Showing posts with label Pennsylvania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pennsylvania. Show all posts
Friday, October 24, 2008
McCain Volunteer Made Up Mugging Story
This is truly shameful. The woman who yesterday claimed that she was mugged by a black man who carved a 'B' into her face today admitted that she made the whole thing up. I wonder if the wingnut bloggers (including Matt Drudge) will print a thorough retraction, with an apology for ginning this up.
Police tell KDKA that a campaign volunteer has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.
Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.
Update: At least the NRO has the fleeting decency to print a lukewarm retraction.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Reality Check on McCain in Pennsylvania
For the life of me, I can't understand McCain's gambit to pull out of Colorado and focus on Pennsylvania.
Look at the poll numbers:
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Obama Surges in Battleground States
New polling out of some battleground states shows Obama with a huge post-debate surge:
Among registered voters surveyed in Colorado, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Nevada, Obama tops McCain 50 to 40%. Just a week ago, Obama led 45% to 42%.
h/t Daily Dish
Thursday, August 28, 2008
New Obama State Polls
From Political Animal:
* A Time/CNN poll shows Obama leading McCain in New Mexico by 13, 53% to 40%.
* A Time/CNN poll shows Obama leading McCain in Nevada by five, 49% to 44%.
* A Time/CNN poll shows Obama leading McCain in Pennsylvania by five, 48% to 43%.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Bob Casey Convention Speech - Video
I just found the video of Bob Casey's speech from the convention yesterday. Casey noted that while McCain casts himself as a "maverick," he has voted with Bush 90 percent of the time. Casey then said, "That's not a maverick, that's a sidekick."
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Why You Should Ignore National Polls
* Quinnipiac shows Obama leading McCain in Pennsylvania by seven, 49% to 42%. This is unchanged from July.
* A Suffolk University poll shows Obama leading McCain in Colorado by five, 44% to 39%.
* A Detroit News poll shows Obama leading McCain in Michigan by two, 43% to 41%.
* A Columbus Dispatch poll shows Obama leading McCain in Ohio by one, 42% to 41%.
* Quinnipiac shows Obama leading McCain in Ohio by one, 44% to 43%. The same poll showed Obama up by two in July.
Via Political Animal
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Expected Malaise in the Proper Margins
Well, it looks as if I was at least somewhat close. Hillary is winning Pennsylvania by what looks to be anywhere from 4% to 11% depending on when the numbers come in.
Even though this was expected, I felt -- similar to what I felt around Texas and Ohio -- that somehow there would be a magical upset tonight that would bring an end to this terrible woman.
Step back -- take a breath -- and ask yourself this.
Think of the best person you know -- the person who is the most wise, the most eloquent, the most honest, the most intelligent, the most engaged in civic life -- the person you would most want to elect as the leader of our country.
Then, think to yourself how this wonderful person you know -- the devoted public servant, the supremely wise and intelligent thinker, the profoundly honest and truthful soul -- would be rendered, masticated, beaten and eviscerated by what our media, and our politicians have become.
What would we be left with then?
This person you envision is what I see in Barack Obama. Certainly not perfect but the highest ideal I have ever imagined campaigning for my vote.
He is the highest measure of a man (or woman) I could imagine to seek the highest political office in the land.
I have faith that he can withstand the storms and vultures and the trials and the tribulations.
But I ache, in my deepest heart, at the prospect that a man so great -- so flawed and yet so deserving -- could yet perhaps have the nomination wrested away from him by the powers of darkness and cynicism.
May there be light at the end of this tunnel.
May there be some measure of goodness within us that instinctually recoils at the filthy and debauched hand that graspingly clings to the coattails of his quest to help us purify our past sins.
I still know hope but -- after the totality of my life -- find it difficult to stoke the nascent fuel powering my desire to forge on.
I'll find some ability to power on after tonight but -- Lord -- how taxing this contest has become.
My Pennsylvania Prediction
Here it is with a timestamp. I predict that, if Hillary wins, she wins by a maximum of 6%.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
The Faces of Change - 35,000 in PA
This is truly remarkable. 35,000 people showed up for an Obama rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Here's some of what he said:
It was over two hundred years ago that a group of patriots gathered in this city to do something that no one in the world believed they could do. After years of a government that didn’t listen to them, or speak for them, or represent their hopes and their dreams, a few humble colonists came to Philadelphia to declare their independence from the tyranny of the British throne.
The union they created has endured for two centuries not because we’re perfect, but because we’ve always been perfectible – because each generation of Americans has been willing to stand up and sacrifice and do what’s necessary to inch us closer to the ideals at the core of our founding promise – equality, and liberty, and opportunity for all who seek it. That’s how we survived a civil war and two world wars; a Great Depression and great struggles for civil rights and women’s rights and worker’s rights, and now Philadelphia it's our turn.
Go here for video
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
New Polls Show Obama Maintaining Lead
Two new polls out today show Obama maintaining his sizable lead.
