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Republican Rep. Paul Ryan stopped by a soup kitchen in Youngstown, Ohio, over the weekend for what seemed to be your typical campaign photo opportunity. During his 15-minute visit on Saturday morning, the vice presidential candidate donned a white apron and offered to wash some dishes that—as several bloggers and a pool reporter later pointed out—did not appear to be dirty. But according to the president of Mahoning County's St. Vincent De Paul Society, the faith-based charity that runs the soup kitchen, the campaign did not have permission and "ramrodded their way" into the facility.

October 8th, 2012 by Fritz Wenzel OCTOBER 8, 2012-A NEW Wenzel Strategies survey of likely voterd in Ohio shows that Republican Mitt Romney has taken a small lead in the race for President, winning 48% compared to 47% support for Democrat Barack Obama. The poll carries a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.96 percentage points, making the race for the White House a statistical dead heat in the Buckeye State. In the race for the U.S. Senate, Republican challenger Josh Mandel edges out Democratic first-term incumbent Sherrod Brown by a 46% to 42% margin. The survey includes 38% Democrats, 37%...

Here are some photos of the Romney Campaign Rally in Portsmouth, OH this past Sat. Especially notice the 2 of the Obozo counter-protestors. They have a giant inflatable Rat!! Also notice the guy in the rat-suit!! LOL could they have picked a better mascot?

A great speech in Lebanon yesterday, as Ohio polls continue to narrow "About a week ago, I had a debate. ...and I did enjoy myself." With that opening line, Mitt Romney had a massive crowd of 11,000 people eating out of his hand. The huge attendance caused the audience to spill over its initial boundaries and through the streets surrounding the stage. It was the latest event for Romney, who's now put in a staggering 34 Ohio appearances in his bid to win the must-have state. The speech, which focuses on the greatness of our nation, is a breath of...

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is recovering ground in the critical swing state of Ohio as he rises in the polls and crowd numbers swell after his strong debate performance last week against President Barack Obama. Despite pundits and pollsters dismissing Romney's chances in the state in late September, the Republican is now either tied or just barely trailing Obama in Ohio ahead of the next presidential debate on Tuesday night. . . At an event with thousands of Ohioans on Friday night, Romney boasted of "a growing crescendo of enthusiasm." He has spoken to several...

Summary Results Party Percent of total Democrat 36.4% Other 33.1% Republican 30.5% Race White 80.1% African American 13.3% Other 6.6% Religious affiliation Protestant/Other Christian 52.1% Catholic 22.6% Not affiliated 18.0% Muslim 4.5% Jewish 2.8% Age group 18-29 13.1% 30-49 39.6% 50-64 30.4% 65+ 16.9% Gender Men 48.6% Female 51.4% President Romney 45.9% Obama 45.1% Other 9.0% Approve of Obama's job performance? Disapprove 48.8% Approve 41.4% Other 9.8% U.S. headed in right direction? Wrong 48.9% Right 38.9% Other 12.2% Gov. Kasich's job performance? Positive 41.7% Negative 31.5% Other 26.7% Survey Questions 1.  Are you registered to vote?  (Yes, No) 2.  How...

Romney rally in Lebnon Ohio. Portman is just introducing Romney.

Mitt Romney seized the lead in yet another batch of polls in critical swing states yesterday, continuing his astonishing turnaround since he debated President Obama in Denver. In battleground Virginia — where Romney continued to reference his own performance while lauding his running mate Paul Ryan’s Thursday debate in Kentucky — Romney leads Obama 49-47 percent in the latest Rasmussen poll.

Just saw this poll on TV and have seen this elsewhere. Why are these numbers so lopsided and why shouldn't we be very worried?

SIDNEY, Ohio -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received a warm reception on a cold evening at the Shelby County Fairgrounds Wednesday as he addressed a crowd estimated at more than 8,500 people, more than eight times the number expected to turn out. Josh Romney, one of five sons, introduced his father, describing the former governor of Massachusetts as "my hero and the next president of the United States." As the elder Romney took the stage, the sea of people rose into a breaking wave of cell phones and cameras to capture the momentous event, chanting "four more weeks, four...

