Let’s step back to 2008 when Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Pennsylvania for a six-week stay, a mini-Iowa primary election stop on the way to the Democratic nomination for president.
The winner of the Democratic presidential nomination remained in doubt, though Mr. Obama’s early primary victories gave him an ultimately insurmountable delegate lead.
Mrs. Clinton led the polling in Pennsylvania, and most of the Democratic establishment lined up behind her, including Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty.
As she marched in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 15, Mr. Obama had yet to arrive here and faced questions about controversial racially charged remarks by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
The day after addressing the Society of Irish Women dinner on St. Patrick’s Day, Mr. Obama delivered the speech of his life centered on racism in America in Philadelphia and defused Rev. Wright as an issue, as much as outside groups kept trying to revive the memory.
Ten days later, after saying he wouldn’t endorse anyone for president, Sen. Bob Casey changed his mind, delivering a ringing endorsement of the Illinois senator at the
Soldiers and Sailors Museum in Pittsburgh, the first stop of a six-day bus tour across the Keystone State.
A lot was made of the Clintons’ snub of Mr. Casey’s father over his anti-abortion stance at the 1992 Democratic National Convention, but that really wasn’t why Mr. Casey endorsed Mr. Obama. Mr. Casey just really liked Mr. Obama.
“I believe in this guy like I’ve never believed in any candidate in my life, except for my father,” Mr. Casey, then 47, told reporters, referring to his father, the late Gov. Robert P. Casey Sr.
Mr. Obama lost the state to Mrs. Clinton, partly because of his remark at a San Francisco fundraiser that small-town Pennsylvanians “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them … as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Despite the loss, the backing of Mr. Casey introduced Mr. Obama to Pennsylvania voters, and he won the state by a remarkable 10.35 percentage points in November.
Seven years later, CNN says 27 of 46 Democratic U.S. senators have endorsed Mrs. Clinton, whose campaign for president in 2016 is a foregone conclusion.
Mr. Casey is not one of the 27. A CNN reporter asked him about it at a campaign event last year in Philadelphia.
“I’m not going to get into that,” he said. “It’s too early.”
Well, it’s 2015 now, and presidential politicking for 2016 is well underway.
Just not for Mr. Casey.
I asked his spokesman today if he’s made up his mind on endorsing anyone next year, but the spokesman hasn’t gotten back to me yet. Stay tuned because that will be interesting.
— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK
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Casey still publicly silent on Hillary endorsement for president next year
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