Friday, April 18, 2008
Advertisement
PENNSYLVANIA (4/22 PRIMARY)
Obama's Arc
If Barack Obama "has any chance of cultivating an upset" in PA, it's by winning Philly's western suburbs. They are "a patchwork of charming small towns, elite colleges and working class neighborhoods that constitute one of the most competitive political battlegrounds in the state." Rep. Joe Sestak (D-07) represents the district. "It is, without question, right at the center of the fight for Pennsylvania. How the district goes is how the state may go."
Obama is strongly favored in Philly "and polls show him holding a slight arc" of 4 increasingly Dem counties around the city. Even if the counties "don't propll Obama to victory, their concentration of delegates has driven the candidates and their surrogates to lavish attention on this corner of the state" (Kuhnhenn, AP, 4/18).
Can We Make It Steel Cage Match?
Dems "are clashing over their support for the candidates." Clinton supporter/Philly Mayor Michael Nutter (D) "has drawn scorn from many black influential leaders" in Philly, where nearly 46% of the population is black, compared to the state average of 11%. Nutter "said he believes the controversy is overblown." Nutter: "This is not a steel cage match. This is not some kind of smackdown. It's an election contest about the most important job in the United States of America" (Lieberman, Harrisburg Patriot-News, 4/18).
Obama "will need sizable support from white voters" to win the PA primary. "That's looking unlikely in a state riven by long-standing racial and cultural divides." PA "is far from racially integrated. The large rural swath in the center" of PA "is home to culturally conservative white voters." In addition, PA has the highest membership to the NRA in the country.
"It's not just the center of the state that could prove resistant to Obama's skin tone. In Scranton and surrounding the northeast locales" Clinton "is hugely popular." Muhlenberg College prof. Christopher Borick: "There might be some people who see [Obama] through a racial lens. But also some people might just see this Harvard educated, Chicago, urban, African-American senator, and that doesn't quickly resonate .. Barack Obama, in some ways, seems alien to the culture" (Sangillo, National Journal, 4/19 edition).
We Are! We Are!
If you're suffering from PA primary fatigue "-- and who's not at this point? -- your sweet relief will be delivered next week after the votes have been tallied." PBS's "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" will "undoubtedly have the biggest presence in Pittsburgh," where reports from Pittsburgh will begin airing tonight." Exec. producer Linda Winslow: "We have a certain contrarian streak in us. We figure everyone goes to Philadelphia. That's the usual image of Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh represents a whole other part of the state ... It's different to be in Pittsburgh" (Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/18).
Get Your Rear In Gear
Absentee ballots for the 4/22 primary must be received by the voter's county board of elections by 5 p.m. today, either in person or by mail. "Some exceptions to the deadlines apply to military, overseas and emergency absentee voters" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/18).
It's That Mushy Feeling Deep Inside
Philadelphia Daily News' Porter writes, many "are still vacillating from" Clinton to Obama "in a vicious cycle that seems irresolvable. Some polls last week showed more than one voter in 10 is still undecided. God knows it isn't for want of information. Voter Michael Ginsberg: "My miond says Hillary, my hear says Obama."
"But one of those impulses has to prevail on Election Day -- and it's likely to be the heart." When undecided Dems "get into the voting booth, they'll no doubt have a 'blink' moment ... when their instinct overcomes their intellect and directs them to the right button" (4/18).
That Takes Cajones
"For a bunch of college students, they hang out with a pretty powerful crowd." There is Clinton supporter/Gov. Ed Rendell (D), "who likes to show up on campus and work with" Univ. PA Dems. And there is Clinton supporter/Philly Mayor Michael Nutter, "who credited the campus political group with helping to lift him out of a crowded field of candidates in 2007." And Obama supporter/Rep. Patrick Murphy (D), who was elected in '06 "after members traipsed the suburbs to knock doors for him."
But the Penn Dems "finds itself out of sync with some of the biggest names" in PA. 3/5 the group endorsed Obama. "They said they understood that their support would 'put them at odds' with Mr. Rendell and Mr. Nutter, both alumni of the university."
"But there appear to be no hard feelings." Rendell's office "did not return calls for a comment," but a Nutter spokesperson "said 'he has a tremendous amount of respect for the Penn Dems and the work they did, and he doesn't feel a difference in opinion is the end of a meaningful relationship by any means." Murphy: "I think it was a courageous move. They're going against the Clinton machine by endorsing Barack Obama, and against the governor and the mayor of the city where they go to school" (Parker, New York Times, 4/18).
While both candidates are courting young voters, "college students and young professionals are responding differently to the candidates' policy prescriptions."
Young PAans' big issues "are the economy, Iraq, education and health care. But those in college often have different concerns form those not in school. While some students are struggling to pay for their degrees, others their age have to think about a child's schooling. The conflict in Iraq has some worried that they'll be heading to war while others just feel its economic repercussions"(Heitz, Allentown Morning Call, 4/18).
Black Stallion
"At Stallions, Harrisburgh's gay night club, the floors seem to reflect the differences in the gay in lesbian community over" the Dem primary. "Gay men congregate on the club's lower levels. Bartender Collen Dorsey "said one is more apt to find support for" Obama, "especially among younger gay men." Venture upstairs "to the area known as 'Twin Peaks,' and it's a different story. Dorsey: "Up here, 95 percent of the women are for Hillary."
"It's tough to gauge either candidate's support within the gay community." F&M analyst Terry Madonna "said pollsters usually don't separate gays as a demographic group when conducting their surveys" (Luciew, Harrisburg Patriot-News, 4/18).
The Audacity!
"There's a quarrel brewing between" Pike Co.'s Dem Cmte and Board of Elections, "complete with partisan overtones." Members of the Dem Cmte "plan on conducting a 'teach-in' today at the board's office in Milford on the use of electronic voting machines."
"It's either a public service or an ambush, depending on who you ask." Board of Elections department head Yolanda Goldsack: "This is a sneak attack." The Dem Cmte "never told Goldsack they were coming, but did inform the news media." Dem Cmte chair Julius Litman: "Why would they consider it an ambush? If there wasn't a problem, why would they bbe so concerned?" Litman "said he wanted to get the news media involved because he found the board unresponsive" (Sacco, Times-Herald, 4/17).