| PENNSYLVANIA |
21
Electoral Votes |
Although Democrats
enjoyed a registration advantage of more than 1.2 million and although
a Republican presidential candidate had not won Pennsylvania since
George W. Bush did in 1988, Pennsylvania became a must win state for
McCain. "Unless we win Pennsylvania, I
don't think
he is elected president," former Gov. Tom Ridge stated on Oct. 24,
2008. The campaign clearly recognized the importance of the
Keystone State; in the
five months from June 1
to Nov. 4 Sen. McCain spent more days campaigning in Pennsylvania than
in any other state.
The April 22 primary, won by Hillary
Clinton by a 54.57%
to 45.43% margin, may have
given Republicans some grounds for optimism and showed the Obama
campaign it had some work to do. Sen. Obama's choice
of Sen. Biden as his running mate brought solid
Pennsylvania connections to the Democratic ticket. Joe Biden
lived in Scranton until he was 10, a fact with the campaign highlighted
with an ad
and his Sept. 1 visit to his boyhood home. Jill Biden grew up in
Willow Grove (suburban Philadelphia) and graduated from Upper Moreland
High School in Willow Grove; she also obtained a Master's degree from
West Chester University.
After the Convention in Denver, the first stop for the Obamas and the
Bidens was to kick off a bus tour with three stops in
Pennsylvania. The
Democratic campaign ultimately opened up 81 offices around the
state. While Republican offices got by with limited resources,
the Obama offices had plentiful supplies of posters and campaign
materials.
The Campaign Media Analysis Group reported that Pennsylvania "saw the
most political TV ad spending" in the presidential race, a total of $60
million.
Independent Activity
On the progressive side, America Votes, the coalition of progressive groups
operating in 14 states, was led by Mary Shull operating out of
Pittsburgh. Coalition partners sought to move their specific
issues, but at the same time shared electoral goals. In
Pennsylvania America Votes partners helped register more than 310,000
voters, and did over 500,000 door knocks, made about 700,000 phone
calls and sent out over a million mail pieces (these numbers do not
include separate union efforts). There were some differences
between 2004 and 2008. In 2004 the focus was on identifying and
turning out progressives/Democrats and an emphasis was placed on
minority and young voters who tend to turn out in lower numbers.
In 2008 the candidate inspired these groups and they did not need to be
worked additionally. Instead many of the groups focused on
working class white voters and union members who might be nervous about
voting for an African American. There was an emphasis on
persuasion, on reaffirming that Obama was a candidate who held their
values. Among the most active groups were Planned Parenthood
(Sari Stevens), Working America (Jenn Jannon), SEIU (Kati Sipp), ACORN
(Kristi Holub), and Progressive Future (Dave Masur).
There was much less activity from conservative groups, with the
National Rifle Association being perhaps most active.
As in several other states, Republicans raised concerns about fradulent
registration of voters by ACORN. On Oct. 17, 2008 the state party
announced
a lawsuit against ACORN and the Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro
Cortes seeking among other things "copies of any and all lists
identifying the names of individuals for whom the ACORN Defendants
submitted voter registration forms." After a hearing, a
Commonwealth Court judge dismissed the suit on Oct. 30 (ACORN reaction),
but the matter did not end there. Months after the election, in
May 2009, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.
filed charges against seven ACORN workers for falsifying voter
registration forms during the 2008 effort (PA GOP reaction).
Outcome
A Republican operative observed, "His [Obama's] margins in Philadelphia
and the four suburban counties in SE PA just overwhelmed anything else
we could have hoped to accomplish. We actually outperformed
President Bush in several rural, SW PA counties, but Obama was so
strong in the cities and in suburban Philadelphia, we really couldn't
overcome the numbers he put up."
Travel compare...
Five
Months (June 1-Nov. 4, 2008)
| OBAMA-BIDEN |
McCAIN-PALIN |
Barack Obama - 7 visits (11 days)
Joe Biden - 8
visits (8 days)
Michelle Obama (solo) - 2
visits (2 days)
Jill Biden (solo) - 1 visit (1 day)
|
John McCain - 19 visits (26 days)
Sarah Palin - 11 visits (16
days)
Cindy McCain (solo)
- 1
visit
(3 days)
Todd Palin (solo) - 1 visit
(1 day)
|
Newspaper Endorsements
NO ENDORSEMENT
The
Morning Call [Allentown]
Another measure: According to Editor
and Publisher
four times as many daily newspapers endorsed Obama as McCain (24 to 6).
| Copyright
© 2008 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in
Action |
 |