In 2004, Ohio was the swing state that ended up deciding the election. Tim Russert drove the point home with his election night “Ohio, Ohio, Ohio!” chant. If the latest Quinnipac poll is right and holds true and if Ohio plays the same role in 2008, Hillary Clinton will not be the 44th president. A rundown of the results shows:

# Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton remain virtually deadlocked with 44 percent for the Democrat and 43 percent for the Republican in the Ohio presidential race.
# Clinton loses to Arizona Sen. John McCain 46 – 42 percent
# Voters say 49 – 29 percent that Gov. Ted Strickland is not qualified to be vice president and his presence on the ticket would not help the Democratic nominee.
# 41 percent of voters say they would never vote for her and 46 percent of married women and 48 percent of married men say they would never vote for her.
# Voters disagree 61 – 33 percent with the assumption that no Republican can be elected President in 2008 because of Bush’s low approval and the war in Iraq. Democrats agree 50 – 41 percent, while Republicans disagree 84 – 11 percent and independent voters disagree with the statement 62 – 33 percent.

On illegal immigration, the Democrats and anyone else who favors open borders are in big trouble in Ohio.

Ohio voters oppose 84 – 11 percent issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, and by large margins favor building a fence along the Mexican-U.S. border and creating a national ID card for all legal residents and citizens. They also oppose, 61 – 35 percent, providing a free public education to children of those in the United States illegally, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Former NM Gov. Bil Richardson signed a law allowing illegal aliens to obtain drivers in that state. Of the Democrat candidates, only Sen. Chris Dodd is outright against drivers licenses for illegals. John Edwards is conveniently quasi-opposed and the rest are in favor. The issue is a huge loser for them, as well as for pro-amnesty Republicans.

“The message to presidential candidates from Ohio, perhaps the most important swing state in the Electoral College, is that voters – be they Democrats, Republicans or independents – are very frustrated with illegal immigration and come down on the side of toughness rather than accommodation,” [Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute] said.

Put her chronic ceiling together with her muddled stance on border security and you have the makings of defeat, unless Hillary blunts the issue and/or does some wholesale planting.

Photoshop by Cry Havoc