Six Weeks to Pennsylvania

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 | 5:31 PM

By William Rabbe

Pennsylvania is expected to be important in the fight for the Democratic Nomination, but why? It's not possible for either candidate to win enough delegates from this contest to gain the nomination, so a PA victory will amount to a PR stunt -- providing momentum and favorable press coverage, which might be an important factor leading up to a brokered deal or a convention floor fight.

Following her victory in Ohio, Clinton has used the argument that despite having gained less delegates (and less states, and less of the popular vote) than Obama she still deserves the nomination because of her performance in the big swing states. Pennsylvania is a large swing state and she's up in the polls by double digits. So, her campaign is promoting the importance of the state, even saying that, "the path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue goes through Pennsylvania. So if Barack Obama can't win there, how will he win the general election?"

Of course the fact that the White House is on Pennsylvania Avenue is a coincidence (har har har) -- but the problem here for Obama is that the media has put such emphasis on Pennsylvania that this expectations game is playing to Clinton's strengths. She merely needs to win (by any margin) to regain the upper hand.

To combat what may likely be a Clinton victory, the Obama camp has begun downplaying the significance of a win in that state. David Axelrod stated, "I don't think there's a correlation between the results of this primary and what might happen in the general election"

But Obama's camp must either lower expectations significantly or they must win -- an uphill battle either way.