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Politics Chat: Why Is Trump Coming To Cincinnati So Early In The Campaign?

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President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are planning an Aug. 1 re-election campaign rally at Cincinnati's US Bank Arena - which raises the question of why they are stumping here so early in the campaign. Trump did not win either Hamilton County or Cincinnati in 2016. WVXU's Senior Political Analyst, Howard Wilkinson, told News Director Maryanne Zeleznik that his real audience is in not in Cincinnati, but in the suburban and rural counties which surround it.

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Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU News Team after 30 years of covering local and state politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio governor’s race since 1974 as well as 12 presidential nominating conventions. His streak continued by covering both the 2012 Republican and Democratic conventions for 91.7 WVXU. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots; the Lucasville Prison riot in 1993; the Air Canada plane crash at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983; and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. The Cincinnati Reds are his passion. "I've been listening to WVXU and public radio for many years, and I couldn't be more pleased at the opportunity to be part of it,” he says.