Ed Rendell Responds To Murtha's 'Racist,' 'Redneck' Comments

Pennsylvania Voters Head To Polls Within Weeks

POSTED: 6:45 pm EDT October 22, 2008
UPDATED: 11:50 am EDT October 23, 2008

CLAIRTON, Pa. -- Pennsylvania voters head to the polls in less than two weeks, but that's not soon enough for Gov. Ed Rendell.

The governor was in the Pittsburgh region Wednesday for a groundbreaking ceremony at the U.S. Steel plant in Clairton, whre he said he wishes the election could be today.

Rendell also fired back at Rep. John Murtha's characterization of some people in our region as "racist" or "redneck."

"When he categorizes an entire part of the state, that's just, that's wrong. Are there people in Pennsylvania who'll vote on racial lines? Maybe a few," Rendell said.

Rendell has said in the past that race might work against Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Pennsylvania. On Wednesday, the governor offered the following analogy.

"If you're drowning in the middle of a river, your boat capsizes, and you know the current is too strong for you to swim to shore, but you see a guy on the shore and he's got a coil of rope and you yell to him, you don't care if he's black, white, orange, purple. You don't care what his religion is," Rendell said.

Sen, Barack Obama enjoys a substantial lead in the polls over Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rendell said he fears some voters may stay home on Election Day on the belief that their vote is not needed.

"We can't be complacent. The latest poll with Susquehanna it's an 8 point lead. But those things shift around awful fast. There's still 6 or 7 percent undecided. So, I'm yelling at everyone. I don't care how big the lines are, I don't care if it's raining. Everybody who's for Senator Obama has to get out and stay out and vote," Rendell said.

When asked, Rendell said he'd love it if the election was today.

"Sure, always. When you've got a lead. I remember in all the races I had the lead, those last two weeks seemed like a month and a half," he said.

Rendell also gave reporters an update on the health of Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, who is suffering from a rare cancer. Rendell said Knoll is "a fighter."

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