The Spin I'm In

The Republican gasbags (RGBs) who rule morning TV are spinning Pennsylvania as a huge loss for Obama. Hillary Clinton won 55% of the vote, and Obama 45%. There was lots of good news for the Democratic Party in the vote. Turnout in the Democratic primary was huge, over 2.3 million voters; three times as many Democrats voted as Republicans.

Yes, there was a Republican primary in Pennsylvania yesterday; John McCain took 73% of the vote, but 16% went for Ron Paul and 11% for Mike Huckabee. If I were to apply the silly frame the RGBs apply to the Democrats, I'd ask: What does it say about John McCain that over one quarter of Republican primary voters don't want to vote for him? Hmmm.

But I see this result as good news for Obama. In mid-February, the Quinnipiac University poll had the race 52-36 for Clinton. So Clinton won 3% of the undecideds to her side, while Obama won 9% of the undecideds. And let's face it; Pennsylvania is on average older, whiter and more female than the rest of America.

There are still many Reagan Democrats in Pennsylvania; people who are willing to vote against the very policies they believe in in the furtherance of their prejudices. Witness this breathtaking snippet from Dana Milbank's column in the Washington Post yesterday:

"I don't care too much for Obama," Maria Norgren, the daughter and granddaughter of steelworkers, said in the parking lot of the Giant Eagle shopping center here, near the Obama rally.

"I don't even think he's American," added her husband, Edward, who lost his job when the steel mills closed and now mans the counter at the Puff Discount Tobacco and Lottery shop next to the Giant Eagle.

"His father's from Nigeria, right?" asked Maria, wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers T-shirt.

Kenya, actually. But the point is the same: The Norgrens, who backed Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, will vote for Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. And if Obama wins the nomination, these Democrats say they'll vote for Republican John McCain, even though they want an end to the war in Iraq, where their soldier-son is about to start his third tour.

Obama will have his work cut out for him to win over such voters in November. $4 a gallon gas (currently $3.49 in my town, up 25 cents in the past week) and McCain's years of support for the Big Oil will help. So will all the new voters registered as a result of this extended primary campaign. The Obama campaign sent me a flyer that says that there are 165,449 newly registered voters in North Carolina; 75% of those are Democrats or Independents. The Republican brand is dying, except on morning TV where the last of the RGBs wheeze and shout.