Palin in the Small Towns of Pennsylvania

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will spend her Halloween day campaigning in the smaller more rural areas of Pennsylvania. In the morning she went to Latrobe, PA and talked about how Barack Obama will increase taxes for middle Americans, and how the democratic presidential candidate will limit cut military spending by more than a quarter. Palin used these two issues in an attempt to scare voters away from Obama. This has been a common tactic for both parties and all candidates but we greatly see this type of negative campaigning towards the opposing candidate coming from governor Palin.
Another interesting tactic by the Republican campaign was the use of former NFL star Mike Ditka. He is a very known and well liked former University of Pittsburgh player who grew up in a small suburban town just outside of Pittsburgh. On Friday in Latrobe he openly explained his endorsement of Sarah Palin and the GOP ticket. Using this type of figure in western Pennsylvania is very smart because of Mike Ditka's general appeal to the public. Whether we like it or not, social figures in our society do persuade voters politically. Going on with the GOP attempt to energize middle class white voters, Sarah Palin will be campaigning in York Pennsylvania by the end of the day.

Talking About Issues...For Once

On Tuesday, both presidential candidates were campaigning in the state of Pennsylvania and the hot topic of the day was health care reform and income taxes. While campaigning in Chester, PA Barack Obama attacked John McCain's health care plan by saying, "it's radical and it's unaffordable." McCain responded by attacking the democratic candidate's agenda to increase the size of government by spending more money that will be collected from an increase in income taxes. The income tax references set off the Obama camp, and they came back with their same response, that their tax plan would not raise taxes for anyone making less than $200,000 a year. The McCain camp chose to reference a Joe Biden quote, in which the senator said that the cut off for an increase in taxes was at $150,000, thus trying to prove that Democrats continually lower the income level in which they will tax. This continual response of opposing candidates is exactly what elections are supposed to entail, but the real differences this time is that we are not talking about the amount of money spent on a candidates wardrobe or the type of cars candidates drive, instead this time the real issues that will affect Americans are those being discussed. It only took three months but now we are finally getting down to what will ultimately determine our future as a country, and these types of things ane what voters should base their reasoning off of, not the freak show that we have seen in the media since day one. To all voters who have not made up their minds, and even to those who have, issues matter and nothing else.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/campaign.wrap/index.html

Must Win for McCain

Former Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Ridge, has publicly stated that, "Unless we win Pennsylvania, I don't think he (John McCain) is elected." This is a bold statement from a former governor that knows his state has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since the time before he himself was in office. Currently in Pennsylvania, polls show Obama with an 8 to 13 percent lead over McCain. But even with the substantial leads in most polls, the current Governor, Ed Rendell, has asked Obama, Hillary, and Bill Clinton to make appearances over the last eight days of the campaign. And Obama himself has schedule two stops in Pennsylvania for the upcoming week. These stops were added just this past weekend by his campaign in order to assure the Democratic candidate the electoral votes of this large swing state.
However, the McCain campaign has already planned for its own final push and has scheduled both McCain and Palin in at least two stops apiece during the last days of campaigning. While both parties' events are anticipated to have high attendances the reality that any voters will be swayed over the last view days is very minimal. The purpose of the final rallies is to reinforce the importance to people that they must show up at the polls on Election Day.

ACORN Fraud, So What?

Allegations of fraudulent voter registration by ACORN organizers has made its way to the state of Pennsylvania. While it is only one man charged with a mere 18 illegal voter registrations, it still reflects poorly on the process by which this organization has been registering voters. Although 18 appears to be a small number, who really knows how many of the 140,000 newly registered voters that ACORN claims they have signed up are in fact registered legally by this organization. The efforts of ACORN will not go without recognition but just as in all aspects of life, there are going to be people willing to break laws and morals in order to achieve what they believe is the ultimate goal. One man, or a small percentage of people may be blinded by the true reasons for their efforts, and this small group of citizens may make mistakes but we must not forget all the efforts of the outstanding citizens that were able to register millions of new voters legally. ACORN has taken credit for about 20% of the newly registered voters in Pennsylvania ,which amounts to 140,000 of 620,000. While media stresses a minute number of illegal registrations we cannot forget the efforts of those that volunteered their time or worked for near minimum wage in order for others to receive and realize their rights as American citizens.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2008/10/exacorn_worker_charged_with_fo.html

Bradley Effect?

As we all known Barack Obama racially is half African-American and this fact has been and will continue to be a factor in his presidential election. As of today, Obama has a lead of about 8 percentage points in all national polls. If the election were held today, based on all the polls Obama would win in a landslide. The only problems with this is that the statistics are just polls, not actual votes. What concerns the Obama camp and most Democrats for the matter, is not Obama's large lead in the polls but rather something known as the Bradley Effect. Tom Bradley, an African American man, ran for governor of California in 1982. In all the polls leading up to the election Bradley was way out in front of his opponents. However, on election day Tom Bradley lost to an Armenian Republican by the name of George Deukmejian, who on a side note was close personal friends with my late Armenian grandmother and great uncle. But anyways, it was thought and later proven that people had stated in polls that they would vote for Bradley when in reality they has no intentions of doing so, these voters were mostly white. The thought was that because of his race these white voters, many of them democrats, voted against party line in order to vote with their race. The question today is that 26 years later have we moved past incidences like the Bradley one, or will people vote in alliance with the race and party? Here is an example and opinion of a possible Bradley Effect that took place in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzvVYzmWmME

Why Continue?

With polls showing a double digit lead for Obama in Pennsylvania and McCain continually losing ground in other must win swing states including Florida and Ohio, is there even a race left in Pennsylvania? The McCain camp believes there is still a battle to be had. The Obama camp has registered more than a half million voters in Pennsylvania over the last year and continues to campaign in the metropolitan areas of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Throughout September McCain had been outspending Obama in television advertisements but in the first week of October McCain spent his usual $1.6 million while Obama more than doubled his previous expenditures by pouring $2.2 million into television advertising. While McCain has spent more time in Pennsylvania than Obama since the party conventions, Obama has used his allies and veep candidate to effectively campaign in the mostly white suburban and working class areas of the state. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have been campaigning throughout the state with the most recent events taking place in Scranton, the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania

Latest Poll

On September 29th Fox News/Rasmussen Reports showed Obama led McCain by eight percentage points in Pennsylvania. What makes this report even more interesting is that only two weeks before on September 14th Obama and McCain were in a virtual tie, with both receiving about 47% of overall support in Pennsylvania This substantial surge by the Obama campaign atests to the success of Obama's campaign in Pennsylvania. However, this recent surge for Obama in Pennsylvania might just be a reflection of his nation success, where he too has widened his percentage lead over McCain. The main reason for Obama's recent success can be attributed to the economic turmoil and 52% of Pennsylvanians believe that Obama is best able to handle the economy, while only 39% favor McCain. At this point in the election McCain will not be able to change the perception that he is weaker when it comes to the economy. He must rally people around other issues including foreign policy and national security. In Pennsylvania he is seen as the stronger candidate on both of those issues. New voting statistics in Pennsylvania will be interesting to see since the $700 billion bail out plan passed. This might turn voters attention away from the economy being that Congress has taken the initiative to handle the economic crisis. If the focus does turn away from the economy there will be a difference in the polls. That difference is something that John McCain is counting on in order to competitive in Pennsylvania and the other swing states.

Complete Rasmussen Report latest Pennsylvania poll can be found at
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/pennsylvania/election_2008_pennsylvania_presidential_election2

Advertising

"No coal plants in America, we're not supporting clean coal." A quote from Joe Biden that has been used in most recent radio advertisments in many swing states with coal mines, including Pennsylvania. The advertisement also goes on to state that Obama, Biden and their liberal allies opposed and even blocked offshore drilling. The purpose of the ad is to show that Democrats have there own agenda and that they lack a concern for employment and energy independence. Also stated in the radio ad was that democrats put their special interests before the interests of the country. This type of advertising can be very effective because it portrays the opposing party in manner that does not reflect what America needs or wants. While this radio ad may be very effective in reality it does not tell the full truth. Joe Biden did say that he opposes coal plants in America but he denounced that statement soon after he spoke. Also, it is on record that Barack Obama is in support of the clean coal movement and he while he did oppose offshore drilling in the past he now supports lifting the ban on offshore drilling. This radio ad clearly shows that any remarks a candidate may make can twisted and manipulated into an advertisement. And this ad in particular is effective in a state like Pennsylvania because of its close ties to the coal industry. The Republican party and John McCain are on the offense in key swing states and advertisments like this help to derail possible Obama supporters

Link to radio advertisment
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/blog/2008/09/audio_mccainpalin_on_coal.html