From Rasmussen:
In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, Obama leads Clinton nationally 48% to 41%. Obama leads among voters under 50 while Clinton has the lead among older voters. Obama has an eighteen-point lead among men while Clinton holds a single-point edge among women. Among White Women nationwide, Clinton retains a double-digit lead. Obama continues to attract overwhelming support from African-American voters. In Pennsylvania, Clinton leads by nine. Rasmussen Markets data gives Obama an 80.9 % chance of winning the Democratic nomination.
From Gallup:
The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update shows Obama with a 50% to 42% lead over Clinton in national Democratic voters' nomination preferences.
Pittsburgh Steelers Owner Endorses Obama
Thanks to reader Jamo for finding this gem for me. The owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dan Rooney endorsed Obama earlier this week:
"True sports fans know that you support your team even when they are the underdogs. Barack Obama is the underdog here but it is with great pride that I join his team," Rooney writes in a "Dear Pennsylvanians" letter released by the Obama campaign.
"This is not something that I do regularly but as I listen to the candidates in this race, I am struck that we continue to hear about the problems and the same challenges that we have been talking about for decades. Protecting jobs here in Pennsylvania, breaking our dangerous and costly addiction to foreign oil, making health care accessible and affordable -- these are neither new issues nor new ideas. And yet we have failed to make real progress," Rooney writes.
"As a grandfather and a citizen of this community I think Barack Obama's, thoughtful, strategic approach is important for America. When I hear how excited young people seem to be when they talk about this man, I believe he will do what is best for them which is to inspire them to be great Americans."
Pittsburgh Paper Endorses Obama
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette endorsed Obama today:
Sen. Obama is every bit as prepared to answer the ring of the 3 a.m. phone as Sen. Clinton .... He has detailed positions on the major issues ... Nor is he any sort of elitist ... Pennsylvania -- this encrusted, change-averse commonwealth where a state liquor monopoly holds on against all reason and where municipal fiefdoms shrink from sensible consolidation -- needs to take a strong look at the new face and the new hope in this race. Because political business-as-usual is more likely to bring the usual disappointment for the Democrats this fall, the Post-Gazette endorses the nomination of Barack Obama, who has brought an excitement and an electricity to American politics not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.
Read More: Barack Obama: Democrats deserve a nominee for change
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Clinton Losing Traction Over Obama in PA, IN, NC
New Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg polls in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana suggest that Sen. Hillary Clinton "may not be headed to blockbuster victories she needs to jumpstart her presidential bid."
Pennsylvania: Clinton 46%, Obama 41%.
North Carolina: Obama 47%, Clinton 34%
Indiana: Obama 40%, Clinton 35%
Key Finding:
One reason Clinton is struggling in Indiana and North Carolina is that a mainstay of her coalition in earlier contests -- women -- have been defecting. In Indiana, the poll found women split their vote, 35% for each candidate. In North Carolina, they favored Obama, 43% to 36%.
Read More: Clinton losing traction over Obama in Pennsylvania, Indiana
New Obama Ad in Pennsylvania: "Represent"
This is just... downright... BRILLIANT! Remember all the chattering classes pontificating at the end of last year how Obama was too much of a softy and needed to be stronger and more forceful? Well, get ready for this.
The Obama campaign released a new ad today (video below), that highlights how petty and purely political Hillary Clinton has become and how such petty political games do nothing to actually alleviate the problems in our country. Truly brilliant!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Obama: "There's Some Politics Going On"
Obama truly is a cool, calm and collected leader. Reacting to the silliness of the last few days, he gave this amazing speech in Steelton, Pennsylvania. From what I've read on the Internet today, Hillary's all-out gambit to try to push this story is falling flat.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Unrepentant Philly Gay News Keeps on the Attack
Well, not that I expected any better, but the Philadelphia Gay News, which ran a silly Obama hit piece alongside an interview with Clinton last week, continues to try to paint Obama in an unflattering light.
Last week, contrary to the PGN's claim that Obama is "avoiding" the gay press, Obama sat down for a frank discussion with the nationally distributed LGBT magazine The Advocate. Well, I guess that just wasn't enough for publisher Mark Penn and his local bar rag.
His primary thesis appears to be that local gay publications are the only ones that count. He even makes the absurd and unsupportable claim that "Only the local gay press will ask detailed questions." Seriously. This guy has been drinking his own Kool-Aid for a bit too long.
Two things to take heart in:
1) He published my letter to the editor (see below), and
2) His column was infinitely less credible than his last, as he came off very defensive and infused with a sense of petulant, offended entitlement (see farther below for my most recent email to him).
Published Letter to the Editor:
Dear Mr. Segal and Ms. Blazucki,
I read today your article in the Philadelphia Gay News entitled "Clinton Talks; Obama Balks" and the accompanying editorial "Letter to a Candidate". After reading these, I felt compelled to write to tell you how dismayed I was see such slanted and accusatorial coverage.
