PA race getting tighter...latest polls

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PA race getting tighter...latest polls

Whatever Obama is doing in PA is working. Take a look at these polls:

http://www.realclearpolitic s.com/epolls/2008/president /pa/pennsylvania_democratic _primary-240.html

The dude has come from WAAAAAY behind and is now within shouting distance of Clinton, and actually leading in one of the polls. With the time that is left until the primary, it is not beyond reason that Obama could pull out the primary. At the very least, it is looking like he is turning it into a close race. Also, he is making Clinton use her very limited resources to defend a state that she had in the bag. That is money she CAN'T spend in NC or IN.

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If Obama is doing better in PA, my theory is that the reason this is happening against conventional wisdom is that Pennsylvanians, especially rural central Pennsylvanians, have a long heritage of Christian religious fundamentalism. For those of you who are not part of a Christian religious community, it's important to remember that  not all fundamentalists are alike, and they are certainly not all like what you see on The 700 Club. While the relative proportion of practicing anabaptists and other pacifist groups in Pennsylvania has certainly decreased over the last century, lots of Pennsylvanians at their core still value their ancestors' (and contemporaries') strongly-held values of honesty, simplicity and religious tolerance. Many people don't realize that there are historical connections among Iowans, North Carolinians and Pennsylvanians, all states with strong Quaker heritage. Iowa became Obama country and he will also win in North Carolina. I would not be at all surprised if he won Pennsylvania.
 
Pennsylvanians are fiercely proud of their commonwealth's history and are not so likely to follow flashy trends. Tourists may see the Rocky Balboa statue at the Art Museum, but Pennsylvanians see their moral father William Penn gazing benevolently from the top of Phildelphia's city hall. James Carville considers central PA as just another Alabama. But he has it wrong. Many central PA fundamentalists would be uncomfortable in a Southern Baptist megachurch and would consider it ostentatious and therefore uncharitable.
 
Fundamentalism has aquired a loathsome connotation in this era of televangelists, but consider that Moravians, Quakers, Mennonites and other such groups are about as far as you can get from ranting, greedy Oral Roberts types. Santorum was a notable anomaly, but he was at least viewed as an honest man by those who voted for him, even if he is a total lunatic. PA voters figured it out eventually and canned him. Fundamentalists are sometimes blind, too. But give them someone who is forthright and honest, who understands that compromise is not a dirty word, and an awful lot of Pennsylvanians will see the Light.

by Verified1 on 04/03/2008 06:49:47 AM EST


Quakers are not fundamentalist, and even Mennonites are only marginally fundamentalist--both are pacifist. Amish are, sort of, in their own way, but many of them don't vote because of their fundamentalism [go figure--which Bible tells them not to vote?]. However those who do, while conflicted by hot-button issues like homosexuals and abortion, are more concerned about war, since they're also pacifists. I like my Amish neighbors anyway--they're always so friendly and practical. 

Moravians are also evangelical and not fundamentalist, to the point where their members have been persecuted by more fundamentalist-leaning sects like the Southern Baptists.

People in central Pennsylvania are much more likely to be evangelical than fundamentalist. There are more moderate evangelicals than conservatives, and a fair size minority of liberal evangelicals, while the fundamentalists are much less than 1%.

Since housing costs have skyrocketed in the Baltimore-Washington area, more people who work in Baltimore [i.e. more moderate] are moving to PA for the less expensive housing, and that's beginning to make a difference, too.

Fundamentalism may not be as loathesome as one might expect from some televangelists, but it is ignorant,  closed-minded, fearful of knowledge, fearful of neighbors, fearful of the future--although tolerated as long as adherents don't interfere with the rest of us. Unfortunately, they home-school their children to keep them "in the dark".

by zenie on 04/03/2008 01:32:42 PM EST

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Zenie, I think the problem here is ambiguous verbiage. Mega-church evangelicals are called fundamentalists these days, when in fact they are anything but. The currently popular definition of fundamentalism is not what it started out meaning. I am a Quaker and have Mennonite and Moravian friends. No Amish friends but I grew up in PA where most folks understand Amish culture and religion.  I think a lot of Quakers, like me, consider themselves fundamentalists. The whole point of fundamentalism is unwavering simplicity in matters of faith. Sadly, these days it means just the opposite in so many cases, and has become twisted into unwavering allegiance to dogma, and not only in Christianity.
 
Perhaps I  shouldn't have used the old terminology and confused you (and likely others, as well). If you know Quakers, you know we have trouble letting go of old terminology that has worked well for so long, haha. I promise I am not "ignorant, closed-minded, fearful of knowledge, fearful of neighbors, fearful of the future". Well, maybe a little fearful of the future if McCain is elected.  And I still love Pennsylvanians even though I don't live there anymore. Given enough time to hear Obama's message, they will get it.

by Verified1 on 04/04/2008 07:44:45 AM EST

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How come all of acroso's "entertaining" links involve racist jokes and the black guy getting killed.

by ProfRich on 04/03/2008 06:59:27 PM EST


racist jokes ?

by acroso on 04/03/2008 07:56:15 PM EST

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Didn't you post the Things White People Like link?

by ProfRich on 04/03/2008 11:37:25 PM EST

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That was alphasigmookie, and I'm not exactly sure it was racist (though I do reject, denounce, and condemn it).

Acroso is a racist.  It's just not for that reason.  ;)

by Spencer on 04/04/2008 02:29:48 AM EST

[ Parent ]

I need some sort of troll identification lesson.

My apologies to acroso for confusing your insane racist posts with someone elses insane racist posts. 

by ProfRich on 04/04/2008 09:49:54 AM EST

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