State Rep pushes Obama message
Posted: Sunday, April 20, 2008 6:46 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From N BC's Lauren Appelbaum
ABINGTON, Pa. -- State Rep. and Deputy Speaker of the House Josh Shapiro (D-PA) is an active Obama supporter and enjoys telling his undecided constituents in suburban Montgomery County why. His pitch for the Illinois Senator is similar to what other Obama supporters say -- he wants change.
"We need someone w ho can build new coalitions and go out and try to solve them," Shapiro told First Read. "Look at what he has done here in Montgomery County. We were trailing Republicans in registrations by 32,000 registrants after the last election in November 2007. Today we are up by 11 or 12,000 registrants."
"That's not by accident. The Obama campaign went out and re-registered Independents and Republicans," he continued. "And they were attracted to him for some reason, for various reasons. If he can do that on the politics, imagine what he can do building coalitions on important policy issues."
There is no way to determine the Obama campaign is solely responsible for the increase in Democratic registrants. Shapiro did defend this claim, though, at least anecdotally: "I can tell you, being so involved with the Obama campaign, we were having volunteers showing up at the courthouse in Norristown, our county seat with stacks this high and there was no effort like that coming from the Clinton campaign, as far as I know."
Shapiro said he thinks at least 70 percent of the 40,000 new registrants are going to vote for Obama on Tuesday. And he thinks Obama could win the state.
"I keep saying it is going to be a 2-4 point race. And it could go either way. But it's going to be very close," Shapiro said. "And the other reality is, that at the end of the day, neither candidate, whoever is the victor or whoever loses here in Pennsylvania, neither one comes out with any real appreciable net gain in delegates. ... And you've got, at that point, nine contests left and Sen. Obama will have an insurmountable lead in delegates and that at the end of the da y is what it's all about."
OBAMA AND THE JEWISH VOTE
In addition to being a state representative, Shapiro is active in the Jewish community and is working to promote Obama among Jewish voters in the state. Shapiro organized an event on Wednesday morning where Obama met with 75 Jewish leaders in the Philadelphia area and said he was satisfied with Obama's answers during the session.
"What I thought was the best part about his remarks was right at the end, ... and [Obama] said 'I've had a very strong relationship with the Jewish community in Chicago,' where he's from, 'that predates my involvement in public life,'" Shapiro said. "And [Obama] said, 'so I really hope that you'll not listen to the nonsense emails that are floating around and the rumor and innuendo that is floating around and recognize that I care very deeply about the Jewish community and the Jewish community that knows me cares deeply back about me and we've had a partnership.' He hopes to have that partnership with the Jewish community throughout Pennsylvania and throughout the nation. I thought it was really honest, from the heart, not scripted at all. I thought he hi t a home run. I think he really connected with people."
During ABC's debate on Wednesday night, Obama did not definitively say he would treat an attack on Israel by Iran as he would a similar attack on the United States. Yet, Shapiro defended Obama's answer as "more thoughtful."
"He made it clear, I think, that an attack on Israe l would be responded to appropriately by the United States. But I think he also provided a lot of 40,000-foot view from a broader diplomatic standpoint in that question. So I think one could argue that he should have said yes upfront and then explained it but I think ultimately at the end of the day, his answer said the same things Senator Clinton did but offered a little bit of scope and perspective on the issue. I was very satisfied with his answer."
Shapiro also lamented the questions asked during the first 50 minutes of the debate, saying undecided voters wanted to know more about the candidates' stances on the economy, war in Iraq, and healthcare.
"I thought it was interesting that they gave four or five minutes to the issue of whether [Obama] wears a flag lapel pin and when it came time to the question of gas prices, I think Charlie Gibson said something like, all right, real quick, in 30 seconds, how are we going to lower the price of gas," Shapiro said. "I mean, the American people want to hear about gas prices, healthcare, the economy and jobs and Iraq. They don't want to hear about whether someone wears a flag lapel pin, so frankly I am disappointed most in the two moderators of the debate because I don't think they gave the American people what they wanted."
Ultimately, as an elected leader and Jewish voter, Shapiro pitched his best endorsement of Obama for undecided Jewish voters. While he refused to defend Pastor Wright's comments, he said Obama should be judged on what Obama has done while involved with the community. "If you really follow the experience that his pastor apparently was putting forward, then he wouldn't be 100% pro-Israel and he'd be supportive of Hamas and he'd be saying anti-Semitic things," Shapiro said. "I'm not a single issue voter. But I also never could vote for someone who is not staunchly pro-Israel, who did not recognize Israel's security is sacrosanct and would not be a good friend to the Jewish community . .. I think, at the end of the day, when the voters have all the facts, they'll recognize that there's a lot of bad rumors going around there but there is no shred of evidence that this guy isn't 100% on Israel and issues important to the Jewish community."
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