by KYW's Mike Dunn
Sen. Clinton's biggest local booster, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter, is dismissing the Obama campaign's notion that a narrow loss for Obama on Tuesday is still a victory for him.
With Clinton expected to take the Commonwealth, strategists for Obama are that declaring if her margin of victory is only five or so percentage points, it is actually a win for Obama.
Mayor Nutter finds that concept amusing:
(laughs) "Only in the world of political spin can you try to somehow make the argument that a loss is really a win. It's quite interesting. It's quite fascinating."
Nutter (in file photo above) says that in his world, even a one-point margin for Clinton is a victory for the New York senator -- and one that he predicts will carry her through to the next primaries. Meanwhile, he is going non-stop for his candidate:
"Sen. Clinton is a strong candidate, she's going to run very well here in Philadelphia and all across Pennsylvania. Our goal is to win the state."
KYW's Ian Bush reports that Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell -- another major Hillary Clinton backer -- says he expects her margin of victory to mirror the latest polls.
A win of between four and seven percentage points would give Clinton an edge of between 120,000 and 140,000 votes. Rendell says that would be "significant."
Still, the governor (in file photo at right) promises to support whomever becomes the Democratic nominee for president:
"I have confidence in Senator Obama as a potential president and I have confidence in him as a candidate if he's our standardbearer in the fall. I think he can and will win Pennsylvania -- not as easily as Hillary Clinton can win it, but I think he can."
Rendell says he's concerned with what he calls the negative tone of the Obama campaign and its record spending on ads.
Obama supporters say he's made "tremendous progress" in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania over the last couple of months.
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