Posted by
Jay Kern on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 2:05:06 PM
On Tuesday, February 12th, Governor Ed Rendell was interviewed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
"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.
To buttress his point, Rendell cited his 2006 re-election campaign, in which he defeated Republican challenger Lynn Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steelers star, by a margin of more than 60 percent to less than 40 percent."
Later in the day a spokesman for the governor said that it was not his intention to offend anyone.
I'd like to set the record straight regarding 'conservative whites' and their willingness to vote for a black candidate. If you check the election returns for the 2006 gubernatorial race, you find that practically every county in central Pennsylvania (argueably a conservative stronghold) elected Lynn Swann over Ed Rendell. Lebanon by 15%, Lancaster by 17%, York by 13%, Dauphin by 9%, Cumberland by 17%, Franklin by 20%, Juniata by 29%, and Perry by a whopping 39%!
Rendell did win by 6% in Schuykill and won rather handily in Berks, but I think I make my point. White conservatives in Pennsylvania are more than ready to vote for a black candidate that they believe in. The reason that many conservatives will likely not vote for Barrack Obama is the same reason that many of us did not vote for Ed Rendell, not because of some false accusation of racism.