The urban-rural war for Pennsylvania’s EC votes
Salon has a nice write-up of the ground game in Pennsylvania, making it clear why Sarah Palin matters in this race.
The way Democrats typically win statewide elections in Pennsylvania is pretty simple to describe, even if it’s not always easy to pull off:
Rack up a big margin in Philadelphia, a smaller margin in Pittsburgh and the Philly suburbs, win an even smaller margin near Scranton, and hold on for dear life when the votes come in from the rural parts of the state, which James Carville once described as “Alabama in between.”
Four years ago, John Kerry was beating George W. Bush by 412,000 votes after ballots were counted in Philadelphia. He went on to win the state by only 144,000, or about 2.5 percent of the 5.8 million votes cast.
Read the full article here:
