In this photo taken Oct. 19, 2012, Jean Gianfagna displays some of the political mailers her family receives at her home in Westlake, Ohio. Gianfagna has had days when six or seven political mailings come in--occasionally four versions of the same one for herself, her husband, and two college-aged students.
NORTHWEST OHIO: Ohio's conservative farm belt stretches up and down in the west through fields and small cities.
If conservatives in rural Ohio come out in huge numbers for Romney, they could be the difference. That's what happened eight years ago, when voters felt Bush shared their values. Voters in some of the conservative counties often put faith issues ahead of economic concerns.
But Obama isn't writing it off. Toledo, with its auto plants and heavy union influence, is a Democratic bastion. The auto bailout plays well in Toledo and may win votes in the surrounding rural areas where small companies make everything from car axles to seats.
SOUTHEAST OHIO: This is Appalachia, stretching through small towns and hills along the Ohio River and then up along the West Virginia border in coal country.
It had been traditionally a swing area — Bill Clinton carried it twice, as did George W. Bush. But John McCain captured much of the region in 2008, despite losing Ohio. It's a predominantly white region, with Bible Belt conservatism on such issues as opposing abortion and gay marriage.
Romney has been playing on concerns about the future of the coal industry and thinks his campaign will improve on McCain's showing — and possibly turn a strip of three eastern Ohio counties — Belmont, Jefferson and Monroe — red for the first time since Richard Nixon won them in 1972.
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Sewell reported from Cincinnati, Seewer from Toledo.
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