The “Rendell Factor” is 2-5 points? Really?? I’d have to guess that’s closer to the lower end. He probably helped keep down the Obama vote as much as anything else…
Ask pollsters or political analysts or Democratic Party leaders, and they all say Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s more than nine-percentage-point primary victory Tuesday would not have been possible without the support of Gov. Rendell – a politician extraordinaire and prodigious fund-raiser.Depending on whom you talk to, Rendell’s omnipresence on the campaign trail, enormous popularity, and fine-tuned political machine are responsible for between two and five points of Clinton’s nearly double-digit win.
“Clinton has gotten support from other governors in other states, but she has been served better and stronger [by Rendell] than anyone else,” said Clay Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, who attributed two to three points to the Rendell factor.
I don't see how this margin was such a surprise
Two months ago Clinton was ahead 20 points in PA. According to the SoS’s website, she won by 9.2%. And she had a net gain of just ten delegates. Obama has picked up at least twice as many super delegates since the last primary.
Obama supporters felt he'd win
I don’t know, Obama supporters were continually posting here how he was going to win, then how close he was going to be, less than 5 pts, now it’s “no big deal, she was ahead and only won by 10”...and so forth.
We all know and understand the Obama camp has tasked website posters like yourself to go out and spin a 10 pt loss like it’s a win.
pd
What Surprise Margin?
The polls fluctuated anywhere from 6-15 points for months, some had it at 19 can we really call the standard deviation of the polls a “surprise margin.” This is undoubtedly a win for Sen. Clinton but the way it got done was no victory for the PA Democratic Party. We’ve seen Philly style politics take root in even our more quaint Democratic colonies in the T, street cash and fear of retribution, quite a legacy. Party committees around the state pushed out and ostracized good Democrats who were supporters of Sen. Obama. For what? So Sen. Clinton could gain 5 of the 200 plus delegates she needs to catch up with the person who is winning this race?
9.3
9.3 is not a surprise in the Obama camp. It’s victory. Obama was behind by some estimates by 30 points when this began. It certainly is not enough for anyone to jump ship and the SD’s continue to flock to Obama. Bottom line is that the SD’s are going to call this fight not the popular vote not the delegates. Hillary has to win the rest of the primaries by better than 70% to even be considered and it ain’t gonna happen.
It’s a shame the
It’s a shame the superdelegates will be the deciding vote. Once again, the American people have been pushed aside and inside politics will decide for them. It really doesn’t matter at this point who wins the rest of the primaries. The SD’s will decide solely on what they can get out of it. This is politics and Obama, Clinton and McCain are the same when it comes down to what must be done to win. You must remember the RNC and the DNC wield tremendous control over what really goes on in the run for the Oval Office.
Instead of debating the margin of victory
I will sincerely suggest that instead of wasting time trying to spin the PA primary results this or that way for Obama, that you, as supporters, better figure out a way to combat the GOP which is right now in the process of defining him as a “supporter of terrorism” and “Hamas’ favorite candidate”.
pd
easily refuted
The only people still running with that garbage are the right wing wacko pundits and the people who listen to them. As and exditto head may I suggest you turn on MSNBC with Keith Olberman for starters.
Remember Adlai Stevenson
When told he had the “votes of all the thinking people”, his famous reply was “yes, but I need a majority”.
I know there’s nothing to this and it is a RW hit job, but you’re making a big mistake if you think many Americans will brush it off, too. Want proof? Just look at the past 7 years of Bush. Lie after lie, all easily refuted, yet significant portions of Americans still believe there are/were WMDs in Iraq and that Saddam Hussein was behind the WTC attack. Most Americans DON’T watch Olberman or listen to Air America Radio. RW yakkers are still the staple of talk radio and that’s who people are listening to. Go outside your own circle of like-minded friends, get into a passive discussion of government or politicians and then listen to what’s said back to you. The reponses will be rife with distrust, disgust and cynicism. These are people primed to believe the worst about any politician.
pd
This blog validates PD’s
This blog validates PD’s last line everyday.
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