Sarah Palin Ensuring PA Victory

"As Pennsylvania goes, so goes the nation . . ."

Below in italics read a then-confidential memo I sent Cristi Adkins, founder of Clintons4McCain and a key figure in McCain-Palin's efforts to win VA, PA, and OH. The memo was written on August 5, a month ago. It outlines how McCain can win -- and perhaps win decisively -- crucial battleground states -- and has a growing opportunity to win NJ.

If those victories occur, as appears increasingly likely, John McCain late on Nov. 4 will be President-elect and Sarah Palin vice-president elect. Remember, I was writing long before most Americans had ever heard of Sarah Heath Palin, the most dynamic figure in today's political scene.

I wrote the memo below without Sarah Palin in mind. She is a candidate who has tremendous appeal in all of Pennsylvania outside the urban centers of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Even in those two cities, she will help McCain perform better than any other GOP candidate since Reagan.

Cristi, the longer Obama continues his clown act the more chance we have to win PA and VA. I'm going to call on bloggers to ask people to go to VA, even for a day or two and the same with with PA. Perhaps people around the country will provide some financial help to individuals of modest means who will travel to PA and VA to go door-to-door for McCain. Remember, McCain will be on federal funds after the GOP Convention [and is now on September 5]

Now and in the future, everybody needs to get a copy of Michael Barone's The Almamac of American Politics (a little pricey, granted, about $45, but a great tool). I bet the 2006 edition sells for about six bucks.I

It tells people everything they need to know about PA, VA, OH, NJ, and every congressional district in those states. It's wonderful. My district (PA 4th, west and north of Pittsburgh) has heavy Democratic registration edge, but always votes for the GOP presidential candidate. The same in the 12th district (Johnstown to Washington, PA).

The district I live in is the "bitter place" Obama demeaned -- pro-God, pro-gun (also pro-life), pro-military, mainly white, mainly working class. It voted two-and-a-half to one for Hillary. It's west and north of Pittsburgh. The people here are suspicious of Obama. They want to vote for a man of mixed race, which Obama is, but they worry greatly about a person who spent 20 years in the church of a crazed anti-American and racist, Jeremiah Wright.

The only PA areas remotely resembling Virginia's affluent Fairfax County are the counties (Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware) outside Philly. Obama carrried those counties in the primaries but not by impressive margins.

Laureen [a McCain volunteer] and others are working in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties (Scranton and Wilkes-Barre), which are important ones. Hillary carried them by three-to-one margins. There is a ferocious congressional race there, and a lot of interest.

New Jersey is not in play just yet yet, but it is heading in that direction. Note: Hillary Clinton carried NJ with a big majority. [Note: On September 5, I believe NJ IS in play.]

Added today: Sarah Palin, a female professional, wife of a union man, mother of a soldier, pro-life, and pro-Second Amendment, greatly reinforces the strengths McCain in PA already had.

Thus, McCain-Palin, which has overtaken the fading Obama campaign, should carry Pennsylvania, perhaps by a large margin.