Clinton, Obama Seek Edge With Pa. Voters
Democratic rivals make final pitches less than 24 hours before primary day.
April 21, 2008 — -- Tuesday's Democratic primary in Pennsylvania is the first vote in six weeks in the race for the White House.
It's now closing time for Sens.Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the Keystone State, and with less than 24 hours till state voters start making their way to the ballot box, the Democratic rivals have been making closing arguments in every medium possible -- looking for any possible edge in Pennsylvania.
In the past, late deciding voters have generally broken for Clinton who sold herself yesterday at a Penn State rally as a problem solver.
"It's the translating of the ideas into reality that determines whether we are going to make any progress or not in the 21st century," Clinton said.
At a event in Reading, Pa., Obama postured himself as a healer.
"When I decided to run, it was because I believed you, the American people, were tired of a politics that was all about tearing each other down. You wanted a politics that was about lifting each other up."
But Pennsylvanians have seen a lot of tearing down these last six weeks as the pair of Democratic contenders have criss-crossed the state and taken to the airwaves hoping to capture the hearts and votes of state Democrats.
In the latest dust-up, Obama said the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wouldn't be as horrible as President Bush.
"Either Democrat would be better than John McCain, and all three of would be better than George Bush," Obama said in Reading.
"What you have to ask yourself is, Who has the chance to actually really change things in a fundamental way? So that 10 years from now or 20 years from now you can look back say, 'Boy, we really moved in a new direction and we've put the country on a better path,' " Obama said.
Clinton saw an opening … and pounced.
"Sen. McCain would follow the same fatal policies that have been so wrong for our country the last seven years. Sen. McCain thinks its OK to keep our troops in Iraq for the next 100 years. Is that better than George Bush?" Clinton said during a speech in Johnstown, Pa.
