Need help on essay about Ohio Senate race

[porker]

I've got to write a 2,500 word essay about the demographics of Ohio (race, religion, political views, etc), how recent economic, political and demographic trends will impact the outcome of the election, how the presidential election will effect the outcome (both coattail effects as well as national issues like medicare and the economy), I've got to compare and contrast the candidates' strengths and weaknesses, talk about the most important issues, and predict who will win.

I'm following the presidential election pretty closely, but don't know anything about Ohio or the senate race. Can anyone help me get started with either suggested news articles or info?

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

I can't fathom why your professor would think that 2,500 words is sufficient to summarize the history of a nuanced state's demographics, a senate race, the attributes of both candidates in the senate race and the state of the national election.

As far as predicting who will win, that is fairly easy: Sherrod Brown will stomp Mandel. Only a few polls have shown Brown performing similarly to Obama, most of them show Brown having crossover appeal to Romney voters (presumably in the lower part of the "C") who associate Obama with the kind of cosmopolitan liberalism that has been assaulting their way of life. Mandel has been a disaster of a candidate: he refuses to answer basic questions on radio shows, has very limited rhetoric abilities, looks like a child and has no real record to stand on. Brown has thoroughly eviscerated him on the airwaves. If you want to analyze some interesting aspects of Ohio's demographics, look to Cincy and Columbus for mild amounts of Obama/Mandel vote splitting.

Recent demographic trends of Ohio to look at: gentrification of Columbus as it turns into a hot spot for young adults, the LGBT community and the like. This goes beyond OSU at this point and has given Ohio a bigger base of white liberals. This arguably reduces the elasticity of Democratic candidates performances. The decline of the white working class and the archetypical Ohioan "hard hat" voter is obligatory. If you want to discuss interesting cleavage points in Ohio, the 2008 Democratic primary would be worthwhile.