The PA. Republicans are making their move to entice the tens of thousands of voters who have changed registrations from Republican to Democrat over the last several months, to change back to Rs.  

21st Century Democrats is excited about the extraordinary amount of enthusiasm Barack Obama’s nomination has generated. The Pew Research Center is suggesting increased voter turnout in the general election bodes well for Democrats. However, some stats from the primary season show that increased turnout for the presidential election doesn't always help down-ballot races.

In fact, assuming a strong Presidential ticket will pull Democratic candidates in the House, the Senate, and local offices to victory is dangerous. This assumption is not in line with electoral empirics or America’s personality. Splitting tickets will always occur in our nation which prides itself on having a "maverick spirit" and values competence over loyalty. More importantly, many Americans will rightfully not vote for candidates they are unfamiliar with. Why would anyone put someone they know nothing about in a tremendous position of power? In the midst of all the excitement generated by the Obama campaign, we cannot forget that voters need to have face to face contact with canvassers for all our candidates, not just our candidate for President.

Given some of the concern with the Quin polls released today, I thought it might be nice to diary a poll showing Obama expanding his lead from the previous month.

Rasmussen 7/24 MoE 4% (6/23 results) (5/23 results)

Obama  (D) 51 (46) (45)
McCain (R) 45 (42) (43)

http://rasmussenreports.com/...

Spending $1 Billion to Restore Fiscal Sanity

by John Harwood

"Peter G. Peterson wants people to focus on what he considers real news: the nation is going broke. Because he wasn't born yesterday, Mr. Peterson, co-founders of the Blackstone Group and a secretary of commerce under President Richard M. Nixon, will spend $1 billion in an effort to get the public's attention. The money, which comes from the windfall Mr. Peterson received when Blackstone went public last year, will finance a media blitz, starting with a documentary, "I.O.U.S.A.". The film aims to startle voters and politicians alike, and summon them to the task of closing the long-term imbalance between what the government".

In April, as they were being buried under a flood of some 310,000 new Democratic voter registrations in Pennsylvania, state Republican leaders promised a major effort to win back voters after the primary.

But according to Pennsylvania Republican Committee Spokesman Michael Barley, the GOP will mount a "pretty aggressive voter registration effort right after the primary," to get those who have switched sides back into the Republican fold.

Republicans predicted success.

[Republican] party officials believe they can get as much as 40 percent of those who left this year back into the Republican fold after they’ve voted in the primary.

Not only did voters not return, Republicans haven't even mounted the effort they promised. Now they're talking about getting around to it some time this summer. Derrick Nunnally of the Inky reports:

In several counties, Republicans are just beginning to move to try to recapture lost ground...

In Bucks County...GOP leaders haven't yet begun a planned effort to shepherd home their lost sheep.

"We haven't pushed yet to send out letters and talk to them," said Harry Fawkes, Bucks County's Republican chairman for 36 years. "A lot of them, we're hoping, will come back. I can't predict it. We're going to try to do it."

Can't you just feel the enthusiasm? Scott Kraus reported in the Morning Call on June 28 (no link) that the state GOP is adrift:

In Montgomery County...a highly promoted GOP website set up to win back wayward Republicans disappeared after a change in party leadership...

"We do feel that within the summer months and as we get closer to the presidential election, and more volunteers come out, that is a big effort we will be pushing," Barley said.

As Republicans wait for volunteers who aren't showing up, the imbalance in party registrations quickly grows even greater. Between the April primary and the end of June, some 47,000 voters have registered as Democrats. In the same period, Republicans lost about 2,000 registrations.

The following counties (all but one in the south east) have added more than 3,000 new Dem voters: Allegheny, Philadelphia, Montgomery, Berks and Delaware. The gains in Bucks and Lehigh counties were not far behind.

Remember back in April when Republicans tried to dismiss the Democratic tidal wave as an artifact of Rush Limbaugh's gravitational attraction? Well, nowadays they're exploring other excuses.

"I'm just not sure that people consider registration as important as in the past," said Bob Asher, the longtime state Republican power broker. "There's just a lot more people that vote more of an independent streak and not necessarily a straight party, so they don't really feel that's important."...

The tide of Democratic registrations in the Philadelphia suburbs has not been matched by new independent or third-party registrations, suggesting that the change may be decidedly partisan. Montgomery County, for example, has gained about 1,000 more Democrats since April 22 than it has independent and third-party registrants combined.

Nobody but Republican leaders seem to be buying the argument that party registration no longer matters. The Morning Call (no link) quotes pollster Chris Borick on this talking point:

[Borick] said the continued Republican voter erosion shouldn't be shrugged off. The post-primary registration numbers continue a damaging two-year trend for the GOP.

Switching voters "have done this for a reason," Borick said. "That might be a broader statement of dissatisfaction with the Republican Party, the leadership and the [Iraq] war, but whatever it is, these people have taken the time to redefine themselves. I don't take that lightly."

Neither do Republican leaders in PA, you can be sure, otherwise they wouldn't be trying so hard to spin the bad news. So it's all the more remarkable that they've been unable even to begin to address their problems.

In the last twelve hours, a regional PM 2.5 air pollution episode has started in the PA-MD-North VA-South NJ area.

The air pollution episode involves widespread Code Orange PM 2.5 air pollution.   PM 2.5 are inhalable particles and aerosols that are 2.5 microns or smaller in diameter.

More below....

