55%
Percentage of Josh Mandel's statements rated false, mostly false, or "pants on fire"
27%
Percentage of Sherrod Brown's statements rated false, mostly false, or "pants on fire"
$37.5 million
Amount spent on political ads in clveland TV market
3
Number of times candidates mentioned Ohio or Cleveland in the first presidential debate
44.3%
Probability that Ohio will provide the decisive presidential electoral vote, as projected by Nate Silver
4,144
In-person early voters in Cuyahoga County as of Oct. 5
#1
Cleveland's ranking among national TV markets for political ad spending in 2012, through Sept. 2
Obama's Kent State University event, catered by Nosh Eatery
Served to roughly 75 members of the White House press staff, White House advance team and Secret Service:
15 pounds
each of beef, chicken and potatoes
3 pounds
of salad greens
5
French baguettes
2.5 Trays
of peach cobbler
2 quarts
brown butter sea salt ice cream
1 quart
ginger ice cream
Mitt Romney's order at Wendy's in Cuyahoga Falls
1 medium Coke
1 grilled chicken sandwich
1 spicy chicken sandwich
1 small french fry
1 medium Frosty
Total: $13.58
Average Facebook "Likes" per day over the past 30 days
OBAMA
37,966
ROMNEY
29,568
RYAN
8,280
BIDEN
1,002
No one should be surprised that the presidential candidates have visited Northeast Ohio more times in the last month than you've been to the Rock Hall ever, or that most of us would rather watch 24 hours of the NFL Network's Cleveland '95: A Football Life documentary than sit through one more ugly political commercial. Yet our role as the purplest state has revealed some previously unseen talents of our political leaders who have been thrust into major supporting roles.
|
|
What We Thought
|
What We've Learned
|
What We Want to Know
|
|
|
Ted
Strickland
|
During four years in Columbus, our former Democratic governor showed as much personality as lake effect snow.
|
Strickland has some Heat Miser in him: "If Mitt was Santa Claus, he'd fire the reindeer and outsource the elves," he snarked during his Democratic convention speech.
|
Could he be hot for a
rematch with John Kasich?
|
|
|
Rob
Portman
|
Our junior senator was a lightweight, getting bashed as a boring white guy while losing out to Paul Ryan for the role of Mitt Romney's running mate.
|
Portman knows how to spar. He proved his mettle as Mitt's debate partner, punching him in private to ready the challenger for the October night that revived his candidacy.
|
How good is
his Obama
imitation?
|
|
|
Nina
Turner
|
Cleveland's state senator is used to taking courageous but lonely political stands: questioning U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge's leadership, supporting county reform when nearly all other black politicians opposed it.
|
Nothing's lonelier than the corner of Euclid and East 30th at 4 a.m., but that's where Turner camped out to be the first person to vote this fall.
|
Can she make s'mores?
|
