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Is Ed screwed? Are his hopes for serving in a presidential cabinet some day lost?
Probably not, for a few reasons.
First, if Obama is the nominee, Rendell will still be governor of a key state, and he'll have his chance to win Barack's heart with all the frenetic fundraising, press-spinning and barnstorming he's known for.
Second, insiders say that Rendell will likely become chairman of the bipartisan National Governors Association later this year, making him a player in Washington no matter who wins the presidency.
And if Obama wins the White House, he'll still need Pennsylvania for re-election in 2012, and Rendell remains enormously popular in much of the state.
"By 2010, if he were looking for a Cabinet post, I think he'd be a strong candidate even if Obama were in the White House," said Temple University assistant dean and political science professor Joe McLaughlin, who's known Rendell for years and worked for him in the governor's office.
McLaughlin said there's another reason Obama won't likely hold Rendell's role in Pennsylvania against him.
"Rendell had a long relationship with the Clintons, and in politics loyalty and trust count," McLaughlin. "Had he turned his back on that relationship even for a winner, in a way that would have hurt him more than losing the state."
On the other hand, Franklin & Marshall College analyst Terry Madonna said, Rendell should be careful how aggressively he pushes superdelegates for Clinton if she still trails in delegates and the popular vote.
"He has to be careful he doesn't overplay his hand and become a thorn in Obama's side," Madonna said.
And, of course, there's the possibility that Clinton defies the pundits, wins over the superdelegates and gets the nomination. If that happens, Rendell may never stop smiling. *
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