SIDNEY, Ohio -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received a warm reception on a cold evening at the Shelby County Fairgrounds Wednesday as he addressed a crowd estimated at more than 8,500 people, more than eight times the number expected to turn out. ~ snip ~ Chris Gibbs, chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party, said the event was a "huge undertaking" but was an undeniable success. "The Romney team was meticulous in organizing, and the ability to put on a production like this in such a short amount of time is fantastic," Gibbs said. Attendance far surpassed the initial...

NBC/WSJ/Marist Poll: Romney Gains In Key Swing States By Domenico Montanaro A week after President Barack Obama’s lackluster debate performance, Republican challenger Mitt Romney has made some gains in three key swing states among those most likely to vote, according to the latest round of NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls. Romney and Obama remain in a virtual tie in Virginia and Florida, and the Democratic incumbent maintains a slight advantage in Ohio. Romney saw his largest gain in Virginia, where he now edges the president 48 percent to 47 percent, a 3-point reversal from last week’s poll, released the day...

So everyone, I'm new here. Hated Obama in 2008 but wasn't crazy about McCain and knew he would lose anyway. This year I was supporting Romney more as an Anti-Obama vote until the debate - which has fired me up and actually made me as much pro-Romney as Anti-Obama (which I suspect is the case around the country). I'm also a huge statistics wonk, and I watch polls, trends, demographics, etc. Until the debate, I figured the election would be close and Obama would squeak out a win. Right now, though, I think that Obama will probably lose and here's...

Two ladies got a surprise chance to chat with Gov Romney at lunch and they shared their fries with him. <

Even after the fallout from last week's presidential debate, Barack Obama retains a 4-point lead in the state of Ohio — and pulls a majority of the vote in a poll released this afternoon by CNN. Obama leads Romney in the state, 51 percent to 47 percent. The president has consistently led in the battleground state in credible public polling and internal surveys on both sides of the 2012 race. The results from the CNN poll underscore the continuing challenge the Electoral College poses to Romney: while he has gained in national presidential polls, Romney has only the narrowest of...

Unhappy with President Barack Obama‘s support of same-sex marriage, a group of African-American faith leaders have announced a campaign aimed at stripping 25 percent of the black vote that went to Obama in 2008 (95 percent). The newly formed nonprofit group, God Said, will begin targeting voters in Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Florida with television and radio advertising, as well as a grassroots campaign to encourage people to consider the gospel when they enter the voting booth. “The black community is among the most religious in America and we are offended that President Obama has announced his support...

Mitt Romney’s administration on Day One would approve a pipeline that would run from Canada to U.S. refineries in Texas, creating thousands of jobs and pushing America on its way to energy independence, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said Monday. Ryan told supporters during his third trip to swing state Ohio in the last two weeks that there are enough energy resources for North America to become energy independent within eight years. We need to unlock the energy we have in this country to create jobs,” he said. Ryan blamed President Barack Obama for standing in the way of...

American Research Group Ohio Obama Romney Other Undecided LVs 47% 48% 1% 4% Dem (42%) 88% 7% 1% 4% Rep (33%) 3% 92% - 5% Ind (25%) 37% 57% 2% 4%

We'll have plenty of poll data today, and most of it looks impressive for Mitt Romney --- including one from a surprising source, which I'll get to later today. Rasmussen's swing state poll might be the most crucial for looking at the swing in the race since the debate, since Romney hasn't had a lead in the eleven-state survey since September 19th. Today, however, the poll shows a five-point swing since yesterday and has Romney up three, 49/46: The full Swing State tracking update offers Rasmussen Reader subscribers a combined view of the results from 11 key states won by...

As Americans are beginning to process Mitt Romney's lopsided debate victory on Wednesday night, the Republican nominee has pulled ahead in three crucial swing states, according to a trio of surveys from pollster We Ask America:   Ed Morrissey notes the slightly generous (to Republicans) sample splits in Florida and Virginia, although the Ohio partisan breakdown looks about right.  To buttress this data, Rasmussen has released two new surveys -- his data shows Romney ahead by one point in Virginia (49/48), and down by a point in Ohio (50/49).  But consider this item within the Buckeye State poll:   But among the...