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Gov. Rendell: There's 50% About Barack Obama We Don't Know Yet
April 03, 2008 4:03 PM
As governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell is getting a lot of attention these days as the chief surrogate for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., as she and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., square off in preparation for the Keystone state's April 22 primary.
Rendell joined us for the ABC News Shuffle Podcast, which you can listen to on iTunes or HERE.
Some highlights from our 37-minute chat:
"I think that Hillary Clinton wears very well, the more people get to know her I think the more they like her. I've seen that transformation with working-class stay-at-home women who last year at this time were very cool to Hillary. But when we were at the St. Paddy's day parade at Pittsburgh and Scranton they were screaming for her like she was a rock star."
Rendell said that Clinton will be able to beat Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in states such as Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and "she's been really well vetted, all the bad stuff is by and large out there, and there are no surprises. With Sen. Obama I think the right now he may run, a little stronger in some areas -- not the key states -- but in some areas against Sen McCain, but understand that he hasn't been vetted."
Rendell says Obama hasn't been upfront about his position on nuclear power -- he referenced a New York Times story on Obama watering down some legislation, after which the nuclear exec became big contributors -- and then said, "but you haven't heard that from the Clinton campaign and you won't We're not going to put up a TV ad saying 'He's lying to you' because I think there's been restraint on both sides. I'm not just praising Sen. Clinton, I think Sen. Obama has been pretty restrained."
That said, Rendell said, once Obama becomes the nominee the Republicans will unleash the hounds.
"You don't think the Republican 527s are going to leave this stuff alone do you?" he asked. "You don't think you're going to see 527 ads with the explicit comments Rev. Wright said, about Rezko and the land deal? You're going to see 527 ads about all of those things."
It's not as if the race will be nicer if Clinton is the nominee, I suggested.
"It won't be nicer," Rendell responded, "but what there is to construe negatively in Sen. Clinton's background is out there so I think she'll suffer less slippage than Sen. Obama would and that's why I think she's a stronger candidate."
I took issue with the assertion that everything about Clinton is "out there" -- she hasn't released her IRS returns from the past seven years, there are library documents that remain unreleased, we don't know who the donors to the Bill Clinton Library are.
"I will grant you that, let's say that there's 10% about Hillary Clinton that we don't know yet, I will grant you that, but I would say there's also about 50% about Barack Obama that we don't know yet," Rendell said.
He suggested that Obama can win Pennsylvania, but avoided saying that he thought he would.
"I don't know how hard they'll hit him and I don't know how hard, well, either the Obama campaign will respond or how well the American people will respond," he said. "I always like to credit peoples better angels. I think they can overplay all this stuff and I think it could backfire . . . I have no doubt (Obama) can win -- it's going to be tough. John McCain is the best candidate the Republicans could've fielded to win Pennsylvania. He's probably the best they've fielded in probably 4 or 5 presidential elections in terms of likely to carry Pennsylvania. So it's going to be tough but he can win."
Rendell also talked about:
* how women voters have been offended by the media coverage of Clinton and how his wife -- Judge Midge Rendell -- has been personally touched by what she perceives to be unfair bias in the coverage of Clinton;
* the battlegrounds in the state -- the fiercest fight, like always, is in the suburbs of Philadelphia;
* the racial politics of the state -- a buzz saw he ran into when he ran against an incumbent African-American Mayor in the Democratic primary in 1987 -- as well as his controversial comments about white voters not being ready to vote for a black candidate; and
* the scandals involving neighboring state Democratic governors, Jim McGreevey of New Jersey and Eliot Spitzer of New York. He laughed about a David Letterman TV ad that looped him in with those two, but called the two scandals "sad." "I've tried to live as normal a life as I can in my 31 years in public office but its hard. You have to catch yourself all the time...you don’t have the same freedom that a normal person has."
A fun chat for political junkies between two Philly-boys. Listen HERE. ABC News Shuffle Podcast produced by the fantastic Julia Hoppock.
- jpt
April 3, 2008 in Weblogs | Permalink | Share | User Comments (226)
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Hey! Just because Rendell is backing Clinton doesn't make him the enemy! Jeez! He's endorsing her, so of course he's "selling" her to the electorate! Do you all really want another Republican to beat him next time? If not, shut the Hell up about him being the worst thing since Satan, and focus on the real opposition - the Reactionary Right. Neither Clinton nor Obama, or their spokespeople are the enemy!
