Mar 13, 2008 8:39 pm US/Eastern
Obama Campaign Memo Draws Rendell's Criticism
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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A memo sent from Sen. Barack Obama's campaign brought criticism from Clinton supporter Governor Ed Rendell.
KDKA
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama cancelled a planned visit to western Pennsylvania today.
He was supposed to be at the Penn State Beaver Campus in Monaca, but like fellow candidates and Senators Clinton and McCain, Obama decided to be in Washington today for key senate votes.
Despite that rational, some people are criticizing Obama for cancelling his trip here.
The cancellation, along with a memo sent out by his campaign yesterday, brought criticism from Clinton supporter Governor Ed Rendell.
The memo that was written by the Obama campaign manager seems to downplay the importance of the Pennsylvania primary on April 22.
When the Obama campaign issued a memo saying, "Pennsylvania is only one of 10 remaining contests," and accusing the Clinton campaign of trying to divert all attention to Pennsylvania, the Clinton campaign shot back.
"The Obama campaign, in light of that, diminished the importance of this state's primary election is really sort of off-putting to me and I think a lot of Pennsylvanians," Rendell said.
In a telephone conference call Thursday, Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, criticized the notion that a big state like Pennsylvania was somehow equivalent to the much smaller states that hold later primaries.
"It's one of the silliest things I've seen in recent times. I mean I question even its seriousness and authenticity for that matter," Nutter said. "I mean if somebody on my staff wrote something like that, I'd fire them."
When KDKA's Jon Delano sat down with Obama on Tuesday, he admitted he needed to spend more time in this state and this region.
"One of the things that we're really looking forward to doing is really campaigning actively, listening to people," Obama said.
But Senate votes in Washington forced Obama to cancel his rally today in Beaver County.
Now Obama will go to Indiana, whose primary is after ours, instead of joining Clinton in Saturday's St. Patrick's Day Parade in Pittsburgh.
"It obviously seems consistent with this memo, their trying to downplay the importance of this state," Rendell said.
But in his interview with KDKA, Obama pledged lots of visits to this area.
"We're looking forward to getting out there soon, and you're going to be tired of me by the time this campaign is over," Obama said.
The Obama campaign said the senator is not ignoring this region and he hopes to be out here sometime next week.
Pennsylvania has the largest number of delegates left in this presidential contest.
But lowering the expectations may be a good political strategy for Obama and it puts pressure on Clinton to focus her attention on some of the other states.
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