McCain's and the media's infatuation with Pennsylvania

[Hokie]

The thing that I thought was the most bizarre of this entirely bizarre campaign was the idea that McCain had any chance of winning Pennsylvania. McCain and his advisers were pushing that idea right up to election day. The media jumped on this bandwagon the last few weeks of the campaign. There was no evidence at all that PA was any closer than states like Colorado that McCain had already conceded. My only conclusion is that McCain used the same logic he did in picking Palin and thought he could pick up Hillary voters there. I think that shows how out of touch McCain was with women voters. He figured that as long as Palin wore a dress and Hillary wore a dress they were interchangeable with voters. That might have made sense from his warped perspective but women voters were certainly a lot smarter than that. Palin and Clinton could have hardly been more unlike both in their political principles and intellect. I think McCain also hoped provoke racist hatred against Obama in the blue collar areas. Remember Ashley Todd, the B girl? She was a paid staffer and not a volunteer as the media called her.

[rocktivity]

1. I agree--he might have been better off concentrating on Ohio and Virginia

Maybe he thought that since Pennsylvania was on the East Coast and would get called first, winning it could demoralize Obama.

As for the media, they needed SOME way to keep people tuning in and watching the commercials. They knew the race was all over but the shouting, so they needed to seduce us into believing it was going to be close.

:shrug:
rocknation

[Aviation Pro]

2. Regarding the media whores....

...it worked for about 15 minutes when they posted the expected McCain victory in Kentucky. My wife and her friends - students at UC Dental School - were shocked when they saw McCain leading 7 - 3. I said calmly, "relax, the election is over," and two hours later it was.

[ErinBerin84]

3. yes, and people like Chris Matthews became obsessed

but I did love when Obama won PA (and I think the news people had to just play along that we still didn't know what was going to happen), Tweety said "Well....that's it..."

Did you read the Newsweek article? McCain asked how the polling was in NH, and the McCain aide said "we're down", and McCain was STUNNED (you know...because of NH's brief love affair with him) and asked "how did that happen?!" And then a couple of weeks ago, he insisted on making another trip to NH, even though he wasn't going to win it at that point. And then after the trip, he said "How much are we down by now?" and the aide said "don't ask". It's also like their stupid strategy with Iowa...

[Skidmore]

10. Matthews, Andrea Mitchell, Schmerkonish (sp?), and Buchanan are

all originally from Pennsylvania. Mika Brezinski's husband is from Pennsylvania as well. They seemed to all think that Pennsylvania somehow speaks for all areas of the nation all the time and carries more weight.

[ErinBerin84]

13. yes, and at most times, they had no idea what the heck they were talking about, hehe.

[DrToast]

4. It was already over by that point. They knew it. They just needed something they could sell

They didn't want to depress turnout by conceding the election, so they had to pretend they still had a shot.

McCain never believed he could win PA.

[WinkyDink]

5. Clue #3: Obama never visited the Lehigh Valley post-nomination. It was BLUE, baby!

[book_worm]

6. He had to act like there was a big profile blue state still attainable and PA was it

and the media went along with it because they wanted to make it seem like the horse race was still tight, and as we saw with some on DU, people fell for it.

[mascarax]

7. ...not only PA, but why did he insist on going back to IA?

I swear in the last few months, he dropped further in the IA polls after every visit. And then he'd go back again! I'm glad, but really...how stupid.

[noel711]

8. Hillary never wore a dress...

she was the queen of the pant suit.

If McCain thought that, and that she had anything in common
with Palin, besides the chromosome, they're in real trouble.

Stupid .... thinking the electorate.. is stupid..

two negatives don't become a positive.

[SoCalDem]

9. Republican men of his era, see women as objects..interchangeable objects

That's why he was okay with his "people" forcing Palin onto the ticket..Hillary is a woman..Sarah's a woman..no difference:rofl:

[THUNDER HANDS]

11. McCain NEEDED to have PA in the minds of Republican voters and the media

because his path to 270 was absolutely, positively, NON-EXISTANT without that state.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Not just the media but people right here on DU

were CONVINCED that the entirety of PA was actually 1937 Nazi Germany and that McKKKlan actually had a chance to win this state or would "steal" it. There were threads and threads of speculation that included PA going McKKKlan as a "given" and trying to come up with other combos for Obama to win. Forget that there was a 2nd term, hardscrabble nasty politics-type Democratic Governor, a recently installed Democratic Senator (in 2006), and a Democratic SOS... Forget that 1/3rd of the population of the entire state lives just in the SE corner of the state. I don't know how many ranting posts that I made repeating this over and over for the hand-wringers. All those "red" areas you see on the voting maps in this state? They're populated with alot of farm animals but few people. Alot of land but certainly not alot of votes. The SOLE reason why Specter is in office to this day is because he caters to Philadelphia and brings the bacon home here and my brethern (the idiots) keep putting him back in. Otherwise, he'd be tossed out too.

And for McKKKlan to actually go along with wingnut Ed Snyder and bring the scum Mooselini into Philadelphia's arena, subsequently poisoning the place (afterwhich the Flyers lost their home opener and the next 5 games) was the insulting and in-your-face last straw. Even the 76ers lost their home opener in there after she defiled it. This city is peopled with hardcore blue and white collar union members of all races, tens of thousands of college kids, and a number of very wealthy, old-money intellectual socialites who wouldn't touch McKKKlan's ticket with a 10-mile pole (they are the "country club repukes"). The idiocy of their continually coming in here sickened me to the core.

I hope that when 2012 rolls around, this place will not have amnesia about PA.

[PCIntern]

14. Not I, Bum....

You and I knew that PA was Obama's without question. In my 40 years of political activism here (and in upstate NY for a short time in college) I had never ever seen the potential for turnout in Philly and the suburban counties as it was pre-election this year.

Every black patient of mine, when I asked them if they were registered and voting and had made sure that their family members were (with the exception of the Jehovah's Witnesses who don't vote), stated yes, absolutely, without question.

When McCain said it was close, I burst out laughing on the spot. That's when I knew they were finished.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. Yup. I know you knew the deal.

This area, along with Pittsburgh, Harrisburg (the city) and the Scranton area, when the turnout is there, always has the potential to throw the entire state. And that is what happened in 2002 & 2006 for Rendell, 2006 with Casey, and again last week with Obama.