party chair from hamilton county unit and from columbus ohio is jim hughes, political correspondent for an esn tv comedy affiliate in that city. gentleman commencing a knack for being us. hamilton county, ohio has traditionally been a republican county. 196,822,004 a traditional public county. and he in 2000 when democratic feared barack obama winning by 25,000 votes for change. >> i'll tell you come a lot of republicans have moved out into surrounding counties, steve. one thing certain in this election, like past elections come in the southwestern of ohio will be pivotal. he's got to give that back and perform better in hamilton county than john mccain did four years ago. there is every expectation that will have been. i think a lot of ohio republicans have privately said they wished rob portman had been on the ticket. portman has a heavy presence and background in hamilton county in the southwestern corner of the