Michelle Obama, Sherrod Brown visit Cincinnati to kick off early voting

First lady Michelle Obama acknowledges the crowd after her introduction in Cincinnati. In her talk Tuesday, she stressed the importance of every vote.

CINCINNATI — First Lady Michelle Obama visited Ohio on the first day of early voting Tuesday, reminding a spirited crowd of 6,800 people that the last presidential election in the key swing state came down to just about 260,000 votes and that the current race will be even closer.

Mrs. Obama said that 260,000 votes may not sound like a lot, but broken down, they amounted to 24 votes per precinct.

“Do you hear me? Twenty-four votes!” she said. “Just take that in for a moment. That could mean just a couple votes in your neighborhood, on your block. That could be just a single vote in your apartment building, one vote in your dorm room.”

She urged everyone in the crowd to keep that number in their heads as the race comes down to its final weeks.

“It’s all at stake this November,” she said. “And it can all come down to what happens in just a few key battleground states like right here in Ohio.”

The crowd responded to the First Lady with roars of excitement throughout the 30-minute speech, chanting, “Fired up! Ready to vote!” and “Four more years!”

Mrs. Obama also retold a familiar tale about why she married President Obama, how she and her husband have lived the American dream, and that it’s important to help others struggling to reach their own goals.

She also touted her husband’s four years in office, pointing to health-care reform, the end of the war in Iraq, Osama bin Laden’s death, and the auto bailout.

Before Mrs. Obama took the stage, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown told the audience that they were lucky to live in Ohio.

“We get to choose who the next president of the United States is,” he said. “Your vote is so important.”

No candidate has won without Ohio’s 18 electoral votes since John F. Kennedy in 1960. A recent CBS/New York Times poll by Quinnipiac University showed Mr. Obama leading Mitt Romney in Ohio, 53 percent to 43 percent.