Correction Bush won the crawford texas congressional district with 64 percent, meaning he won the congressional district by 30 percent 64-34 about. He also won the ohio congressional district getting 64 percent winning by 30 points over Kerry.
Ohio rural counties tend to vote differently for congressional races too.
Last year Bush won Allen county 2 to 1 and a dem challenger won that county.
Trouble spots for this district are the eastern poor portions like portsmouth and the western portion of the district which includes some eastern cincinnati wards.
Schmidt will need a big margin in Clermont county her home base to put her over the top.
I just posted the following comment on another thread:
I do live in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District (Clermont County) and I will be voting for Schmidt on Tuesday . . . In the meantime, I'm/we're taking nothing forgranted -- hubby and I had taken off the next two days to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary; however, we plan to spend at least half of our time volunteering for the campaign!
And you're right, Clermont County is the key . . . If turn out is high in Clermont County, Schmidt wins; if not . . . !
Your Allen County factoid is fine, but it is an unusual exception. Even in the district in question, Bush won all of the other 10 counties easily-- and the Republican incumbent won all of them, too.
Oh, and BTW, all the other counties in that district are rural, too. In fact, Allen County has Lima, the largest city in that district. The argument could be made that Allen County is the LEAST rural in that district.
Here's another BTW, Rob Portman actually ran *ahead* of President Bush in this district. No sane person expcets Schmidt to put up Portman numbers, especially due to the low turnout, but 64% (Bush's number) is more reasonable.
I can't believe the number of Freepers who have suddenly decided the MSM is treating this race fairly and the lefty blogs are paragons of truth-telling.