The Tribune editorial staff

Ironton was the difference when it came to reelecting George W. Bush as president. Well, not exactly Ironton, but the many small towns and rural counties such as ours helped Bush win Ohio even though John Kerry dominated in many big cities.

In the traditionally Democratic-dominated counties such as Lorain, Bush chipped out enough votes to negate Kerry's gains. In Lorain County, Kerry received more than 16,000 votes more than Al Gore did, but Bush gained more than 11,000 over the 2000 election.

Democratic leaders believe that they were hurt in smaller Ohio counties because their voters are, typically, younger than Republicans and many of these young voters were forced to look elsewhere for a career because the economic conditions are poor.

Small-community voters also responded to the Republicans' message of values and maintaining leadership during wartime, something the Democrats conceded they couldn't match in this election.

Here in Lawrence County, it may have been the special attention that helped Bush win 56 percent of the votes compared to Kerry's 44 percent.

Kerry visited the Tri-State but Bush took time out of his busy schedule and actually stopped in Ironton in September with an excited crowd of more than 4,000 people lining the streets to be a part of history.

According to local historians, the last sitting president who visited Ironton was President Harry S. Truman in 1948.

Though Bush was only physically on the ground in Ironton for less than four minutes, that brief period of time may have been what made the difference in the minds of an undecided voter.

Regardless of where your political affiliation lies, it should be heartwarming to know that our votes really do count and make a difference.

This just goes to show that little communities can be just as important on the state and national level as the juggernauts of Columbus and Cleveland - maybe even bigger where it counts.