Also, don’t miss my handy 2012 Ohio Cheat Sheet.

Colorado:

Alamosa

Arapahoe

Huerfano

Jefferson

Larimer

Ouray

___

Florida:

Flagler

Hillsborough

Osceola

Pinellas

___

Iowa:

Adams

Allamakee

Audubon

Bremer

Carroll

Cedar

Crawford

Delaware

Emmett

Franklin

Greene

Hamilton

Hardin

Iowa

Kossuth

Louisa

Marshall

Palo Alto

Union

Warren

Winnebago

___

Nevada:

Washoe

Carson City

___

New Hampshire:

Belknap

Carroll

Hillsborough

Rockingham

___

North Carolina:

Bladen

Buncombe

Caswell

Cumberland

Forsyth

Granville

Hyde

Jackson

Martin

Pitt

Wake

Watauga

Wilson

___

Ohio:

Hamilton

Lake

Ottawa

Sandusky

Tuscarawas

Wood

___

Virginia (all local results can be found at the Commonwealth’s Board of Elections website):

Buckingham

Caroline

Essex

Henrico

King and Queen

Loudoun

Montgomery

Prince William

Westmoreland

(Cities)

Chesapeake

Harrisonburg

Hopewell

Manassas

Manassas Park

Radford

Staunton

Suffolk

Winchester

___

Wisconsin:

Barron

Brown

Burnett

Calumet

Chippewa

Clark

Columbia

Door

Forest

Jefferson

Juneau

Kewaunee

Langlade

Lincoln

Manitowoc

Marathon

Marinette

Marquette

Monroe

Oconto

Oneida

Outagamie

Racine

Richland

Rusk

Sawyer

Shawano

Washburn

Waupaca

Waushara

Winnebago

Wood

This isn’t an exhaustive analysis of what’s important in Ohio, but it does give a few places to keep an eye on as election night progresses.

Compared to 2008, President Obama will have to make up more ground on election day this time around. Net Democrat early voting and absentee ballot requests in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, a 29.7% African American population and is  the state’s Democrat stronghold, have swung by approximately the president’s margin of victory in 2008.

Don’t rely on the news channels to get a feel for the election. Do it yourself! Below are links to signal counties that offer real time results for tracking on election night along with the presidential results from 2004 and 2008. First results will be unofficial absentee votes posted at 7:30 CST.

 Key GOP Counties to Watch: Hamilton, Putnam, Holmes,Warren, Auglaize and Union

Key Democrat Counties to Watch: Cuyahoga and Lucas

Key Bellwether Counties to Watch: Bell,Lake and Tuscarawas

 Ohio Statewide Results for the Last Two Elections

2008:

Obama:           2,940,044                   Margin: Obama         +262,224

McCain:          2,677,820

 2004:

Kerry               2,739,952                    Margin: Bush             +118,775

Bush                 2,858,727

Key County Results for the Last Two Elections

Cuyahoga County Results (Includes Cleveland)

Real Time Results

2008                                            2004:

Obama:            458,204          Kerry:              448,486

McCain:           199,880           Bush:                221,606

Hamilton County Results (Includes Cincinnati)

 Real Time Results

2008                                            2004

Obama:            224,644           Kerry:              199,499

McCain:           195,107           Bush:                222,404

Warren County Results

Real Time Results

 2008                                           2004

Obama:            33,398             Kerry:              26,043

McCain:           71,691             Bush:                68,035

Union County Results

Real Time Results

2008                                          2004

Obama:            8,761              Kerry:              6,655

McCain:           15,744            Bush:              15,869

Lake County Results

Real Time Results

2008                                            2004

Obama:            60,155             Kerry:              59,049

McCain:           59,142             Bush:                62,193

 Wood County Results

Real Time Results

 2008                                           2004

Obama:            34,285             Kerry:              29,401

McCain:           29,648             Bush:                33,592

All you need is an iPhone and an App. Presumably it knows not to stand to the left on the moving sidewalks. Check out the video here.

“I sure hope they don’t get Keanu Reeves to play me in the next Hard Knocks”

On the 666th Money Night Football, Sanchez scores a 66.6 passer rating, completes a season long pass of 66 yards, and on the season has 6 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

I guess the only thing he doesn’t have is a tail, though I’m betting some Jets fans would disagree with that.

H/T Tom Ley

We now find out that Big Bird is a conscientious objector

President Obama has ruffled some feathers at PBS by putting Big Bird in a TV ad attacking Mitt Romney.

“We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down,” Sesame Workshop, the PBS-affiliated non-profit behind Sesame Street, said today in a statement.

Now, I know the point the Obama campaign is trying to make, but it’s a small one and too clever by half.  No one truly thinks that PBS (Big Bird, inclusively) is a central priority of the Romney campaign at the expense of other issues. His stance on the value of PBS is one of many positions, all the other of which are much more consequential regardless of your political viewpoint. There are plenty of things to legitimately disagree with Romney about if you are of the liberal persuasion, but instead of seizing upon those the Obama campaign is choosing to go small. In short, Obama’s people think this is Romney’s “you didn’t build that” moment. They simply do not get it.

“Try that again and I’m going to Canada”

The Big Bird distraction encapsulates what has become the 2012 Obama campaign. In 2008 it was big, but without specifics. In the last four years, with plenty of specifics at its disposal, the Obama political machine has made an Alice in Wonderland type of transformation. With more available substance comes a lesser public debate unsuited to the times. Instead of making the argument why his policies should continue, the president is playing the Muppet card. Instead of countering Romney’s allegations regarding his record, surrogates resort to just saying Romney lied even as Obama himself preferred asking the moderator to move on to another subject rather than setting the record straight in front of 68 million voters.

The conventional wisdom merely two weeks ago was that Romney’s campaign was dead and the election had been decided. Those who could read into the polling knew better as Romney has been leading with independents for months. Now, those same polls erroneously weighted with the 2008 Democrat turnout show Romney ahead. Based on every metric in presidential election history, if one had to call the election today it would have to be for the challenger. Just don’t expect to read that anytime soon in the New York Times or Washington Post.

Rasmussen’s daily tracking shows Romney surge ahead in 11 battleground states

This is the first time Romney has led the daily Swing State Survey since September 19. Until today, the president had led for 17 of the previous 19 days, and the candidates had been tied twice. This survey is based on findings from the previous seven days, with most of the responses now coming since Romney’s debate win last Wednesday night.

Forty-six percent (46%) of these Swing State voters are now “certain” they will vote for Romney and will not change their minds. Forty percent (40%) are certain they will vote for the president.

In 2008, Obama won these states by a combined margin of 53% to 46%, virtually identical to his national margin.

Romney has surged ahead in the national Pew poll as well.

As a courtesy, here’s the list of polls and their accuracy from the 2008 presidential campaign.