I so like the way you put it...Ohio has voted with the rest of the country in the past, within a very close range.
The way so many nervous Nellies and concern trolls put it, Ohio is determinative of how the country goes. Because somehow its electoral votes are gonna decide the whole election and we’ve got to be afraid that OH is going the wrong way from America.
Au contraire - your stated way is the correct one - OH mirrors the nation, it does not control it.
Ohio has always reflected the country. That’s why it consistently keeps picking the winner. If Romney is up in the national polls, he is up in Ohio.