Pennsylvania political patriarch Terry Madonna had a interesting thought last week that Barack Obama might be able to pull off an unexpectedly strong performance in the Keystone State by using Gov. Ed Rendell’s strategy from the 2002 gubernatorial primary. Madonna and Michael Young identified three key points:
- Run up huge margins of victory in suburban Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
- Top off the suburban victories but strong performances in the Lehigh Valley and in the south.
- Lure Republicans across party lines.
It’s been widely reported that the Obama camp is executing on the third point of recruiting Republicans, and now Nick Beaudrot has a fascinating map detailing exactly where those New Blues are located. It looks like most of the new registrations are in the same counties that Madonna and Young suggested should Obama target.
Pennsylvania New Democratic Registration (Cogitamusblog)
0 responses so far ↓
1 Jack Parsonj // Mar 27, 2008 at 5:44 pm
The reason I’m voting for Obama is that he will fix my computer - and more! See http/obamawill.com
2 Citizen Grim // Mar 27, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Pittsburgh is a Democrat stronghold primarily because of the labor unions, a demographic that tends to favor Hillary. He may still win Allegheny county, but I don’t think he’s likely to run up huge margins there. I agree that he’ll probably do well in Philadelphia and its suburbs, though.
Curiously, Ed Rendell made a comment a few weeks ago along the lines of Obama having to overcome a large segment of PA voters that would be hesitant to vote for a black man. One wonders if this idea is directly from Rendell’s own electoral experience in defeating [black man] Lynn Swann in the ‘06 gubernatorial?
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