Tag Archives: Ed Rendell

Democrat Perspective: Pennsylvania is a Swing State

June 19, 2012 – 12:27 am

This is a state we have featured before: Why Obama Will Win Pennsylvania, but my how things have changed. At the time Scott Rasmussen polled Pennsylvania as Obama up only +6, but the Left always dismisses him even when he calls Presidential elections (2008, 2004, etc.) more accurate than any pollster.  Left leaning media outlets happily and prematurely moved Pennsylvania out of the toss-up status (even though we disagreed). But since that time former Democrat Governor Ed Rendell stated that Pennsylvania was in play, Quinnipiac weighed in with a poll saying Obama +6 (the same as Rasmussen) and the Romney campaign decided to turn the state into a dog fight. Now the Left is grudgingly coming to the same conclusion as Democrat William Galston writes in The New Republic:

The past month has seen the momentum of the 2012 presidential election shift significantly. The national race is now in a virtual dead heat, and most key swing states are within the margin of error. And most important, it appears that Mitt Romney has expanded the playing field to include some states previously thought to be securely in President Obama’s column—including, in my view, Pennsylvania.

Galston then looks at polling results from Battleground states since June as well as the national average to conclude with so many states in play, the fact that Pennsylvania is in play makes it a Battleground state. Now I take great issue with his Nevada numbers since credible polling has it no higher than +2 for Obama and only the hugely biased PPP has it at +6, but nonetheless the story remains the same– the electoral map is widening and Obama is on his heels.

Obama Romney Obama 2012 Margin Obama 2008 Margin
National 45.2 44.7 0.5 7.3
Nevada 48 42 6.0 15.5
Colorado 46.5 45.5 1.0 9.0
Iowa 46 47 (1.0) 9.5
Wisconsin 46 45 1.0 13.9
Ohio 45 48 (3.0) 4.6
Virginia 47.7 45.0 2.7 6.3
North Carolina 46 48 (2.0) 0.3
Florida 47 47 – 2.8

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By keithbacker | Posted in Pennsylvania | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett to Stump with Romney

June 16, 2012 – 12:01 am

The Romney bus tour continues to attract ally and enemy:

Gov. Tom Corbett will appear with fellow Republican Mitt Romney on the presidential contender’s first traditional campaign trip of the general election, a six-state bus trip. However, before that, Romney may have to say ‘hi’ to the state’s former Democratic governor, Ed Rendell. Romney’s Saturday afternoon event with Corbett will be at the historic Cornwall Iron Furnace, a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission site about 25 miles east of Harrisburg.

Romney also will appear Saturday morning at Weatherly Casting & Machine Co. in Carbon County, after which he’ll stop at a WaWa convenience store in Quakertown, near Philadelphia. Rendell will already be there with other Democrats at WaWa for their own press conference to make the case against Romney. Rendell, a former Philadelphia mayor, was particularly popular in southeastern Pennsylvania.

You will remember, the former Governor Rendell sounded the alarm bells to both camps that Mitt Romney could win here.

By keithbacker | Posted in General | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Pennsylvania ‘Definitely In Play’ — Former Pennsylvania Governor Democrat Ed Rendell

June 7, 2012 – 6:15 am

When you hear about a campaign surrogate “going off-message” know that simply means the surrogate committed the political crime of telling the truth. This applies whether it was Cory Booker and the truth about private equity, Bill Clinton on Mitt Romney’s stellar business credentials or now former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell advocating extending the tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year. But thankfully for us, a guy who knows the Keystone State probably better than anyone in the country, was asked whether Barack Obama would win Pennsylvania:

The election will be determined by basically the four Philadelphia suburban counties … I tell people Governor Romney’s biggest liability in the primaries was that people really didn’t believe he was a conservative. His biggest asset in the general election is people really don’t believe he is a conservative. So will those moderate Republicans, conservative Democrats, independents in the Philadelphia suburbs vote for him because he is really a moderate who is going to govern in a moderate fashion? I don’t know. But I will tell you what I think in the end will determine how those people vote: one convention speech and maybe the first two debates. All the rest of it is noise.

The reporter, Sam Stein, asked again: “So bottom line, is Pennsylvania is in play?”

“Oh, it is definitely in play,” Rendell replied. He went on about how bizarre it was to read reports that Republicans weren’t making investments in the state. “Can’t be right. I mean why would you do that?” … “I think it is definitely in play,” he said again. “I said from the beginning, Mitt Romney is the only candidate who had a chance to do well enough in the Philadelphia suburbs to carry the state.

The suburban counties Rendell is referring to are: Bucks County, Chester County, Delaware County and Montgomery County

After the above sequence, Stein (an avowed Democrat who often has trouble hiding his disdain for Republicans) writes:

If Pennsylvania does indeed come down to the debates, the Obama campaign is in more political trouble than anyone envisions.

As we saw in the early posts regarding the divide between working class voters in Pennsylvania and Obama’s job killing policies on Keystone Pipeline and his war on coal, the state is ripe for a flip to the GOP so long as the Romney campaign turns it into a Battleground.

By keithbacker | Posted in Pennsylvania | Also tagged , , , | Comments (6)
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