An old political boss of mine liked to say, “Sometimes in the heat of battle you shoot some of your soldiers.” I’ve seen his observation play out — figuratively of course — numerous times over the years. And now it looks like it happened again, as some electoral shrapnel landed on the Democrats in Pennsylvania according to this Rasmussen poll released late last week. The survey suggests fierce competition and negative ads in the primary there took a toll on both Democratic presidential contenders. It shows John McCain gained ground on both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, compared to two weeks before, giving credence to some Democratic strategists’ worst fears that the intra-party battle would end up damaging whoever wins the nomination in the November election. According to Rasmussen, “two weeks ago in Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton enjoyed a nine-point lead over McCain and Barack Obama had an eight-point edge over the Republican hopeful. Now, however, Clinton’s lead is down to five points and Obama trails McCain by a point.” George H.W. Bush (1988) was the last Republican to win Pennsylvania. Collateral damage caused by Democratic infighting might help John McCain put the Keystone state back in the win column 20 years later.
