Ohio -- the state at the center of 2004's presidential race -- will be the battleground of several key races again in 2006.

The state's lagging economy and a series of scandals plaguing the ruling Republican Party have opened the door for Democrats to attack the Republican "culture of corruption" in races that will focus as much on national as local issues.

The economy and education will be major campaign topics in the coming months. Candidates in Ohio have vowed to improve the state's education system and create a stronger job market -- the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked Ohio 47th for job growth in 2005.

The war in Iraq will play more of a role in the Senate race, where senior Sen. Mike DeWine, R, faces a tough re-election campaign against Democrat Rep. Sherrod Brown.

Republicans control all elected statewide offices and both DeWine and Sen. George Voinovich are Republican.

This, according to Ohio State University professor Herb Asher, will be negative for Republican candidates, "in the sense that they control everything, they're who's responsible for a poor economy. It's hard to find Democrats to blame because they've been irrelevant in the governing process."

In the 109th U.S. Congress, Ohio Republicans hold 12 seats to the Democrats' six. Ohio lost a congressional seat after the 2000 census and the state redistricted in 2002 with a plan that boosted the Republican majority from 11-8 to the current 12-6.

Ohio's General Assembly is currently solidly Republican -- 22 Republicans to 11 Democrats in the Senate and 60 Republicans to 39 Democrats in the House -- and is not expected to change hands this November.

Republicans have held the governor's mansion since 1991 but Democrats hope to take advantage of scandals surrounding current Gov. Bob Taft. Last August, Taft was convicted of four criminal ethics charges for failing to disclose golf outings and other gifts he received worth more than $75 and was fined $4,000, according to the Columbus Dispatch. He pleaded no contest.

In October 2005 a Dispatch poll found that Taft's approval rating was 15 percent, lower than any state governor's approval rating in the last 15 years. Taft's polls have risen slightly since then but have cast a shadow over the state's Republicans.

The ethics charges against Taft grew out of an investigation into bad investments of state funds in a scandal known as Coingate. The Toledo Blade broke the story last year that Tom Noe, a well-connected Republican fundraiser, invested money from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation funds in rare coins under Taft's watch and cannot account for up to $13 million, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Noe was charged with 53 felony counts for his involvement in the investments. The ongoing investigation has not revealed what happened to the missing money.

In May, Noe pleaded guilty to all three federal counts of money laundering after illegally paying for his friends to attend a fund-raising event for President Bush, raising about $45,000 for the president's re-election campaign.

In a separate scandal, Rep. Bob Ney, a Republican who represents Ohio's 18th District and is running for re-election in 2006, is reported to be "Representative No. 1" in the congressional corruption investigation into Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges earlier this year. Ney has not been indicted in the investigation.

Republicans and Democrats, meanwhile, are gearing up for Ohio's competitive races. The saying, "As goes Ohio, so goes the nation" has proved true in recent presidential contests, with both parties making the Buckeye State a major focus of their 2004 campaigns as they channeled money into the state and initiated voter registration campaigns.

President George W. Bush won Ohio by 118,000 votes in 2004 and its 20 electoral votes helped him defeat Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. After the 2004 election, Ohio newspapers reported accounts of irregularities involving the state's electronic voting machines and long lines for voters in heavily Democratic areas, some of whom never had the chance to cast their ballots before polls closed.

Issue 1, a referendum to amend Ohio's Constitution to ban gay marriage, was credited with successfully drawing conservative voters to the polls. The referendum passed 62 percent to 38 percent and President Bush carried the state with 51 percent to Kerry's 49 percent. In 2000, 50 percent of the vote went to Mr. Bush compared to Democrat Al Gore's 46 percent and 3 percent for Ralph Nader of the Green Party.

Moral values and the war on terrorism topped voter concerns in 2004, beating economic issues, even in counties with the largest percentage of job losses, according to the National Journal's Almanac of American Politics.

Gearing up for the 2006 races, President Bush has made Ohio a frequent destination to campaign for Republican candidates, while high-profile Democrats such as Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and former Sen. John Edwards of Massachusetts have visited on behalf of Democratic candidates.

From the beginning, Ohio was never a homogenous state, politically or culturally. Historically, the state is divided with a Democratic voting bloc in the northeast where the influences of steel, tire and auto unions still remain and the southwest, which remains heavily Republican and more politically active than the rest of the state, according to the Almanac.

Established as a state in 1787, the first from the Northwest Territory, Ohio became a leading industrial area after the Civil War and the home of steel mills, soap companies, machine makers, tire manufacturers and glass producers.

Until the Great Depression, Republicans gained the votes of Ohio's industrial cities until pushes from auto, steel and tires unions in Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown and Toledo swung toward the Democrats. Cincinnati and Ohio's capitol Columbus remained Republican. In 2000 and 2004, President Bush lost in the northeast but won easily both years in the southwest.

Ohioans will vote on several ballot issues in the fall, including a push to raise Ohio's minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85 an hour that Democrats hope will draw voters to the polls much as the gay marriage amendment boosted conservative turnout in 2004.

Another issue promoted by Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, the Republican candidate for governor, would limit spending and taxes. A statewide smoking ban and issues to permit casino gambling also may appear on the ballot.

-- Compiled by Anna Shoup for the Online NewsHour