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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 Public Rally In Sharonville Wednesday

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Donald Trump will hold a public rally with Cincinnati area supporters Wednesday night at the Sharonville Convention Center, following a private fundraising event.

The rally is free and open to the public, but those who want tickets must register at the campaign website, www.donaldjtrump.com, according to a news release issued by the Trump campaign Saturday afternoon.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was already scheduled to come to Cincinnati for a private fundraising event organized by the Republican National Committee and the Ohio Republican Party. It is a high-dollar event, with ticket prices ranging from $2,700 to $25,000.

The private fundraising event will precede the public rally at the Sharonville Convention Center.

It will be Trump's second visit to the Buckeye State since losing the March 15 Ohio GOP primary to Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Last Tuesday, he held a rally near St. Clairsville in Belmont County, in the eastern part of the state bordering with West Virginia. There, in a region of the state plagued with chronic unemployment and a weak economy, he railed against international trade deals he says send American jobs overseas.

Eastern and Southeastern Ohio are considered regions of the state crucial to Trump's chances of winning Ohio in the fall.

Hamilton County will also attract national media attention during the fall campaign.

That's why, last Monday, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, held a large rally in the rotunda of the Museum Center at Union Terminal. At her side was Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who waited to endorse Clinton until after she had clinched the nomination.

Clinton laid out an ambitious plan for job creation and reining in the influence of Wall Street. Warren spent much of her time praising Clinton and bashing Trump, telling the crowd that Trump is someone who will "crush you into dirt to get what he wants."

Much of the national polling shows Clinton with a substantial lead over Trump, but a recent Quinnipiac University poll of Ohio voters had the contest in the Buckeye State dead even at 40 percent each.

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