Apr. 23, Feature - Hillary Clinton walks away with a Pennsylvania win. She won the popular
vote by less than 10 percentage points. Barack
Obama was able to cut into her major lead there in the 6 weeks of campaigning since the last contest.
At the Park Hyatt in downtown Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton held her victory rally.
She framed the Pennsylvania results as a major accomplishment, playing up the
Rocky theme of a fighter, while taking subtle jabs at her opponent.
"And because of you, the tide is turning. We were up against a formidable
opponent. Who outspent us 3 to 1, he broke every spending record in this
state trying to knock us out of this race. Well the people of Pennsylvania
had other ideas today. You know the presidency is the toughest job. Pressures
of the campaign looked through the heat and saw the brighter tomorrow."
Through out the evening, campaign surrogates downplayed the necessity
to win by double digits for Clinton to remain a formidable candidate. Instead
they portrayed her as the underdog in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell:
"It's the equivalent of a political earthquake."
The Obama campaign has repeatedly
pointed to polls that showed him up to twenty points behind after the Ohio
primary, a state which has similar demographics and that Clinton won by a larger
margin, 10 points.
Obama had already moved
onto Indiana, which, along with North Carolina, holds the next contest on May
6. He congratulated Clinton and focused on his candidacy, and didn't tear
down hers.
"..I want to thank the hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians who
stood with our campaign today."
The
delegates must still be allocated. Most of which are awarded based on population,
registered Democrats and Congressional districts. The delegate allocation
could prove closer that the popular vote margin.
Now we turn to reporter Andalusia Knoll with
some voices from the polls at Pittsburgh.
The streets of Pittsburgh were plastered with posters of civil
rights demonstrators with the phrase "because they marched, we vote"
Election workers said they saw more voters at the polls within the
first few open hours than they normally see for a whole day of the
primary election. From Pittsburgh's wealthiest neighborhoods to
the regions poorest communities support for Barack Obama was strong.
Hundreds of African American voters stood in line outside of a
Pittsburgh community center waiting to volunteer to remind
registered Democrats to go out and vote. One volunteer, Uncle
Woody said this was a historic moment and that we need Obama as
president.
"He's the man, He's the man for change, he's the man of our choice, and
he's the man with a voice."
Across town in a predominately affluent white neighborhood some voters said
Hillary Clinton had their vote because she was set to
make history.
"Men have been ruling the world since the beginning of time, let's
give women a chance"
Gender was also a significant factor for Mary Litman
"I worked all of my life to find a woman who I could believe in, and respect,
and that woman is Hillary Clinton."
One woman thought that Clinton could solve the region's economic woes.
"Western Pennsylvania has had a very hard time economically since we lost
the steel industry and she seems the most determined to
address that issue."
Yet another voter thought Barack Obama was most prepared to deal with Pittsburgh's
financial crisis.
"We need jobs and he addressed the job situation.."
At a poll nearby in Pittsburgh's wealthiest area some Republican participated
in the Democratic Primary. Voter Barbara Ernsberger said their presence was
noticeable.
"This is my polling place for 20 years and I can identify people today
who are normally registered Republican, who switched to Democratic and they
expressed to me that they were voting for Hillary Clinton because she was
the easiest to fund \raise against in
the fall"
But not every Republican plotted for the General Election, it was Obama's
inspiring words that led Ty to switch from Republican to Democrat.
"I feel that he is an individual that can bring people together as a unified
group"
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