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

Joe Biden to the Rescue?

The only one of the four candidates hardly mentioned in main stream news media may have an effect on the outcome in Pennsylvania. Joe Biden was born in Scranton, Pa and remained there until the age of 10 when his father, a working class man, could no longer find employment. The economic hardships that forced the Biden family to move from Pennsylvania could be connected to the current economic despair. This type of relation between a candidate and present circumstances is important because voters want to relate on a more personal level with a candidate and Joe Biden, the unknown candidate, needs to exploit this relation if he is to do his job in controlling key northwest swing states. Biden is a great small town meeting campaigner and has been able to connect with voters in those meetings. This style of campaigning Will be needed if the Democrats are to control Pennsylvania yet again. The areas of concern within the state come in the more rural and white working class sectors. With regards to the rural, Joe Biden may not be the guy, but he can and should absolutely play upon his own middle class upbringing and the fact that he and his family had gone through similar economic hardships that face many Americans, and Pennsylvanians today.

Obama on small town America

Back in April 2008, before the democratic primary election in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama made a few comments over the phone that he may still have to pay up to in the general election.
Obama was quoted as saying residents of small town America, "cling to their guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them." This statement insulted much of the state's rural residents and ultimately led to the primary victory of Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania. What really angered Pennsylvanians was that just before the controversial statement Obama mentioned that there is bitterness in small towns across Pennsylvania specifically and included the rest of the Midwest. Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain had immediate responses to Obama's comments. At the time McCain choose to spin Obama"s comments in a way to make the Illinois senator appear out of touch with the working classes of America. This spin of things may have some truth to it, as many of Obama's supporters within the Democratic party consist of the highly educated and wealthy voters. Clinton was considered to have a stronghold within the working class on the Democratic Party. This issue of Obama being out of touch with the working class is bound to come up within the race in Pennsylvania.