Romney's Pennsylvania chase: State's Republicans trying hard to believe
Mitt Romney's eleventh-hour run at Pennsylvania, long thought to be in President Obama's column, has raised hopes among the state's rank-and-file Republicans that their state could, for the first time since 1988, vote to put a Republican in the Oval Office.
It's what their hearts are longing for, but what their minds are struggling to believe could come to pass.
With polls in the Keystone State closing at 8 p.m., Republicans there know the state has more than 1 million more Democratic voters than GOP voters 鈥� and an unremarkable day of voting thus far聽challenges their ability to make the electoral math go their way.
鈥淢y brain tells me the math doesn鈥檛 add up,鈥� says Charlie Gerow, a Republican strategist with more than 30 years of experience in the state. 鈥淏ut my gut tells me that [Mr. Romney will win].鈥�
Speaking for conservatives' hearts are people like Ana Puig, a Pennsylvania field coordinator for the fiscally conservative group FreedomWorks. Ms. Puig, reached by phone, is working the polls in Bucks County, Pa., perhaps the premier 鈥渃ollar county鈥� of Philadelphia that state experts believe could help swing the election into Romney鈥檚 camp.
鈥淚f this morning was an indication, we鈥檙e really good to go,鈥� Puig says, noting that turnout isn鈥檛 booming but isn鈥檛 limping in, either.聽
She鈥檚 been talking to voters all day and feels as if Republicans are doing well at the two precincts she鈥檚 visited.
Mr. Gerow emphasizes that Romney could very well win Pennsylvania 鈥� the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls shows Mr. Obama with roughly a four percentage point lead.
Yet 鈥渢he math, really, wasn鈥檛 always there because [Romney] didn鈥檛 start early enough here,鈥� Gerow says. 鈥淵ou had to overcome a marathon run [by the Obama campaign] with a five-day sprint. That鈥檚 tough to do.鈥�
Democrats have long been skeptical of Romney's prowess in the state.
"If it was out of reach a week ago, nothing in that period would cause things to be appreciably different" on Election Day, says T.J. Rooney, former head of the state's Democratic Party, in a phone interview.
Intellectual skepticism isn鈥檛 the rule among the Pennsylvania GOP by any stretch.
Chris Nicholas, a veteran GOP strategist in the state, says he believes Romney has a 60 percent chance to take Pennsylvania.
鈥淥bama hasn鈥檛 had enough time to really go after [Romney] here,鈥� Mr. Nicholas says. 鈥淚 think the turnout matrix is favoring the Republicans. That鈥檚 what I felt when the day started. We鈥檒l see if unfolding events support that.鈥�
