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"When you look across Ohio, what you see is a great deal of polarization. Democrats are strongly behind John Kerry and Republicans are strongly behind the president. The question is, which party will do a better job turning out its base?" - Eric Rademacher, director of the Ohio Poll at the University of Cincinnati.

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"Ohio is not a Republican state. It's always competitive." - Brian Hicks, Republican Gov. Bob Taft's former chief of staff and a GOP strategist.

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"It looks blue to me." - Michael Coleman, Democratic mayor of Columbus.

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"George Bush has made his share of mistakes. But everybody makes mistakes. Nobody's perfect. But he's better than Kerry." - Paulette Elam, a mother of four and grandmother to two who manages a farmer's market in Springfield.

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"I'm really not leaning toward either candidate. They both have valid points. I'm waiting for the end of the debates to decide. It could easily come down to charisma." - Chris Perry, the owner of Best of the Wurst deli in Columbus.

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"Instead of talking about Reagan Democrats, we might be talking about Kerry Republicans when this is over." - William Burga, Ohio's AFL-CIO president.

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"The candidate (Kerry) has to give us a message. We can knock on doors, but if somebody has decided they're not going to vote because they don't like either candidate, we can't get them to the polls." - Dennis Lieberman, Montgomery County Democratic Party chairman.

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"He (Kerry) just seems to be all over the place. It's like he doesn't know what he stands for." - Casey Koehler, as he washed his truck in Springfield.

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"You've got both issues - the economy and the war - out here and I don't think either issue is good for Bush." - Jim Ruvolo, chairman of Kerry's campaign in Ohio.

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"It's the wrong time right now to be changing the head of the country. When Bush took office, he immediately had a problem with 9/11, and he handled it fantastically." - Raymond Kelly, a taxi driver in Cleveland.

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"This world is a mess. They're killing our boys for nothing. It's going to be another Vietnam. Bring the troops homes. I could care less about those people over there." - Elvin Rogers, a bus driver in Cleveland.

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"He's (Bush) got to project strength. They admire a leader. In this area, we are big-time lovers of freedom." - Jim Trakas, chairman of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party and a state representative.