Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president today in Pittsburgh, sending a message both to the state's primary voters and to undecided superdelegates who might decide the close race for the Democratic presidential nomination.Dan Pfeiffer, deputy communications director for the Obama campaign, confirmed that Casey would announce his support during a rally at the Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum and Memorial and that he would then set out with the Illinois senator on part of a six-day bus trip across the state.
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Obama strategists hope that Casey can help their candidate make inroads with the white working-class men who are often referred to as "Casey Democrats..."
Let's hope that last sentence is true, but I'm skeptical about the power of endorsements at this point. For instance, I remember all too well how Ted Kennedy's endorsement was supposed to help Obama big time with Hispanics. A couple of months later, I think we can safely conclude, "so much for that theory!"
UPDATE: Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is moving to bring this process to a close by July 1 at the latest. I couldn't agree more with Howard Dean on this:
``There is no point in waiting,'' he said. The Democratic political organization ``is as good or better as the Republicans', and we haven't been able to say that for about 30 years. But that all doesn't make any difference if people are really disenchanted or demoralized by a convention that's really ugly and nasty.''[...]
``What I don't want to do is have the Democrats make a stupid mistake in April and then be sorry they said that in October and end up with some more right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court,'' he said.
Let's hope that Dean's efforts pan out and we can turn our firepower on John "100 Years in Iraq" McCain.
And Richardson's endorsement was very telling .... as was Dodd. True Kennedy's impact wasn't as large with the Hispanic vote as hoped for ... but overall it was and remains MONUMENTAL. It seems the majority of the Hispanic vote is rooted in their own complicated past and Obama hasn't been able to "break out" with that segment in the primaries (split along generational lines) .... but I think they'll be strongly for Barrack in the General Election (as compared to Hillary's other demographic "strengths" supporting the Obama).
YES, I want to see where these "super-delegates" stand ... the sooner the better.
I expect that after the next final 10 primaries that Obama will lead in delegates, states won and the popular vote. So where do these Super Delegates stand? In the past (Billary) or for the future (Obama)?
Overall I think this campaign "problem" is either very good for the Democratic Party ... will we leap forward with the historic Obama campaign .... or a disaster? to be hog-tied by the machine politics of the Clintons.
I'm an Optimist by nature ... Obama will prevail and forge a renewed Democratic Party and along the way a new political dialogue. As Senator Casey aptly put it ... we can't be deaf to our future.
Wishful thinking....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03...
If Obama chooses a great Vice President and gets back to his vision of the future vs. the Kitchen Sink reactionary crap ... he'll win and I think he'll win BIG.
Obama's pick for VP will be crucial and he or she will become the "NEWS". The voting public when faced with a decision (particularly those who view themselves as Democrats) will vote for that better future, for the judgement shown in the VP pick and in DROVES the Democrats will come out in numbers I'd say .... 20% above the Republican count.
So that's how a Democratic party is re-newed .... largely by NOT alienating the Obama motivated youth vote.
I've heard (and I'm not an expert) that the Hispanic vote is trending the way the rest of the votes are in that younger Hispanics, especially the ones with higher education, are supporting Obama. Meanwhile, older Hispanics and those with less education and blue collar Hispanics have been supporting Hillary. It is not a monolithic group.
Also, Bill Richardson's edorsement probably helped Obama among Hispanics even more than Ted Kennedy's.
On another point, I don't seriously expect the uncommitted super delegates to buck the choice in their home state's primary or caucus nor do I expect pledged delegates to not honor their commitments.
The very worst thing that could happen would be for supporters of either candidate to come away feeling the election was stolen from them. As long as the process is fair and transparent and ends soon, I believe we will come together to elect a Democrat.
For the record, at this point, I also think it's going to be Obama. I may have flunked math a few times but even I can count.
Casey has also made it clear that he is not part of the machine politics in this state that is lead by now Governor Rendell who BTW is not really popular at all. In his latest election, Rendell won by lower margins than most of the other candidates down ballot, including in my Democratic boro. Rendell is seen by many as a pompous jerk and a union buster. He won re-election because Lynn Swann was a terrible candidate. Senator Casey represents change in PA much the same as Obama does across the U.S. And people here love Bob Casey because he unseated Rick Santorum. The old blue collar white voters are sometimes referred to as "Casey Democrats." Casey is also very strong in Scranton where his family has lived for years.
I think the Obama campaign is just beginning to take hold in PA and I would not be surprised to see the polls tightening as they have in other states once people get to know Obama. The outlyer polls show Hillary with 51% to 35% for Obama. That means that there are still 14% undecided and possibly less in other polls.
And, potentially the biggest news from PA is that we registered 100,000 new Democrats as of the deadline this Monday. That's alot of independents who are now Democrats!
Obama's speech was great. He had to tell people that it was "okay to take a seat" because he had a standing ovation from the time he walked onto the stage with Senator Casey. Also, Obama said something very telling about the endorsement. He said that it was the one that meant the most to him because it came from Casey's heart and wasn't political. He said he had certainly asked Casey to endorse him but never pushed it with him out of respect for the fact that he was his friend and in a tough position here in PA with the Clinton support. He said he was surprised when Casey called to tell him about the endorsement and very grateful. It was a great introduction to his speech about changing the old ways of politics as usual.
This weekend I think we will be hearing the final results of the Texas primary/caucus that will show an Obama WIN. And we are fired up and already out there for Obama here in PA. April 22 is a long three and a half weeks away.
Read a conservative's view: