Reuters has an interesting article on how Ohio, and towns like Chillicothe in particular, can be pivotal in the 2012 presidential election.

One of the exceptions was in 2008, when the county backed Republican John McCain. Chillicothe, however, went for Obama.

Both parties see politically divided Ohio as perhaps the decisive state in the presidential race between Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. So Chillicothe and neighboring towns will have an outsized say in determining the future occupant of the Oval Office.

In November, the Obama campaign chose this city of 20,000 as the site of his first campaign office in Ohio.

Get ready for a brutal 2012 election cycle.