This very important story has not been adequately pushed to the headlines.  The leasing of our national infrastructure (remember the port scandal?) continues onward and being supported by state and national leadership. A few days ago, Governor Rendell proudly stood in support of a $12.8 billion, 75 year lease deal of the PA Turnpike, the oldest transportation artery in the country to Abertis Infraestructuras, of Barcelona.

I will continue to do a little more additional research on other deals that have been passed over and try to undercover more of our infrastructure being  sold to the highest bidder.  When Americans are struggling to find adequate employment and our roads, bridges, and tunnels are crumbling, it is incredibly disturbing that we are choosing to hand over the power to entities that do not have a vested interest.

SurveyUSA polled voters in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, and asked them about potential ticket matchups.

The following changed after me going to these sites right after the election april 22nd and i revisted it again april 24th and emailed a copy to the campaign staffers in CD7. Then again today i went there and found what seems to me to be a major alteration i do not understand??  

          Clinton                 Obama
There was     74,554 2.863 3         107,743 4.137 4   april 24 results
now there is  55,503 3.551 4          53,919 3.449 3   may 6th  results

which shows thousands of votes eliminated ???

==>>> We lost over 53,000 votes?? <<<===</p>

(I've never bothered to post at dailykos before, so here's a bit of background:  I'm in my mid twenties and have lived in Pennsylvania for my entire life.  For several years I had delivered pizzas to McMansions in which I installed the hardwood floors years before.  I've never gone to college and I now work as a software developer.)

This past April, I voted in a Democratic presidential primary for the first time.  I've been a registered Democrat since only 2007, when I switched party affiliation in order to vote for Michael Nutter for mayor in the Philadelphia municipal Democratic primary.  Prior to that, I'd been registered as "non-partisan" and voted in general elections since 2004, while largely ignoring local and state politics.

Pennsylvania says "You're Hired!" to Hillary Clinton

At the Clinton Rally the night before the election, Hillary Clinton told a crowd of 8,000 at Univ of Penn that this was the "longest job interview" anyone has seen. But that was okay because it's for the "hardest job in the world". To paraphrase, she said "If you're still undecided - when you go to cast your vote tomorrow think of this as a job interview and that you are hiring the person that you believe is the most qualified, most experienced and knowledgeable to handle all the problems that we will face in the coming years.  And if you believe that I'm the best person for the job and you offer it to me - well - I accept!"

And Pennsylvania spoke loud and clear - they want experience, they want a leader, they want a person that can handle the pressures of the job. Hillary Clinton has certainly displayed the leadership and qualifications to do this.

On Tuesday, my 8-month-old son Hugo and I drove voters to the polls in Chester, PA. Chester is a very economically depressed area just 10 miles from the affluent, educated college town where I grew up (Swarthmore, PA). Every person I met, every place we went, reminded me why it is so important that Barack Obama be our next president.  

I have been periodically checking PA.
I know this is "old news" but I just think we need to be clear it wasn't "double digits"

And Clinton lost ground in PA, compared to OH.
Hillary won by 9.2% with a reasonable rounding this is 9%.

http://www.electionreturns.state.pa....

9,263 out of 9,264 Districts (99.99%) Reporting Statewide
CLINTON, HILLARY (DEM)  1,245,911 54.6%
OBAMA, BARACK (DEM)     1,037,953 45.4%

Note these are unofficial, and I am not sure if provisionals are still being counted. But I doubt they will change things much, and if they do, it will be only to lessen her margin, becuause provisionals would be mostly new voters.

As we take stock of Obama's standing following the Clinton's relentless two-month Pennsylvania campaign to portray him as an unelectable Black Radical, the Washington Post's Colbert King delivers a bit of bad news:

Among all of the top Democrats intimately involved in the Pennsylvania primary, which would you say has had the coziest relationship with Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam?

I live in Union county, and worked for the Obama campaign.

Its true that the students made the difference.  Union county went for Obama 52-48, which was a hard count of +190 votes.  The students registered about 700 new voters and delivered about 70% I think.

our biggest claim to fame is Lewisburg is the home of Earl Pickens, whose song, "Obama Everyhwere" was used by the campaign!
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/...

Once upon a time, Obama's oratory sent tingles of Chris Mathew's leg(s). Like many of us, his inner democrat was deeply moved by the refreshingly different approach Obama brings to our sully politics. This guy could be another Kennedy, he would chime.

Recently, though, his adoration has evaporated. Usually a minimally thoughtful, if commercial-driven boob, he’s devolved, as he’s been seemingly swept by the mob-like media hysteria known as "bittergate." Even more than the rest of the MSM, for Mathews, it seems deeply personal. Although 99% percent of Americans were unimpressed by the alleged offensiveness of those remarks (taken out of context or not), Chris Mathews is tenaciously gripping his bitterness. Today, while most of the roaring mob has slithered back to FOX, he even expanded his hurt to cover "G-d damn America Gate."

Loose paraphrase:

How dare Reverend Wright explain his side to Bill Moyers?!  Who gave him permission to speak? And to his uppity friend, Barack, who once lit my proverbial fire: shame on you, Barack Obama!

So whats changed?

With 99.51% of precincts reporting the Pennsylvania Secretary of State's office lists this result:

Clinton 54.6%
Obama 45.4%
54.6% - 45.4% = 9.2%

While actual states of affairs in the world will not prevent the Clinton camp from continuing to refer to a "double digit win," they should nevertheless be honest and acknowledge that the two digits in question are separated by a decimal point.

With Hillary Clinton's win in PA, the new meme from her campaign--and being duly picked up by the media--is that Barack Obama is in trouble. While Clinton deserves credit for her win, her 10 point margin is due to a rather large number of racist votes.