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I'm continually fascinated by the idea that the Obama campaign basically tricked the McCain campaign into fighting for Pennsylvania. Political Wire lays out the theory:
1. Obama's campaign learns McCain has just $37 million entering October.2. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell says he's "nervous" that McCain is gaining ground.3. Obama's team "leaks" an internal poll proving Rendell's anxiety.4. McCain pulls back in other states to "flood" Pennsylvania with resources.In the end, Obama won Pennsylvania by double digits.The key here is the leaked poll. The Obama camp never leaked anything. They were mute. But suddenly, you have their Pennsylvania operation losing track of an incredibly damaging internal poll showing them only two percent abover mcCain, even as all the public pollsters were showing a far less competitive race. And then you have Ed Rendell anxiously running his mouth off in public about his desire to get Obama back in the state. None of it vibed with how the Obama campaign generally operated, and none of it vibed with what we actually seemed to know about the fundamentals in Pennsylvania. But the McCain campaign certainly leapt on it, and time and money that could have gone to Ohio and Colorado and Indiana instead went to Pennsylvania.
