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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 To Hold High-Dollar Fundraiser In Cincinnati July 6

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Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, will hold a private, high-dollar fundraising event in Cincinnati next Wednesday.

According to an invitation obtained by WVXU, it will be a high-price affair; and those who pony up money for the GOP candidate will find out after they have sent in their RSVPs where the late afternoon event will be held.

Ticket prices, according to the invitation, range from $2,700 to $25,000.

A $2,700 contribution gets a donor into a general reception with Trump. $10,000 buys access to a photo with Trump and the reception. Those who chip in $25,000 not only get the photo and the reception, but they can participate in a round-table discussion with the candidate.

There is no indication at this point that Trump's campaign will also schedule a public event in Cincinnati. The GOP candidate is campaigning in Ohio today – one day after Democrat Hillary Clinton's rally at Cincinnati's Museum Center with Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Trump is scheduled to address a rally in St. Clairsville in eastern Ohio tonight. It will take place at Ohio University's Eastern Campus in Belmont County at 7 p.m. It will be his first campaign event in Ohio since losing the March 15 Republican primary to Ohio Gov. John Kasich

The Cincinnati fundraising event is one of many being held around the country, with the assistance of the Republican National Committee.

Party leaders are concerned that Trump, who spent relatively little money to win the nomination in the primary season, will not have enough campaign cash to compete with Clinton and her Democratic allies.

According to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission, Clinton's campaign committee ended may with $42 million in the bank. A pro-Clinton super PAC is spending even larger amounts of money on ads attacking Trump.

Trump's campaign finance report showed he had only $1.3 million in the bank at the end of May. Two days after the report came out, Trump said he had raised an additional $2 million; and the Republican National Committee said it had raised another $5 million to promote Trump's candidacy. 

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