Haha...Maybe its you that can't count.

Simple exercise: Count how many numbers are from 1964 to 2006. The number sure is not 42.

This filmmakers delibrately presented this information in a misleading way to enhance their point, however it's not a false statement.

Maybe they should have said in the past 41 year, or even better that the last 11 election winners have all carried Ohio.

I have not seen this, but its a bit unfair to discredit a documentary because it stated a true, yet very slightly misleading fact.

If I said, "In the last year, nobody has ever eaten his own head," you would correctly determine that I am asserting that nobody has eaten his own head from October 2005 to October 2006 (since I am making this assertion in October 2006).

If I said, "In the last two years, the United States has not invaded Canada," you would correctly determine that I am asserting this failure in our foreign policy has been a problem since at least October 2004. Two years have elapsed between October 2004 and today. And, by coincidence, 2006 - 2 = 2004.

Now, if I say, "In the last 42 years, Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh have eaten a combined 70,000 donuts," my assertion is clearly that certain politically-charged entertainers have consumed a great many pastry product since October of 1964. 2006 - 42 = 1964.

Forty-two years have elapsed between October 1964 and today. The election of 1964 was held in November, which falls within that time period. Ergo, LBJ counts. Ergo, it is false to say that "In the last 42 years, only two democrats have won the Presidential election."

I have other points upon which to discredit the documentary's trailer. I'll mention these in a future post. I can't discredit the documentary itself, however, since I have not seen it. Nor, based upon the trailer, do I find it likely to be fruitful for me to do so.

I like your idea of emphasizing instead "the last X elected Presidents carried Ohio." That would be more interesting. Fascinating, even, if X is sufficiently large. (I don't actually know how often this has been the case, nor if it's been the case more often for Ohio than, say, Kentucky or Florida.)

Such an assertion would beg the question, "What is it about Ohio that makes it the vanguard of American politics?"

As it is, the assertion made in the trailer begs, "Why can't the Democrats win the Presidency?" This is, I maintain, necessarily and inappropriately partisan -- as well as false.

So - want to know how often Ohio has been right in the presidental elections?

I compiled Ohio's voting record for the past 202 years, back to 1804 (51 elections worth.) Ohio was admitted as a state in 1803, so it's the state's entire presidental voting history. Out of those 51 elections, here's a list of the times they didn't vote for the winner:

1960 – Nixon/Lodge(R)
1944 – Dewey/Bricker(R)
1892 – Harrison/Reid(R)
1884 – Blaine/Logan(R)
1856 – Fremont/Dayton(R)
1848 – Cass(D)
1844 – Clay(Whig)
1836 – Harrison(Whig)
1824 – Clay(D-R)

So in 51 elections, Ohio picked wrong 9 times, giving it an accuracy rating of 82.3%. Is there any state that has a higher accuracy record, or has picked correctly every single time? As your favorite college professor used to say: that, dear friends, is an excercise left up to the reader.