Posted by: michael | Apr 4, 2008 1:00:13 PM
My question to Ed Redell is, "If you actually believe all that you have been stating concerning Barack Obama, when he become the nominee, how in good faith could you support and campaign for him?"
Posted by: Karen | Apr 4, 2008 12:34:36 PM
There may be 50% we don't know about Obama, but there's 90% we don't know about Hillary Clinton. The remaining 10% we do know is not good.
Wake up people.
Posted by: Susan In PA | Apr 4, 2008 12:09:59 PM
Michelle's salary went from 120,000 to 340,000 two months after Barack became a Senator. She also was let into Harvard with poor grades etc. can one say affirmative action. We are going to grind these 2 imposters into the dirt as Rendel says ....Wrights sermone will be heard everyday with the question attached....'COULD YOU STAY IN A CHURCH THAT PREACHED SO MUCH HATE? COULD YOU? DO YOU WANT A PRESIDENT WHO DID AND STILL DOES? THINK ABOUT IT...." NOW THATS AN AD....
Posted by: frank | Apr 4, 2008 11:23:14 AM
Every now and then some surrogate makes a comment and some accept it as the gospel truth because the read on the internet.
Rendall claims that we don't no 50% about Obama... Let me see, he's already written 2 bestsellers about his life; exposing a lot of things that most people. especially candidates wouldn't admit to.
If 50% about him is not known; then how does anyone know what's not known to measure.
This is a crock.... A fearmongery that's is typical of the Clinton campaign. It's Rendall's function to raise nebulous doubts about Obama; the media's to spread it and the gullible's to fall for it every time.
Just because the Clintons' lives are full of so many sordid twist and turns doesn't make Obama's life that complicated as well.
Is Hillary fully vetted as she claims ?
Tax Returns ...
google: Paul vs. Clinton ...
Posted by: Xavier | Apr 4, 2008 10:44:18 AM
We know Bush Sr as a man of wisdom, we know him as a person who applied judgement to a war but the Bush Jr is opposite, that is what John McCain is following.
Now we know something about Obama, he is a type of person who stood by his words even under difficult time, we know him as a person who use good judgement to opposed Iraq war, we know him as a person who can unite us, who can bring change.
But we know Hillaryb as who tell lies in order to gain credibility, we also known her to be somebody who can destroy other in order to get what she want.
To my imagination Gov. Rendell still telling us that we did not know this guy call Obama.
If he want to know more about Obama,let him go to Havard University and find out more about Obama, He will know more about him.
The little we known about Obama make him more electable to us. not the people who tell lies in order for us to like them.
Posted by: Kay | Apr 4, 2008 10:36:15 AM
What Rendell is saying is a point in time statement....one thing hopefully experience has taught us about the Clintons though is that there is always another scandal just around the corner...
Posted by: indy_voter | Apr 4, 2008 9:54:56 AM
wow. LOL. "The 527s" have become a bigger boogeyman than Al Qaeda.
Ed Rendell has just pronounced 527s more powerful and influential than the truth.
Posted by: D.A. | Apr 4, 2008 9:18:28 AM
Rendell is not exactly the gospel of truth and consistency. He speaks much faster than he can think and would not attribute one iota of attention to what is pouring out of his mouth!
Posted by: Amadeo | Apr 4, 2008 9:11:09 AM
Well, the 90% we do know about Hillary is NOT GOOD so yeah you can win on Racism and lies but that's not the person I want in the White House. It's unbeleiveable how the people that Hillary surrounds herself with keep bringing up the Race issue (Ferraro and now Randell). PATHETIC!"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," Rendell told the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in remarks that appeared in Tuesday's paper.MSBCnews
Posted by: na you biko | Apr 4, 2008 8:57:45 AM
The Obama supporters here obviously have computers and internet access. Take a break from posting valentines and do a little research instead. Look at the information you see with a jaundiced eye not blinded by adoration. What do you think the Republicans and 527s will do with this info in the general election?
Then consider that when they shed light on these things that Hillary and the MSM refuse to, how many Republicans and centrist Americans are going to rally around McCain? Obama will keep the strong base he holds now, but even some of his current supporters will either stay home or vote McCain.
I'm convinced that the Reps and 527s are ready and waiting for Obama. They're hoping that new revelations don't come to light before Hillary is out of it and Obama is theirs to crush.
Posted by: HoosierSue | Apr 4, 2008 8:53:45 AM
Nothing you can every say about Hillary can compare with "God Damn America". Many people don't like the sound of it. It's divisive, uncivilized and racist.
The old white men of this country are willing to give the damning of America a pass. Why? Because right now, Obama is the cash cow. The old white men in power love the color green. Democrats are an embarrasement. McCain looks good in comparison.
Posted by: Milo, MA | Apr 4, 2008 8:44:00 AM
the hillary is vetted argument is about the biggest insult to intelligence one can think of ... the clintons owe allof us who defended bill big time, the well has been dry for years
Posted by: Last last last time | Apr 4, 2008 8:26:58 AM
Well it is a 100% we know about hillary and Bill and 99% of that is all bad!
Posted by: merle7 | Apr 4, 2008 8:11:14 AM
Just the fact that Gov Rendell is a Clinton supporter limits creditability to what he has to say. I strongly disagree with the statement the more people get to know Hillary the more people will like her. It should go like this the more people get to know Hillary,the more you find out flaws in her character, such as: divisiveness,blatant opportunist dangerously ambitious, untrustworthy
direspectful of rules qualities that would make a very poor leader.
Posted by: merle7 | Apr 4, 2008 8:07:28 AM
Why isn’t the mainstream media exposing the real Barack Obama?
No one really knows his record (not that he has one).
No one really knows his background (that he appears to be hiding)
No one is exposing his term as an Illinois senator (if you really call him that)
No one is really challenging him on his religious beliefs (once a Muslim, always a …)
No one is asking him about is real estate deals with the criminal in Illinois (and the governor)
No one is talking about his leniency on illegals (giving illegals drivers license)
No one is scrutinizing associations with Libia, Farakhan, and the same (which he associated with)
No one is trying to find out where all his money is really coming from (illegally?)
No one is exposing all his lies (he actually out lies Hillary by large amounts)
Why isn’t the media all over him, as they should be?
This man is dangerous. Where is all his money coming from? Who is REALLY financially backing him? All the housewives and college people do not have that kind of money! Really…I sincerely think an investigative report should be done just on his finances alone.
I have tried to post articles about him on my site (http://www.ziggidy.com) that others may not know about him…and IMO, there are TONS more waiting to be uncovered.
But who will do it and why has it not been done yet. Rev. Wright is just the tip of the iceberg…I am convinced of it.
Signed,
A Typical White Person, with a garlic nose!
Posted by: Ziggidy | Apr 4, 2008 7:26:45 AM
Lately Obama has been offering kisses to the ladies. He is hoping that all those who support Hillary will rush to his side to defend him against McCain. All I can say is, don’t depend on it, Barry. You might have to win this one on your own.
Of course, he and the others will blame Hillary for his loss. Rendell is trying to point this out to you, but you’re too busy throwing rocks to listen. But, that’s okay. McCain is smiling all the time these days for nothing.
Posted by: Milo, MA | Apr 4, 2008 6:50:37 AM
Just because half of the Democrats like Obama, it doesn't mean any Republicans like him.
It's going to be ugly, children. That's all Rendell is trying to tell you.
Posted by: Milo, MA | Apr 4, 2008 6:40:00 AM
I don't understand how Gov Rendell can continue to say that Hillary Clinton is the stronger candidate. It leads one to question his judgement as well. How can Hillary Clinton, who tries to bolster her foreign policy experience by telling lies about encountering sniper fire, who made up another story about it when shown a photo, and then only admitted to it after being presented with video footage of the actual event, along with a husband who lied to the American people about his immoral behavior as President- how can she be the stronger candidate??? What is Gov Rendell talking about? He seems to be discounting all the evidence of Barack Obama's strength, completely forgeting his honest and courageous speech on race during a difficult period. I cannot imagine Hillary Clinton approaching a crisis in the same level-headed manner. Barack Obama is the superior candidate in every way- he has integrity, judgement, intelligence, and in addition, the ability to motivate and inspire!
Posted by: Carolyn Chapman | Apr 4, 2008 6:16:21 AM
Rendell has become a hatchet man for the Clinton Liar's Club
Posted by: John Rawlings | Apr 4, 2008 6:02:11 AM
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