The Other McCain

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Why the Panic in Bidenland?

Posted on | September 4, 2020 | 2 Comments

 

Here’s a question: Why did Joe Biden leave his Delaware basement and fly all the way to Pittsburgh to give a speech Monday with no crowd — no supporters in attendance — and not even answer press questions? He could have given the same speech from Delaware, but he flew to Pittsburgh. Why? Paul Kengor’s article today in The American Spectator explains that support for Trump has surged in Pennsylvania over the last month, in large part because of Biden’s “highly ill-advised pick of Kamala Harris, who folk in this area see as a West Coast leftist whose ‘progressive’ bona fides include an unwavering opposition to fracking.”

Kengor explains that, in Pennsylvania, fracking means jobs — lots of good-paying blue-collar jobs — and by choosing Harris as his running mate, Biden is effectively threatening to kill those jobs.

The Real Clear Politics average in top battleground states confirms the momentum shift. During July, Biden’s lead was about 6 points, but since the conventions, Trump has cut that lead in half — and that’s just the public polls. Everybody knows there is a “shy Trump voter” factor, where people are afraid tell pollsters who they support, but are likely to choose Trump on Election Day. That factor may be as large as 5% and Biden’s slippage in Pennsylvania, where the latest Monmouth poll shows him with just a 3-point lead, obviously set the alarm bells ringing at Biden campaign HQ. That’s why Biden flew to Pittsburgh for that speech in which he claimed that he is not against fracking:

“I am not banning fracking. Let me say again: I am not banning fracking. No matter how many times Donald Trump lies about me.”

Contrary to what he said Monday, however, during the primary campaign Biden repeatedly promised to completely eliminate fracking, and boasted that the Obama administration ended coal-powered power plants.

Biden has even vowed to eliminate U.S. petroleum production:

“No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period. Ends!”

This is an extreme position, and it’s not popular in Pennsylvania, or anywhere else where people drive cars, for that matter.

If the Biden campaign is panicking, now you know why. It’s possible to figure out a way for Democrats to lose Pennsylvania and still get to 270 Electoral College voters, but it’s a long shot. By the way, some states that have been considered key “battlegrounds” in the past — including Ohio and Iowa — are now out of the question for Biden. Trump’s base is solid in those states, so folks in Des Moines and Cleveland are not going to see many campaign ads this fall. Biden’s campaign thinks they may have a chance in North Carolina, but I doubt it, so instead you’ll see the fight this year mainly in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida.




 

Category: Election, Joe Biden

Comments

2 Responses to “Why the Panic in Bidenland?”

  1. The Friday hawt chicks & links – The unbelievable edition – Adam Piggott
    September 5th, 2020 @ 5:28 am

    […] The Other McCain – Why the panic in Biden-land? […]

  2. BidenWatch for September 7, 2020 « Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog
    September 7th, 2020 @ 2:32 pm

    […] All that might explain the panic in Bidenland: […]