Inside Pitch

With Tropical Storm Isaac about to pass by Tampa Bay in the Gulf of Mexico Monday, Ohio's delegation to the Republican National Convention streamed into a resort hotel on the north side of Tampa Sunday, and had barely unpacked their bags before the partying began.

A half dozen buses lined up outside the Mainsail Suites and Conference Center - home to the Ohio delegation this week - to take them across Tampa Bay to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg for "The Welcome Event," a three-hour extravaganza of music and entertainment meant to kick off the party convention.

Grammy Award winning singer John Legend is the headline draw for the opening of a new Obama-Biden campaign office in Over-the-Rhine early Thursday evening.

Legend, a native of Springfield, Ohio, is expected to be at the new office at 1130 Main Street at 6:30 p.m.

The politically-active Legend, who has won nine Grammy Awards, is the son of a worker at an auto manufacturing plant and is expected to talk to the crowd about President Obama's bailout of the auto industry, which the campaign argues saved thousands of jobs in Ohio.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman won't be the vice presidential candidate nominated at next week's Republican National Convention in Tampa, but he will be one of the opening acts Wednesday for the man who is to be number two on the GOP ticket, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan.

Portman is scheduled to speak to the convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa Wednesday night, during prime time, and just after former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

Following Portman to the podium will be Columbus business owner Steve Cohen of Screen Machine Industries.