Rain is Drain for McCain - Obama Draws 9,000

Barack Obama spent part of Tuesday outside in the rain in Chester, PA, while John McCain postponed his outside rally in nearby Quakertown. Dressed in sneakers and jeans, the rain pouring down as he spoke, Obama addressed the 9,000 who turned out. ""Let me just begin by saying that a little bit of rain never hurt anybody."

McCain Agrees with Jack Murtha

"It's a Split" - Fox News Spin in Scranton!

A Fox News correspondent in a Scranton, PA diner asked for a show of hands as to who was supporting McCain or Obama. Despite a nearly 100% yea vote for Obama, he declared it a nearly even split! Watch the old man at the back booth start to raise his hand for McCain and his wife push it back down. . .He THEN raises HIS hand for Obama! LOL

"Bringing Home a Friend"

In an ad airing in Northeast Pennsylvania, Joe Biden tries to make Barack Obama more familiar to working-class voters. He compares Obama's childhood to his hardscrabble upbringing in Scranton, saying they both learned the same values. "So it's good to be coming home, and bringing home a friend," Biden concludes. The vice presidential nominee will visit Scranton on Monday. Watch:

Democratic Duo visits SW Pennsylvania

Barack Obama and Joe Biden toured a Biodeisel Plant in Manoca, PA on Friday:

MSNBC calls Pennsylvania for Clinton

MSNBC has called Pennsylvania for Hillary Clinton at 8:45 pm. I'm not entirely sure how they can do this so early. Initially, with 1% reporting, she led 70-30. With 2% in, it was 65-35. At 3% reporting, it was 60-40. Over the last 15 minutes I've watched the percent reporting increase to 5%, and the spread drop to 53-47.

As usual, Chris Matthews demonstrated his mental state. Listen to his declaration and pay attention to the clock in the lower left part of the video:



Exit polls show that overall expectations are on Obama's side -- more than half in the PA exit polls preliminary results say they expect him, not Clinton, to be the party's eventual nominee. Indeed, there's no possible way for her to match his lead in pledged delegates and the popular vote.

At 9 PM with 6% in, it's 52-48.

At 9:15 with 12% in, it's 53-47.

At 9:30 with 20% in, it's STILL 53-47.

At 9:45 with 35% in, it's 54-46.

At 10 PM with 50% in, it's still 54-46. Of note, Philly and it's suburbs are mostly missing from the totals at this time. That's Obama territory.

At 10:15 with 60% in, still at 54-46.

Last entry - at 10:30 with 70% reporting, still at 54-46. We look forward to ending the ride here in the Hoosier state in two weeks, Hill. See you here and then. . .

Bitter as hell in Pennsylvania

From Salon:

Shawn Erfman lives in a trailer park, listens to Rush Limbaugh and voted for George W. Bush -- twice. Over the weekend, he heard all about what Barack Obama had to say about "bitter" Pennsylvanians like himself. And he's mad as hell.

Not at the guy you might expect, though. "It's fucking true," he said Monday night. "Everybody's bitter for one reason or another. So they're crucifying him because he spoke the truth? Cause he's not saying something that's going to suck up to people and kiss ass? Because, what, he slipped and accidentally spoke the truth, instead of kissing butt?"

A 37-year-old mechanic for a construction company, Erfman won't be voting Republican this time around. While he isn't a registered Democrat and can't vote in next week's primary, he'd be happy to go for Obama in November. (Or Hillary Clinton, for that matter.) "I do like him, I think that he would be a change," Erfman said. "Believe it or not, I voted for Bush. See where that got me?" But when you get right down to it, Erfman -- like many of his neighbors -- doesn't see much chance of any politician really doing a lot to help the dwindling middle class in northeastern Pennsylvania. "It doesn't make a difference who I go vote for, whoever gets in is going to see fit to try to make it go their way," Erfman said. His wife, Heidi, felt the same way. "Can I vote for Mickey Mouse?" she asked.

Get the rest of the story HERE.

Obama - "Response"

Obama has released the following ad in Pennsylvania to answer Clinton's latest attack there regarding "bittergate":

"Response"


Some Democrats in Pennsylvania's Rust Belt communities were upset by Barack Obama's suggestion that voters there "cling to guns or religion" because of bitterness about their economic lot. But many more seem to think it was no big deal - and if there's a problem it's with the political slapfest that has followed.

