McCain Rally in Dayton DAYTON, OH (WYSO) - McCain spokesman Paul Lindsay says that there's mounting excitement from the campaign supporters for the rally on Friday. It's the big event heading into the Republican convention in Minnesota and where it's expected that the Senator will announce his pick for running mate.

"We're still expecting a lot of supporters throughout the state from all regions of Ohio to come out and support John McCain," said Lindsay, "This is just building on the grassroots support that we're seeing every night in our phone banks and door to door on the weekends and the grassroots support for McCain's candidacy."

The months leading up to the election have brought both candidates to the Miami Valley to woo voters. Lindsay says Senator McCain has made it clear since becoming the Republican candidate that Ohio has been a very important state to him.

"He's visited a lot since April and voters in Ohio have really had the chance over the last few months to see him firsthand. We've had a number of town halls in every region of the state," Lindsay notes.

He acknowledges that town hall meetings have been one the Senator's favorite formats. So the rally in Dayton is a bit of departure for him.

"It could be a signal that there's going to be something of significance of the McCain stop at Wright State University," says Paul Leonard, a professor of political science at Wright State. He agrees that Dayton was chosen because of Ohio's importance politically.

"I don't think there's any question that Ohio is the battleground state. A lot of people say, 'so goes Ohio, so goes the Presidential campaign,'" says Leonard.

It's not just any city in Ohio either. Gregg Gantt is the chairman of the Montogmery County Republican party.

"If you look at the Miami valley, you've got every demographic that you would want," says Gantt, "So if you run a commercial or make an appearance in the Dayton area and then want to do some polling to see if your message resonates, you've got every white collar, blue collar, farmer, and all of the minority categories. This area is a great representation for the entire state."

Professor Leonard agrees, "You know the Dayton area is like the old Peoria in Illinois, meaning if it plays in Peoria, meaning middle America, it'll play anywhere."

Even McCain's choice of venue raises some interesting questions. The Nutter Center was also the home to a large rally for Senator Obama during the primary races. Political science professor Charles Funderburk says this could present a challenge for Senator McCain.

"I guess there's a certain irony there. If he doesn't fill the Nutter arena up, then he couldn't draw the crowd. If he DOES fill the crowd, then where does he get off criticizing Obama for filling up arenas?" Funderburk asks.

But Gregg Gantt disagrees. He says the choice of venue had nothing to do with Senator Obama's previous visit. As the party chairman for Montgomery County, he says he was involved in the process of finding the best place for McCain's campaign stop.

"If it was just for me, I would have avoided the venue where the other side was because it adds one more layer to this and we've got enough to do and enough things going on. But it just worked out that the Nutter Center was available on the day that we wanted," says Gantt.

As for the pick for Vice President, it's all speculation at this point. McCain spokesman Paul Lindsay says that they're not commenting on the selection process, but does acknowledge that a decision will be made this week. © Copyright 2009, WYSO