Ohio Still in Play?

Earlier I was reading this article about the South's struggle with their own history and the different opposing forces. As I read the article one sentence jumped out at me. It is written within the context of November's Presidential election:

The ideological "red-blue" borders almost perfectly traced the regional sentiments of the mid-19th century, with Ohio to this day in play.

Ohio still in play? Who says? I believe that if Ohio is still 'in play' we would not have had an inauguration this past January. So I then went over to Real Clear Politics to look at their election data results and here is what I found: OH difference in votes is 130,650 with the lead going to Bush. Then I looked at Pennsylvania's vote difference, with the results being 123,128 with the lead going to Kerry.

If Ohio is still 'in play' then wouldn't Pennsylvania be 'in play' as well? I know nothing of the author's history/political leanings, but found the statement to be highly suspect and out of place in the context of the story.