by KYW’s David Madden
One of Clinton’s key supporters, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, is among those strongly suggesting Clinton would be Obama’s best choice for Vice-President, political differences not withstanding.
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell quickly dismisses any talk of him as a number two on the national ticket but thinks Clinton would make a nice fit given what he sees as Obama’s two keys to victory in November:
“One is that someone who will help you win. I have no doubt Senator Clinton would help Senator Obama win the most, clearly. And number two is that person is ready to be President, and I don’t think anyone who watched Hillary Clinton over the last 6 months can think that she’s anything but ready.”
But Rendell makes it clear, Clinton is not entitled to the spot and that the call is clearly Obama’s to make.
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Gov. Ed Rendell, delivering what he called "my first Obama speech" before a gathering of state Democratic Party leaders, challenged fellow supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday night to set aside their grudges from the grueling primary campaign and work to elect Sen. Barack Obama president in November.
"We have to go to work!" Rendell told about 200 people at a Democratic State Committee dinner in this borough across the Susquehanna River from the state Capitol in Harrisburg.
Rendell acted as Clinton personal strategist and host at campaign events across the state during the six-week primary campaign, helping the New York senator score a solid victory in the April 22 election. But Obama, who is seeking to become the first black president, accrued enough delegates to clinch the nomination Tuesday, and Clinton is expected to endorse the Illinois senator on Saturday.
The governor assured Clinton's supporters he feels their pain like no one else.
"Many of you may have worked as hard as I did for Senator Clinton, but nobody worked harder," he said. "Many of you may have cared very deeply about Senator Clinton ... but nobody cared more than I did," the second-term governor said.
Rendell stressed the similarity of Obama's and Clinton's stands on major issues, such as the economy and health care, while deriding the positions of Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the GOP nominee-apparent, as simply wrong.
Speaking to reporters before the speech, Rendell said McCain has a better shot at carrying Pennsylvania than any GOP candidate since the mid-1980s. But he predicted Obama will carry this battleground state if he sticks to the economic issues that are crucial to Pennsylvanians.
Rendell predicted Obama would beat McCain in the state "not by a hair, but no landslide either."
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