Real News' War Room: Campaigns Focus on Ohio As the Key Swing in 2012

With only six weeks left before election day, national polling shows that President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are locked in a tight race. However, when you look at swing-state polling, President Obama is beginning to open up a lead. This is true even in the extremely close and contested state of Ohio, where Romney has begun a three-day bus tour this week. On "Real News From The Blaze" Monday the panel discuseed the fight for Ohio's eighteen electoral votes, which are of particular interest not only for how they will affect the final Electoral College tally, but because the diverse ethnic and economic makeup of the Buckeye State may serve as a microcosm for the nation as a whole.

To give an idea of how badly each campaign wants Ohio, a study by Kanter Media CMAG revealed that 18,482 presidential campaign ads aired during a typical late August week in the Columbus media market alone. Barack Obama won Ohio in 2008 by four points, and in the latest poll from the Cincinnati Enquirer leads Romney by five, within the poll's margin of error. NBC News reports that Romney will be accompanied during his trip through Ohio with a blitz of TV ads from both campaigns aimed specifically for the key swing state:

Watch a clip below from Monday's show on the battle for Ohio in 2012: