Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Pennsylvania Plays Role in Democrat Party Presidential Primary

Andrew Sullivan and Dick Polman consider demographics of Pennsylvania in upcoming Primary, to be held April 22, after upcoming contentions in Mississippi and Wyoming.

Polman suggests independents in PA who want to weigh in on the Democratic contest should keep in mind the March 22, 2008 deadline for new party registrations, or switches from one party to the other...

(Net the Truth Online)

Onward they slog
...After Mississippi votes next Tuesday, Pennsylvania will become the new Iowa; with no competing contests, it will be the target of unremitting national attention. And it will be a brutal battlefield. For all the glib comparisons to Ohio, its rustbelt neighbor, there are significant differents that could aid Obama. Pennsylvania has a larger black population than Ohio, larger cities, and a larger student population. In contrast to Texas, it has a small Latino population. It has populous white liberal suburbs around Philadelphia.

On the other hand (advantage Hillary), it has the second-largest senior electorate in America, behind Florida. It has a large population of lunch-bucket guys, just as in Ohio. And, perhaps most importantly, the Keystone State primary is open only to registered Democrats. Obama-friendly independents need not bother to show up - unless they re-register as Democrats in advance, by the March 24 deadline. It's hard to imagine that these converts will vote in the same numbers as the independents in other states.

The overall delegate math still looks bad for Clinton, even if she wins Pennsylvania, and she would no doubt like to ignore one jarring statistic in the exit polls. When voters were asked whether superdelegates should pick the candidate they feel would win in November, or whether superdelegates should ratify the candidate who leads at the end of the primary season, the ratification option won in a landslide (62 percent in Texas, 61 percent in Ohio). That's basically the Obama argument, but she'll slog onward anyway...

http://dickpolman.blogspot.com/2008/03/onward-they-slog.html


Looking To Pennsylvania
05 Mar 2008 10:09 am

Dick Polman looks at the demographics:

After Mississippi votes next Tuesday, Pennsylvania will become the new Iowa, the target of unremitting national attention, and it will be a brutal battlefield. For all the glib comparisons to Ohio, its Rustbelt neighbor, there are significant differents that could aid Obama. It has a larger black population than Ohio, and a larger student population. In contrast to Texas, it has a small Latino population. It has populous white liberal suburbs around Philadelphia...

On the other hand (advantage Hillary), it has the second-largest senior electorate in America, behind Florida. It has a large population of lunch-bucket guys, just as in Ohio. And, perhaps most importantly, this primary is open only to registered Democrats. Obama-friendly independents need not bother to show up - unless they re-register as Democrats in advance, by the March 24 deadline.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/

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