In-Text References: Pages 1 to 27

"Death of a Salesman"  -Gomez, page 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Salesman

Death of A Salesman is a play written by Arthur Miller. In this play, Willie Loman, an aging salesman, kills himself to ensure his family will receive his life insurance as he is failing in his career and losing touch with reality. In his quest to be "well-liked" and successful, Willy is and always stays a failure in the eyes of society, as he cannot provide properly for his family. In killing himself he unintentionally insures his family will not receive the life insurance,  for it is a violation of the life insurance policy to kill oneself for that purpose. A full synopsis can be read at http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/salesman/summary.html 

"Ohio! A Swing State!" -Gomez, page 11

The term "swing state" is a political reference. Swing states are states in which the vote for a presidential election of recent years was very close. Gomez is referencing that in the last presidential election, it was a very close vote in Ohio.   

Source: http://people.howstuffworks.com/swing-state2.htm
Image: http://www.web-design-hosting-4u.com/ohio-small-business-website-design-tips.htm 

"The dice I've rolled have finally crapped." -Gomez, page 15

This is a reference to the gambling game Casino Craps. There are two phases to a round of Craps, the first called Come Out and the second called Point. If a shooter (someone throwing the dice) rolls a 2, 3 or 12 on their first roll, during the Come Out phase, he and anyone with a Passing Bet on him loses his money and the round. 

Source: http://www.ildado.com/craps_rules.html 
Image :http://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/craps.html