Inside Pitch

The final Ohio Poll from the University of Cincinnati's Institute for Policy Research was only two-tenths of a percentage point off the final election results in the presidential and U.S. Senate races in Ohio.

That means the Ohio Poll has accurately projected the winner in all 40 of the statewide candidate and ballot issue races it has polle

d since 1994.

Politico.com reported today that Ohio's junior senator, Rob Portman, is interested in chairing the National Republican Senatorial Comm

ittee (NRSC) in the 2014 campaign cycle.

The website cited two unnamed sources "familiar with his thinking" who said Portman - who was on the short list of potential running mates for GOP nominee Mitt Romney - is considering running for the NRSC job. Portman - who campaigned hard for Romney throughout Ohio - has said nothing on the subject.

Four years ago, politicos on both sides were stunned when the formerly rock-solid Hamilton County was won by Barack Obama by a margin of 29,683 votes, taking 54 percent of the county to 46 percent for GOP nominee John McCain.

This year, the GOP and the Romney-Ryan campaign rolled the dice on winning back Hamilton County, one of the handful of linchpin counties that can make or break a presidential campaign in Ohio.

Again, though, they lost.