Well, I doubt the NFL commentators will constantly mention Lynn Swanne to keep the correlation fresh in the mind of Joe Football viewer. This temptation to think that the Steelers win will somehow cut into Rendell's advantage in either Philly or Pittsburg is nothing more than wishful thinking. Rendell will still come out of Philly with a 300,000 to 400,000 vote advantage over Swann (who has yet to actually articulate actual policies, btw - Rendell will wipe the floor with him in the future debates.)
Good grief. You have a pretty low opinion of "Joe Football," and if you don't think Swann will have an advantage in Pittsburgh, you must be a bitter Bill Scranton man. As for debates, Rendell is just not likeable or pleasant to see or hear. He also has four years of . . . what? Anything? How can he defend Pennsylvania's poor performance in attracting business?
Wipe the floor with him? That's absurd.
Rendell will come out of Philly with 350K+ votes. So what? Every Democrat wins by that margin in West Camden. In the rest of the state Rendell is not popular. He's done nothing and has nothing to run on. If the Republicans had put up any candidate other than the supremely hapless Fisher in 2002 they could have beaten Fast Eddy, who, in a state that has 1.5 million men under arms in the woods on the first day of buck season couldn't manage to even mention that Rendell is the most anti-gun Democrat in the country.
As for debates, Swann is intelligent and articulate and has been in front of cameras a lot longer than Rendell. He will handle Fast Eddy just fine.