2020 presidential election

Everyone knows that the donkey is the mascot and symbol of the Democratic Party, and has been for some time.

You would think that, at some point, this gerrymandering trick Ohio Republicans played eight years ago to create a Democrat-proof district for U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot would wear thin.

On the morning of Saturday, June 22 – exactly 500 days before the 2020 election – the Hamilton County Republican Party hopes to fill the Sharonville Convention Center with the GOP faithful for a gigantic pep rally that will feature Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, President Trump's campaign press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and a cast of thousands.

Is Hamilton County blue? Or is it purple? No point in asking whether or not it is still red; that train left the station some time ago.

But it's time to settle this blue-purple hash once and for all – and the 2020 general election is the time to do it.

Alex Triantafilou, the chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party, would be well-pleased on the morning of Saturday, June 22, if the traffic on Chester Road in Sharonville is bumper-to-bumper with cars trying to make their way into the parking lot of the Sharonville Convention Center.

For the time being, an Ohio group has pulled out of a ballot issue this year to have the state join a nationwide movement to bypass the Electoral College and elect the president by popular vote.

How's this for bad campaign optics?

Ordinarily, a U.S. senator endorsing the president of his own party for re-election would be nothing out of the ordinary.

That's what you would expect the senator to do, right? Under ordinary circumstances, that is.

I suppose this debate over whether Ohio is a red state, a purple state, or blue state with a very faint pulse is going to go on for quite a while.

Starting out a possible run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination is an ambitious project in the best of circumstances. But starting out with a well-respected national poll showing that 77 percent of American voters say they don't know enough about you to form an opinion about you – good or bad – might make you think you are running in quicksand.