Looking for a sign that the Lehigh Valley is the center of the political universe? You might head down to 1244 W. Hamilton St. in Allentown, where Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign will soon open its Pennsylvania headquarters.

Nader’s campaign is setting up its only state shop in Allentown, the campaign said Tuesday, choosing the Valley because of what it described as a high concentration of previous Nader support in the area.  read more »

In an early look at potential general election Presidential match-ups in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama leads John McCain while McCain is in a toss-up with Hillary Clinton.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows Obama attracting 49% of the vote while McCain earns 39%. However, in a McCain-Clinton match-up, the Arizona Senator has a statistically insignificant two-point lead, 44% to 42%.  read more »

(via TPM)

Gov. Ed “Don’t Call Me ‘Fast Eddie’ “ Rendell met with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week to talk about his latest budget. But before turning the meeting over to his number-crunchers, our voluble governor weighed in on the primary fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and what the Illinois senator could expect from the good people of Pennsylvania at the polls:

“You’ve got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate,” he said bluntly. Our eyes only met briefly, perhaps because the governor wanted to spare the only black guy in the room from feeling self-conscious for backing an obvious loser. “I believe, looking at the returns in my election, that had Lynn Swann [2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate] been the identical candidate that he was —well-spoken [note: Mr. Rendell did not call the brother “articulate”], charismatic, good-looking — but white instead of black, instead of winning by 22 points, I would have won by 17 or so.”

The Democratic presidential campaigns awoke Wednesday to a new set of primary states looming on the horizon. And in the distance, on April 22, is Pennsylvania.

Now comes a key decision for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama: When should they crank up their operations in the state, given the 158-delegate prize that’s up for grabs in 11 weeks?

‘‘The pregnant question for both campaigns is ‘Do you start to leapfrog into Pennsylvania?’‘’ said Tony Podesta, who ran Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s campaign in the state in 2004 and is working with the Clinton campaign on a volunteer basis this year.  read more »

I really doubt this is realistic, but hey, it’s Sunday so why not:

...burnt-out campaign operatives are also grimly contemplating another possibility: The “Pennsylvania scenario.”

Pennsylvania, on April 22, is the last big state to vote, with 158 pledged delegates. It also comes more than a month after the previous primary, in Mississippi, on March 11.

And so, if the two Democrats are still alive then, Pennsylvania becomes Iowa, on steroids.

Someone’s placing high-stakes bets!

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who has remained neutral so far, may be about to get off the fence and endorse U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Rendell plans to endorse Clinton in Philadelphia, the Morning Call of Allentown is reporting this morning.

Democratic insiders reached this morning by The Patriot-News confirmed that Rendell will endorse Clinton.

“We’re trying to get confirmation about it….but I’m pretty sure it’s happening,” said one Democratic strategist. “It’s been floating around since around 8 ‘o’clock last night.”  read more »