Under the auspices of writing an article about your interview with Hillary Clinton, you take great pains to cast Barack Obama in a very unflattering light.
This is especially troubling, considering the fact that Mr. Segal is a donor to the Clinton campaign. You failed to disclose this important fact in your article and, as a result, unsuspecting readers might think that this article was an unbiased piece of journalism, rather than a slanted missive penned by someone who donated at least $1,000 to the Clinton campaign.
I consider Senator Barack Obama to be an amazing advocate for LGBT issues. Senator Obama has spoken to a variety of audiences, both inside and outside the LGBT community, on LBGT issues, including audiences expected to be hostile to our concerns. For example, Senator Obama spoke out at Ebeneezer Baptist Church and Rick Warren's Saddleback Church about the damage that homophobia causes. I challenge you to find an instance where Hillary Clinton has appeared in front of a hostile audience and spoken out on homophobia or other LGBT issues.
Your article asserts that Obama is not speaking to the LGBT community because he has not granted enough interviews to the gay press. Quite to the contrary, I would argue that Barack Obama is, in fact, speaking to our community, albeit in a different manner.
The gay ghettoization of the post-Stonewall era is steadily eroding, as evidenced by the straight gentrification of previously gay strongholds such as the Castro and West Hollywood. Part and parcel of this de-ghettoization is the diminished need in large parts of our community for "gay only" media.
In Mr. Segal's "Letter to a Candidate", he claims that "the local gay press is to our community what churches are to the black community." I hope, upon further reflection, you realize that this is at least just a bit overstated. When I found word of your article on Clinton and Obama, it was the first time that I -- and most of my friends -- had bothered to read something in a "gay publication" in over ten years, except to find out what the local hotspot was for the coming weekend.
Barack Obama speaks to each and every one of us because we are all, at our root, Americans. And when Barack Obama speaks to Americans, Gay Americans, Lesbian Americans and Transgendered Americans, he doesn't need to do so through the mouthpiece of a "gay publication". He speaks to me through ABC News, The Economist and he speaks to me through his rallies and campaign emails.
Very truly yours,
[Monitor]
My Latest (and I hope final) Email to Mr. Segal:
Dear Mark,
I just read your new column "Obama Goes National, Still No Local". Obviously not appearing to pay much mind to our correspondence of last week, I found your newest column to be defensive, unapologetic and infused with a sense of offended privilege and entitlement.
I was planning on writing you another thoughtful and reflective email to address your points. However, if you truly believe that most gay people have any use for a local gay rag like yours beyond a quick bar read or a skim through the event listings and personals, I don't really have much to say that would have any chance of getting through to you. This is especially evidenced in this highly overreaching (and patently absurd) gem: "Only the local gay press will ask detailed questions." Such baseless and unsupportable tripe does not belong in a publication that you claim to actually have any redeeming merit in the realm of national political commentary.
Disappointed,
[Monitor]
Obama Addresses His Honest San Francisco Remarks
Some of you may have heard some flap about some remarks that Obama made at a fundraiser in San Francisco recently. Obama said that it's not surprising that people "get bitter, they cling to their guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Although many people would certainly agree that he could have used some softer words to avoid the inevitable soundbite, I think this really speaks to the question of how ready people are to hear hard truths. Because, at their root, Obama's words were right on target.
See below for a video of Obama expanding on his remarks. Talk about a breath of fresh air in this country.
Here's what CNN had to say in his defense:
Thursday, April 3, 2008
New Obama Ad - Strong Economic Message
Here's a new short-but-sweet ad running today in Pennsylvania. Obama eschews the more inspirational tone for a straightforward pitch to working-class Pennsylvanians who may have seen their jobs shipped overseas.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
New Poll Shows Obama Ahead in PA
Please take this with a grain of salt because the results of this poll are divergent from the other polls released recently. It's still worth noting:A New PPP poll shows Obama leading 45-43 in Pennsylvania. The poll is a clear outlier -- another poll today shows Hillary Clinton ahead 50-41. Still, the direction of the polling is clearly moving Obama's way.
Also, in a related story:The Real Clear Politics average of polls has Clinton's lead falling from 16 points to six.
Read More: PA Poll Has Obama Ahead
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Obama Closing Gap in Pennsylvania
From a new Rasmussen poll:
Senator Hillary Clinton’s lead in the Pennsylvania Primary is shrinking.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Pennsylvania shows Clinton leading Barack Obama by just five percentage points, 47% to 42%. For Clinton, that five-point edge is down from a ten-point lead a week ago, a thirteen-point lead in mid-March and a fifteen-point advantage in early March.
Support for Clinton slipped from 52% early in March, to 51% in mid-month, 49% a week ago, and 47% today. During that same time frame, support for Obama has increased from 37% to 42%.
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