Playing PA's Tune
Both sides in the presidential race are singing songs of Pennsylvania. One seems off-key.
Playing PA's Tune
John Baer, Daily News Political Columnist
Both sides in the presidential race are singing songs of Pennsylvania; but one side seems a tad off-key.
The state GOP Wednesday morning issued a statement quoting party chairman Rob Gleason as (shockingly) agreeing with Gov. Corbett that Pennsylvania’s in play.
“Governor Corbett is absolutely correct regarding Pennsylvania’s continued competitiveness in the 2012 Presidential election. Like the Governor, I speak with voters and volunteers daily and Mitt Romney continues to have tremendous support on the grassroots level,” Gleason said.
He added that Corbett “knows Pennsylvania politics and he knows that Mitt Romney is poised to deliver a big upset in the Keystone State.”
Support for this enthusiasm is based on a report in the Allentown Call that Corbett, while in Lebanon County, said that in his “travels across the state, I think there’s a great deal of support for Gov. Romney.”
Given that the guv’s “travels across the state” are often restricted to GOP areas and kayak trips, I don’t doubt his claim.
But is seems a stretch to think he or Gleason talk with many “voters and volunteers” who aren’t Romney supporters.
A few hours after Gleason’s statement, state Democrats issued a list of state and national headlines noting that Romney-supporting conservative groups pulled TV ads out of the state and that Romney’s campaign is focused on 8 key states, not including Pennsylvania.
Then the Romney camp then issued a statement announcing its “Pennsylvania Campaign Leadership” team led by Corbett, Sen. Toomey, Gleason, GOP congressmen and a bunch of other Republican officeholders.
Evidence, I suppose, the GOP is getting serious here.
But wait. Wednesday night state Democratic chairman Jim Burn issued a statement saying Pennsylvanians “are not buying the failed policies of the past” that Romney’s selling.
This is based, I imagine, on his travels across the state speaking with voters and volunteers.
Well, here’s what we know today.
The average of the most recent independent in-state polling as compiled by the realclearpolitics.com Website has Obama up a comfortable 7.7 percent, and that’s before the Democratic convention which gave Obama a 4- to 6- point bump in major national polls.
Also, Pennsylvania hasn’t voted for a GOP presidential candidate since 1988.
Granted, things happen and Mitt’s got money; but happy tunes about PA going Romney just sound a little flat.
16 Trillion dollar debt, and 8.1 percent unemployment, maybe some people might notice this.— tlee- Hoover depression took 12 years to recover.
Bush depression needs at least 8 years to recover.
Jan 2009- 800,000 jobs lost
Jan 2012- 250,000 jobs created
We are heading in the right direction.— Seed - Only thing Romney knows and worships is MONEY.
If Romney is not putting up MONEY; that venture is lost. PA is done for Romney.
Romney does not care about people; definite not about Corbett. Look at how he treated Corbett at the convention.— Seed - Debt created under the Bush administration. No serious and rational person blames a President who utilizes basic Keynesian principles to try and stop a Depression from occurring. Major tax cuts to the rich and 2 unfunded wars are the primary cause of the deficits. And Obama inherited unemployment that was 10% at the end of his first year (surely you don't blame him for the 100,000+ per month loss of jobs going on at his inauguration), brought it down to 8 and that primarily is due to the loss of government jobs that the Republican House refused to fund by way of an Obama proposed jobs bill. Go back and read Clinton's speech at the DNC...no Republican has stepped up and tried to rebut it, because they can't. Instead, they think people are stupid and by dishing out the "Are you better off..." refrain that people will vote for them. Problem is that other than their base, who will believe anything told by Rush, no one believes the Republican rhetoric.— Palestra Jon
- Guess they're counting on people having short memories. To be honest neither candidate is being honest (we're broke) or going beyond anything else but finger pointing. Romney has the best background for tackling this issue but he insists on not raising taxes, discussing details or cutting defence spending, which makes it impossible to solve this problem.— meteo30
- meteo:
Obama put forward a proposal for 2.50 cut in spending for 1.00 increase in tax on the rich. GOP walked away.
GOP does not care about deficit. It's just an act. They spent like drunken sailor with Clinton's surplus money. Clinton reduced deficit and shrunk government. Obama will do that same as soon as recovery becomes steady.
Going back to Clinton era tax levels should be acceptable to all. It helped middle class and helped the businesses with larger consumer base.— Seed - Romney's background is not in creating jobs, it was primarly to create increased wealth for the few regardless of whether the business they took over or managed went into substantial debt, and eventually bankrupt under their mode of operation.
— ElecFact
John is the author of the book "On The Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: Twenty-Five Years of Keystone Reporting" (The History Press, 2012). Reach John at baerj@phillynews.com.
