Hello my friends, thank you for being here today. I am chatting with my friend Lauren

Pinkston and we are diving into the incredibly interesting history of the state of Ohio

and what makes Ohio the best predictor of presidential election outcomes for decades.

I have so many brain tinkles for you, so let's dive in. I'm Sharon McBan and welcome to

the Sharon Says So podcast. Lauren, I'm thrilled that you're here. I'm chatting today with

my friend Lauren Pinkston. Lauren, tell everybody just like a teeny little snippet about what

you do and I want to talk more about your work towards the end of the episode, but just

give everybody a little taste of what it is that you do.

Sure, my background is in education and then I studied international development and now

I teach as a professor in a college of business. So nothing really connected, but it is

all woven into my life story of living abroad and working in a developing world. So now

I'm back in the US and trying to figure out how to not be weird and not go to people that

I meet in the grocery store, but that's in a nutshell outside of being a mom of three

kids and went on the way and a wife to a Michigan fan. That is what I do.

I want to talk more about some of the work you do with international development and other

things towards the end of this conversation, but I have a fun story I want to share with

you today. I am on the edge of my seat. It's not every day you get to be a guest on your

favorite podcast. Well, this is a story about state of Ohio. And you would give me Ohio

after I just told you my husband's a Michigan fan. That's right. That's right. This is designed

to provoke meriddle eggs. That was my goal. How can I make lords husband and greet? I've

already succeeded. I said the word Ohio. Yes. Okay. Have you heard this phrase that Ohio

is a bellweather state when it comes to elections? No. Okay. For me. All right. So first of

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