Jon Stewart on "Bittergate"

Allentown endorses Obama

The Allentown Morning Call has endorsed Barack Obama. You know, that town full of blue collar folks offended by his straight talk about bitter feelings in the heartland. . .

Pennsylvania's Democratic voters on April 22 will choose between two candidates in the presidential primary. Both are qualified to become the nation's chief executive. They have more similarities than differences. But, The Morning Call recommends that Sen. Barack Obama be nominated, and we offer three reasons.

The first is the quality of his campaign. It has surprised the experts by moving him close to the finish line against bigger, more established political machines and it has communicated his basic ideas well.

The second is his message of hope and change. It conveys a vision of the nation's future that is in tune with the tenor and consensus of most Americans.

And third, and most important for the Democratic Party at this moment in history, there is Sen. Obama's ability to inspire.

The other Democratic candidate on the ballot here, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, has focused their criticism on Sen. Obama's relatively short resume. But there is nothing naive or amateurish about the campaign he has assembled. We wish he (and Sen. Clinton) had paid more attention to the Lehigh Valley, of course. It is Pennsylvania's third-biggest metropolitan area and it deserves better than one visit by him and zero by Sen. Clinton this deep into the campaign.

But, he has done a good job of building a Pennsylvania organization. It has had to climb a steep hill, given that Sen. Clinton has the biggest share of high-profile Democratic officials' endorsements. Using the Internet, e-mail and old-fashioned storefront headquarters, he continues to build a corps of supporters here. And, at least so far, his has done a better job than the Clinton campaign of keeping the campaign positive.

In fact, while both candidates are members of the same U.S. Senate, Sen. Obama is the one who has distinguished himself as the better agent for changing Washington. Remember, on the issues, the differences between the Obama and Clinton platforms are thin or non-existent. He has set himself apart by enunciating a vision of a different America, one that people recognize as resting on the nation's founding principles. His vision calls upon ''the better angels of our nature'' just as Abraham Lincoln did in 1861.

Sen. Obama offers that vision to a nation that, like President Lincoln's, is divided. It is not about to set out on a literal civil war, but Republican and Democrat, young and old, conservative and liberal have much to fight about and are at each other's throats with little provocation. Finding common ground is the key, and Sen. Obama is better able to do that than Sen. Clinton. She has become a polarizing figure, an image that stems in part from the bitter partisanship of Washington during President Bill Clinton's administration. It was not for nothing that the journalist James B. Stewart called his book about the politics of those years ''Blood Sport.'' That rancor was not primarily Hillary Clinton's fault, but it is real, it persists, and her campaign so far has not dealt effectively with quelling it.

Then, there is his ability to inspire. It starts with his unmatched oratorical skills. His speech in Philadelphia on March 18 about race in America will join the greatest speeches in this nation's history in future textbooks on that topic. The combination of his scholarship, career experience and personal style leaves listeners at first rapt and then inspired. His oratory soars because he has a desire to listen to and represent all Americans -- the ''vision thing'' as President George H.W. Bush once called it. Sen. Clinton, by contrast, too often just sounds like a partisan, and that isn't change.

Sen. Clinton has made much of her ''ability to lead'' on day one in the Oval Office. Past experience like hers is one thing, but leadership also depends on having a vision, plans to pursue that vision, and an ability to inspire others to follow. On those grounds, Sen. Barack Obama is well-suited to lead, and The Morning Call recommends his nomination in the Democratic primary.

Rocky who?

In connection with the upcoming Pennsylvania Primary, Hillary Clinton recently compared herself to Rocky Balboa. We beg to differ...

Obama "gets" the heartland

Hillary Clinton and John McCain are desperately attacking Barack Obama over the following comments made yesterday regarding our situation here in the heartland:

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them...And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Watch this CNN segment where Gloria Borger, Jack Cafferty, and Jeffrey Toobin all defended the comments:

Obama sets PA spending record

Barack Obama isn't just outspending Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania; he's outspending every politician ever:

Obama is currently spending $2.2 million per week on television here, over twice what Hillary Clinton is spending and an unprecedented ad buy in Pennsylvania, according to Democratic media consultant Neil Oxman, who is not working for a candidate.


