So, what’s going on along the Pennsylvania campaign trail? For the past couple of weeks it seems that both Clinton and Obama have hop scotched around the remaining primary states, allowing each to get a glimpse of the candidates. But, today it seems both the candidates are back to serious campaigning.
Obama began over the weekend traveling with his Pennsylvania Super Delegate, Senator Robert Casey in an attempt to rally the Casey supporters. Initially, Obama took a different approach to his campaign style, meeting with small groups, drinking beer with the boys in a small tavern, bowling with a group of supporters, milking cows and talking to average Joe. But, today at Penn State Obama rallied a crowd estimated to be between 20,000 and 22,000. The potential Obama voters were wrapped in blankets as they stood in line to get into the venue. They were not disappointed.
Clinton, still expected to be the winner in Pennsylvania, has vowed not to step out of the race even though it seems that pressure from some Democrats is mounting. That’s not her only problem. According to an article in Politico Senator Clinton is “cash-strapped”.
A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped returning phone calls and e-mails seeking payment of outstanding invoices. One even got no response from a certified letter.
At one time, long ago or so it seems, Clinton held a national polling lead over Obama. Today according to a recent Gallop Poll Obama has taken a double digit lead nationally.
A Gallup tracking survey indicated the Illinois senator extending his lead over Clinton among Democrats nationally to 52 percent versus 42 percent, Obama’s largest lead of the year so far.
This marks the first time either candidate has held a double-digit lead over the other since early February, when Clinton led Obama by 11 percentage points, the polling firm pointed out.
The Straight Talk Express is on the trail again. McCain is calling his latest trek the “biography tour”. I suppose that means he is going to spend his time telling us what he has done, not what he will do. But, we hopefully have one thing to be thankful for. Perhaps, he will be able to prove that those senior moments don’t come around too frequently. We will see.
“McCain’s record of noble service is almost a singular asset in his campaign,” said David Gergen, a professor of public service at Harvard University who advised four presidents. “The question is whether he can convince people that he will not only keep us safe but also be cautious in using military power.”
It seems as if this campaign season has lasted an eternity, but in fact, it really hasn’t started. I can only hope we don’t run out of gas before the real campaign begins.
