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0000017a-3b40-d913-abfe-bf44a4f90000Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU news team as the politics reporter and columnist in April 2012 , after 30 years of covering local, state and national politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. On this page, you will find his weekly column, Politically Speaking; the Monday morning political chats with News Director Maryanne Zeleznik and other news coverage by Wilkinson. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio gubernatorial race since 1974, as well as 16 presidential nominating conventions. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots, the Lucasville prison riot in 1993, the Air Canada plane crash at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983, and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. And, given his passion for baseball, you might even find some stories about the Cincinnati Reds here from time to time.

Trump, Kasich To Rally Support In Cincinnati This Weekend

Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Donald J. Trump, locked in a critical battle for Ohio’s 66 Republican delegates in Tuesday’s primary election, will crisscross the state this weekend, including stops for both in Cincinnati.

Thursday morning, Linda Caudill, the Hamilton County chair of Trump’s campaign, said the campaign signed a contract “late last night” with the Duke Energy Convention Center to hold a Sunday rally.

She said she had no details on the rally but said they are expected to be released by the Trump campaign later today. This story will be updated.

Kasich, who needs to win his home state to keep any hopes of stopping Trump’s march to the GOP nomination alive, will be at the Sharonville Convention Center Saturday morning for the Northeast Hamilton County Republican Club’s campaign breakfast.

Late Friday afternoon, the Ohio governor will hold a town hall session at Fuyao Glass America in the Dayton suburb of Moraine. After Saturday morning’s pancake breakfast, Kasich will move on to town hall meetings in Heath, just outside Columbus; and in Mansfield.

Trump, whose rallies tend to be large affairs in big venues, will hold a 10 a.m. rally Saturday at Wright Bros. Aero in Vandalia, outside of Dayton; and a 2 p.m. rally at the Cleveland I-X Center.

Kasich has a full schedule of town hall events around the state Sunday and Monday, ending with an election eve rally Monday at Westerville Central High School, in the Columbus suburb where the Kasichs make their home.

Earlier this week, a Quinnipiac University Poll showed Trump with a six percentage point lead over Kasich in his home state. The margin of error in the poll is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. 

Howard Wilkinson is in his 50th year of covering politics on the local, state and national levels.