"Nobody has ever spent 2.2 million in this state: not Rendell, not Specter, not Casey, not Santorum, not Bush, not Kerry," said Oxman, naming the best-funded candidates to run statewide in recent years. "That's unbelievable."

Here's the latest ad, featuring his sister and his grandmother:

Pennsylvania now a dead heat

Obama overtakes Clinton in Pennsylvania

Raleigh, N.C. – Barack Obama has taken the lead over Hillary Clinton 45-43 in Pennsylvania, according to the newest survey from Public Policy Polling. It’s a remarkable turn around from PPP’s last Pennsylvania poll, conducted two and a half weeks ago, that showed Clinton with a 26 point lead in the state. That poll was released at the height of the Jeremiah Wright controversy and the day before Obama’s major speech on race in Philadelphia. Obama has been trending upward in national polling and in many state level polls since then and this survey reflects that pattern.

“In the last few weeks there has been increasing attention given to the fact that a continuing divisive Democratic nomination fight could hurt the party’s chances of defeating John McCain this fall,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “The major movement in Obama’s direction in Pennsylvania could be an indication that Democrats in that state think it’s time to wrap it up.”

Obama is narrowing the gap with white voters, trailing just 49-38, while maintaining his customary significant advantage with black voters. He leads that group 75-17. Obama also leads among all age groups except senior citizens, with whom Clinton has a 50-34 advantage. The poll shows the standard gender gap with Obama leading by 15 points among men while trailing by 10 points with women.

PPP surveyed 1224 likely Democratic primary voters on March 31st and April 1st. The survey’s margin of errors is +/- 2.8%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify. Public Policy Polling had the most accurate numbers of any company in the country for the Democratic primaries in South Carolina and Wisconsin, as well as the closest numbers for any organization that polled the contests in both Texas and Ohio.
Complete results can be found at www.publicpolicypolling.com.

Clinton compares herself to Rocky

Somebody failed to tell her that the black man prevailed in that one:

Addressing a meeting of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Tuesday, the former first lady and New York senator said she, like Rocky, wasn't a quitter.

Recalling a famous scene on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Clinton said to end her presidential campaign now would be as if "Rocky Balboa had gotten halfway up those art museum steps and said, 'Well, I guess that's about far enough.'"

"Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people," Clinton said.

In the same meeting of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO where she made the above analogy today, Clinton also proclaimed once more that she fought her husband over the passage of Nafta:

"I clearly recall entering the oval office at that time, under heavy sniper fire and with my head down. Of course, Bill DID have some sort of odd protocol regarding keeping one's head down when entering that office. I never did get that, though I suppose someone else may have."

Clinton also denounced repeated calls for her to end her campaign, even as the latest polling in Pennsylvania suggests that state's primary may end it for her. Her 20 point lead of one month ago now stands at a 5 point lead as of yesterday.

"People told George Bush to bow out in 2000, despite Al Gore's lead. These things can be tended to by the right people; the "Super" friends."

Hillary Losing Hispanic Vote

¡Sí podemos! ¡Obama para el presidente!

Hillary Clinton was finally declared the winner of the New Mexico primary yesterday, after a nine day nightmare of hand counting 17,000 provisional votes in the state. For all of the trouble she picked up ONE additional delegate - I guess that may have been cheaper than Mitt Romney's!

And, much like Julie Rudiani, Hill is placing all of her eggs into one basket - the OH, TX, PA trifecta in a few weeks- as her final stand. How fitting that the Alamo is located in one of those states! Oddly enough, she may suffer the same fate as those brave defenders of yesteryear, AND from the very same folks - the Mexicans.

See, Hillary received the majority of hispanic votes in the earlier primary contests. That percentage has steadily declined, however, and was NOT improved by her firing of a top campaign official who happened to be hispanic herself. I can't speak for Pennsylvania, but I'm pretty damned sure that Texas has a large Mexican population and Ohio shares Indiana's growing hispanic populace due to a need for cheap farm labor.

On top of that, a friend sent me the following this afternoon - " Our Hispanic Voices Supports Barack Obama". Here's their video:



Oh, and they added the following message: