won Ohio. Democrats can live without it, Republicans cannot,” he said. “The economy is hurting and the Democrats may take advantage of anti-Bush sentiments.” He added. “Tuesday will show us something.”

While outsiders try to predict the uncertain, at least the residents of Ohio know, or at least knew, what they were in for this time around. According to The Cincinnati Enquirer:

“The fact that Ohio, from start to finish, played such a decisive role in this year’s election means its importance will only grow in 2008. The repeated person-to-person contacts that brought a huge voter turnout are expected to be the standard for future elections”
 
One thing is for certain: Ohio is, and will remain one of the most hotly contested states come Election Day.