Obama on defense in Pa. as McCain senses an opening

[Liberal_in_LA]

Obama on defense in Pa. as McCain senses an opening

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Still, Obama's repeated visits here - he held rallies in Chester, outside Philadelphia, yesterday, and in Pittsburgh the night before - suggest that his campaign is worried enough about the state, which he lost handily in the primary to Senator Hillary Clinton, to maintain a major presence this close to Election Day. One of Obama's top surrogates here, Governor Ed Rendell, said yesterday that McCain's heavy campaigning in the state, especially in southwestern counties around Pittsburgh, was whittling away Obama's lead.

"I never thought it was a 10-plus lead to begin with," Rendell said in an interview. "This is still not a given."

At a morning rally in Hershey with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin that drew about 10,000 to a hockey rink, McCain continued to paint Obama as an old-fashioned liberal, an argument advisers said would help win over late-deciding independents and conservative Democrats.

"After months of campaign trail eloquence, we've finally learned what Senator Obama's economic goal is: to spread the wealth," McCain said.

McCain strategists identify Pennsylvania as one of two states, along with New Hampshire, where they can exploit an unreconciled rift left over from the Democratic primaries, in which much of the party's establishment supported Clinton.

McCain's political director, Mike DuHaime, said that the campaign, which operates a "Democrats for McCain" headquarters in Scranton, has detected greater unease with Obama among Democrats as part of the McCain campaign's direct contact with voters - in phone calls and door knocks - than is evident in media surveys showing sizable leads for Obama.
"Like us, they see it closer than the public polls," DuHaime said of the Obama campaign.

Former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a close McCain ally, added yesterday, "If they thought it was a slam-dunk, they wouldn't be spending so much time here."

McCain, though, faces an unfriendly electoral landscape in Pennsylvania. The Democrats, who have aggressively registered new voters this year, now have 1.2 million more people on their rolls than the Republicans; that's about double the advantage the Democrats had four years ago.

A win in Pennsylvania does not necessarily guarantee McCain the presidency, either. Assuming Obama wins Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, and Virginia (which the polls suggest is likely), McCain would still have to hold onto Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, and North Carolina - all of which President Bush carried in 2004 and any of which Obama could win.


http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/10/29/obama_on_defense_in_pa_as_mccain_senses_an_opening/

[dennis4868]

1. I don't get it....

there is all this worry about PA but no evidence to back it up...Obama has had a healthy lead in the polls in the state for some time now...

[katusha]

3. it's a trap, i think

i think this is a gambit by the obama campaign to get mccain to waste his last resources in a state they expect to win. McCain in Penn. means McCain not in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina. The only reason Ridge thinks its playable is because Obama spending so much time there.

[Chimichurri]

9. Or Obama's camp suspects shenanigans to be rampant and are taking no chances.

Although I love your theory and I'll hang on to that one instead. I just put nothing past the republicans. They've shown and continue to show they have no regard for the rule of law whatsoever. For them it's win at any cost.

[katusha]

12. too true, can't discount that possibility N/T

[durablend]

17. I wouldn't put it past the PA Republiscum...

To do anything and everything they can to deliver the state to McPalin

[Virginia Dare]

14. It seem to be working if that's the case..

it seems like the McCain camp still sees this as a battleground, when Obama appears to all but have locked it up. The McCain camp seems to really have gone all in, in the belief that disillusioned Hillary Clinton supporters would bolt from the Democratic Party and vote McCain/Palin en masse. Boy, were they wrong and I'm glad they were.

[izzie]

2. I am sure it will work ,what Palin is saying ,it worked for Bush

I do not envy Obama as the GOP have just about sold out this country by 'stealing' every cent from it for their wars and rich friends. It sure has not gone to the people. Funny how people buy that stuff that McCain and Palin are saying over and over.

[Bicoastal]

4. You really don't believe in our candidate, do you?

Jesus fucking christ.

[izzie]

16. I do believe in Obama and Biden.

I even sent money and a lot for some one on retirement income. First time ever for me and I started my first vote when Ike ran. What I do not believe in is that every one votes with their brain and some reason. Most voting is done with habit and emotion. You could talk better. It does no good to talk like that. As my dear mother said it is usually because you can not think of good words, you use such bad ones. What is wrong with a smart guy like you to talk like that.

[dennis4868]

5. I don't think it will work...

sure there is parts of the state that would never vote for Obama and some parts of the state that will go for McCain but overall McCain has too much working against him in PA....even Kerry and Gore won this state.

[man4allcats]

6. At this point speculation, while perhaps interesting, is meaningless.

I have to say I don't think there is any way the NeoThugs can win this election honestly, but as Joseph Stalin once remarked "It's not who votes that matters. It's who counts the votes that matters." Well said, Joe, you asshole. That said, I still think Obama will win it. High voter turn-out is the cure for stolen elections, and on that score I think we've got this one. Thank God!

[bowens43]

7. on thr defense with a 13 point lead? Huh?

[radfringe]

8. don't think so

Obama-Biden campaign Schedule:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032553

10/29 - Toss-ups according to MSNBC
Kissimee, Fl
Sunrise, Fl
Raleigh, NC

10/30 - Toss-ups according to MSNBC
Columbia, MO

mccain-palin campaign schedule
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032553
no events listed on MSNBC map

event listing from mccain website:
10/29: Toss-up States
Miami FL
Bowling Green OH
Chillcothe OH
Jeffersonville IN

By the campaign appearance schedules - Obama is on the OFFENSE and mccain is playing defense


Poll averages for these states: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/#data

Florida: Obama 48.4 mccain: 45.1
North Carolina: Obama 48.6 mccain: 47.1
Ohio: Obama 49.8 mccain 43.4
Indiana: Obama 47.4 mccain 46.0
Missouri: Obama 47.4 mccain 46.8

These were all BUSH states in 2000 and 2004

[Vinca]

10. So the Globe didn't bother to edit the McCain campaign daily fax.

:boring: Wake me when it's over.

[KharmaTrain]

11. I Was Thinking The Same Thing...

Anyone who knows the state knows that Chester is some of the reddest around in Southeast PA...that's Gramps turf. And where is Gramps campaigning? In areas he should have locked down...he doesn't venture near cities, just what he calls "real Amurica"...where Joe the Plumbers abound.

The irony is that the more time Gramps wastes in PA the worse things get for him in Ohio and Florida. I suspect he's already written off VA, NH and CO or will do so in the next couple days and will have to hustle to defend places like Florida, Missouri, Nevada and North Carolina in the closing days. His map is shrinking by the day. The big question comes as to when the RNC decides the PA gamble is no longer worth it (reminds me of the California folly in 2000 and New Jersey in 2004) and pulls the rug from Gramps there.

[4lbs]

13. Pennsylvania doesn't have early voting. It's one of the few battlegrounds where everyone votes on

Election Day.

All McCain would need to do is whittle away 1% per day, and this thing could be a nail biter come Election Day.

That's why Obama is campaigning in PA. He wants to make sure that McCain doesn't reel back 5 or 6 points.

[Virginia Dare]

15. Plus Obama can afford to stay in Pennsylvania at this point,

so why not do it, just to keep the RNC there as well, and try to pick up more coattails. I really think this was what was behind the Rendell and Ridge statements, wanting both parties to keep a presence there for the benefit of other campaigns going on there.