Last updated on July 1st, 2012 at 06:08 am
Almost 85% of the results have been counted in many of the counties in Pennsylvania, and it is clear that the hunting gun loving counties in the state went heavily for Hillary Clinton. Here is a sample of how bad the Obama defeat was in the rural counties that didn’t appreciate being told that they cling to their religion and guns.
In Jefferson County Hillary Clinton leads 64%-35%. In Venango County, Clinton leads 69.5%-30.5%. With 45% of Clearfield County reporting Clinton leads 69.3%-30.7%. With 67% of the vote counted in Bedford County 69.8%-30.2%. This is just a sampling of what is going on in most of rural Pennsylvania. These were voters that by demographics were inclined to support Clinton, but Obama did have a chance to peel off some Clinton support there, and swing the state, until he made his infamous comments.
The other thing that many of these counties have in common is that while they were completely ignored by the Obama campaign, the Clinton campaign worked hard in these areas, even sending President Clinton to campaign through rural Pennsylvania last week. As I wrote before, Pennsylvania is not a state that can be won with TV ads or by only campaigning in the cities.
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I voted for Obama today because I believe that he is the best choice for the country, but he needs to gain the support of this critical block of voters to have any chance in the fall. These people are part of the 25% demographic of the new MSNBC poll that said that they would vote for McCain if Obama is the nominee. The pattern that we are seeing tonight is a cause for concern in the Obama camp, because they have seen this same story before in Ohio and Missouri.
Obama can’t win in November if he can’t carry Ohio, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. Barring an historic collapse Obama will be the nominee, so his campaign needs to figure out how they are going to convince the Clinton supporters in these states.
County by County Results:
http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/
