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The county that hosted the Republican National Convention delivered more presidential votes for Barack Obama than Republican Mitt Romney.

As Carrollwood Florist owner Larry Montesano drove through Tampa on frequent flower deliveries, he noted how many election signs there were in the neighborhoods.

“For every ten Romney signs, you see one Obama sign...unless you’re in certain parts of town, like inner city parts,” said Montesano, a few days before the election.

Yet, as with many swing states, those inner cities provided enough votes to put Obama over the top. Tampa is the main metropolitan city in Hillsborough County, an important swing county in a vital swing state.

A.J. Matthews, the county’s Republican State Committeeman, said that Hillsborough had been termed the most important county in the country.

“With one exception--Bush, Clinton, 1992--no statewide candidate has won Florida without winning Hillsborough County in the last twelve presidential contests,” Matthews had said before the election.

With Florida’s 29 valuable electoral votes and highly diverse population in terms of age, race, political affiliation, and economic status, the presidential candidates and their affiliates gave a lot of attention to this specific area. 

For example, the political parties held their national conventions in key cities and states, and the Republicans held theirs in Tampa in August.

“All of the candidates have aggressively courted Tampa Bay’s voters,” Matthews said. “President Obama has visited the state--mostly for fundraising--coming to Florida fifteen times in the last three months.”

But one of the downfalls of being an important county to the elections is a flood of phone calls, mailers, and visitors at the door.

“Hillsborough is exasperated. Everyone just wants the damn thing to be over,” had said Joey Redner, CEO of Cigar City Brewing in Tampa.

Redner was split between voting for Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, or President Barack Obama, because of Redner’s political views and his dissatisfaction with the candidates themselves.

“So I am voting Libertarian which probably helps Obama at the end of the day, but I am making the choice I think is right regardless,” Redner said.

Corporations think Tampa citizens’ choices are important too, making it a favorite location for them to conduct focus groups. Campaigns and corporations believe that if a message is successful in Hillsborough, it will be influential across America. 

In Hillsborough County, the Tampa area is more Democratic and the surrounding areas are Republican. However, Hillsborough has multiple political communities that have the potential to mix the vote. 

For example, FishHawk Ranch in the southeastern part of Hillsborough is loaded with tea party allies. Sun City Center is home of conservative retirees, but doesn’t support the GOP like before. These Republican enclaves are what swing the vote of Hillsborough County toward the center of the political divide, even though the city of Tampa is heavily Democratic.

What does this mean for the presidential candidates? Hillsborough is a huge potential battleground for support and votes. The Democratic Party alone has six campaign offices in Hillsborough County, with their main office located in Tampa. 

David Brown, owner of Old Tampa Book Company, knows his community well enough to predict the effect that the Democrats have on his county. 

"I've owned this bookstore for 20 years and the difference I've seen in the elections from 2008 and now is the attempt the [unknown] Republicans have to disenfranchise everybody. The emotions are running high in the county,” said Brown.