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Burden of proof -- Clinton counts on delegate math By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, April 13, 2008 Every other story written by journalists across the country gives a spreadsheet of reasons why Hillary Clinton should step out of the Democrats' campaign. Yet in the public's eye, there she stands as though she has not a care in the world. One reason may be that the party's super-delegates who remain uncommitted have an unspoken burden of proof to determine whether this race goes on or not. So far, they have not exercised their superpowers.

God, guns and Obama TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito On Friday it was reveled that Sen. Barack Obama told wealthy San Franciscans last Sunday that small-town Pennsylvanians and Midwesterners "cling to guns or religion" because they are "bitter" about their economic status. By today in Muncie, Ind., Obama acknowledged that he "didn't say it as well as I should have."

Man says Clinton supporters less educated TRIBUNE REVIEW By Salena Zito Nearly 800 students and supporters of Hillary Clinton packed the Hopewell Area High School auditorium yesterday to hear the former first lady's proposals to strengthen the U.S. military. With the exception of one man, all seemed to be enthusiastic supporters. Chuck Grawley, 51, an instructor at two local colleges, held his 8-month-old daughter Emily while waiting for the event to begin. Grawley was not there to see Clinton. He was there to see the crowd. "Statistically and empirically, the people in this room are less educated and less informed...

Obama advance: 'Get me more white people' POLITICO Ben Smith From the account in Carnegie Mellon's paper, the Tartan, of a Michelle Obama event in Pittsburgh: While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.” “I didn’t know they...

An error of judgment: Penn is out TRIBUNE-REVIEW BY: Salena Zito Hillary Clinton's chief strategist and pollster Mark Penn has made like Elvis and left the building, a little more than two weeks before the Pennsylvania April 22nd primary.

Rendell-Casey, Round 2 By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, April 6, 2008 To win Pennsylvania, Barack Obama must pull off a "Missouri" -- that is, do what he did in the Show Me State: win a handful of heavily populated, liberal-centric counties and call it a day. Ironically, that is what Ed Rendell (a Hillary Clinton supporter) did to Bob Casey (an Obama supporter) in Pennsylvania's 2002 Democrat gubernatorial primary.

Hillary's ancestors running a brothel?

Super delegate Murtha endorses Clinton Posted March 18, 2008 8 :50 PM Congressman Jack Murtha, D-Johnstown, became the first super delegate to endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton since the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4th.

Obama adds a little more cowbell TRIBUNE-REVIEW BY Salena Zito Bristling at charges that, so far, Barack Obama is running a less-than-spectacular race in Pennsylvania, the candidate's chief political strategist told reporters this afternoon that the campaign was going all out to win the Keystone State. "We are gong to contest vigorously in Pennsylvania," David Axelrod said. "We're going to be running a full campaign."

Pennsylvania 'absolutely critical' for Clinton campaign, aide says By Salena Zito and David M. Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Saturday, March 8, 2008 Winning the Pennsylvania primary on April 22 is "absolutely critical" to Hillary Clinton's hope of overtaking Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, a top Clinton aide said Friday. Clinton will visit Pennsylvania on Monday and Tuesday, with campaign stops in Scranton, Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Former President Bill Clinton will be stumping for his wife on Tuesday in Pittsburgh, but the campaign did not immediately provide details about that visit. Asked whether Clinton must win Pennsylvania to...

Pa.: The nation's political battleground By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, March 6, 2008 Pennsylvania Democrats hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite presidential candidate shouldn't have to worry. Hillary Clinton's first campaign visit to Pittsburgh could be next week. "It will be within the next five to seven days," her Pennsylvania spokesman, Mark Nevins, said Wednesday. And it's likely voters "will be able to have breakfast with Barack Obama at your local diner," said state Democratic chairman T.J. Rooney.

TRIBUNE-REVIEW Pa. no longer on the horizon By: Salena Zito It's showtime, folks ... part II. Welcome to a smaller yet more critically important Super Tuesday. Today has become the focus for the Democrats in a political season that has seen the primary contest maps redrawn in a way no pundit could have ever predicted. In an interview last week, Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean told the Tribune-Review that he never would have predicted that the primary season would have gone on this long. In fact, Dean said he thought it would have been decided before the first Super...

Ohio at heart of Clinton strategy By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, March 2, 2008 DAYTON, Ohio -- Retired trucker James Russell says Hillary Clinton is going to win this state's Democratic primary Tuesday because she has God and Ohio on her side. "We are her guardian angels," Russell, 67, said last week after Bill Clinton's speech at Stebbins High School in Riverside, a Dayton suburb. "I hate to spout off, but I think God will straighten this all out for her and she will win here and in November." Divine intervention might be what the Clinton

Obama gaining on Clinton in statewide poll By Brad Bumsted and David M. Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, February 21, 2008 HARRISBURG -- A surging Barack Obama has carved into Hillary Clinton's lead in Pennsylvania in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton is leading Obama by 12 percentage points -- 44 percent to 32 percent -- in the run-up to the state's April 22 primary election, according to a Franklin & Marshall College Poll conducted for the Tribune-Review and other news outlets. The survey of 303 registered Democrats showed

Half of state's superdelegates back Clinton By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Tuesday, February 19, 2008 New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has gained commitments from half of Pennsylvania's so-called superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention. A Tribune-Review survey reveals Clinton has endorsements from 13 of the 26 superdelegates, a mix of top elected officials and party operatives. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has two commitments, and 10 superdelegates are uncommitted. One superdelegate could not be reached. Three more will be selected by Pennsylvania party leaders. But none of the delegates must vote for their endorsed candidate, one expert cautioned.

US Closeted No More by: Malcolm A. Kline, February 04, 2008 No wonder I haven’t been getting any alumni mailings. It seems that my alma mater is trying to embrace “diversity” without becoming Catholic in Name Only. “The University of Scranton is one of a number of Jesuit schools currently working on ways to add resources for its gay and lesbian students,” Network Notes, a newsletter for the University of Maryland at College Park’s Rainbow Terrapin Network reported in 2003! “This fall, in fact, the small northeast Pennsylvania college will debut its ‘Ally’ program, a program intended to train interested...

Last Thursday, 16 of the 25 Catholics in the U. S. Senate voted to overturn the "Mexico City Policy" to allow funding to overseas health clinics providing abortions. One of the 16 was freshman Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA) who ran against, and defeated, Sen. Rick Santorum as a "pro-life" candidate. It's doubtful whether Casey, son of the legendary pro-life Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey, will ever be able to convince voters of his pro-life label again.

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The fast-attack submarine USS Scranton (SSN 756) successfully demonstrated homing and docking of an Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) system during at-sea testing in January 2006. The two UUVs used in the testing are a part of the AN/BLQ-11 Long Term Mine Reconnaissance System (LMRS), which was designed to enable submarines to conduct clandestine undersea surveys to locate mines. “The testing demonstrated several important capabilities of a submarine-launched UUV system,” said Capt. Paul D. Ims Jr., program manager for UUVs in the Program Executive Office for Littoral and Mine Warfare. “These included the ability of the submarine...

Scranton Drops Out of Governor's Race Bill Scranton has dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for the race for Pennsylvania governor. Tuesday, February 7, 5:15 p.m. The GOP race for the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania just got smaller. Candidate Bill Scranton announced late Tuesday afternoon that he is dropping out of the race. The former lieutenant governor said in a statement he believes his campaign was strong, but not strong enough to win the precinct-by-precinct battles against fellow Republican Lynn Swann. Scranton had been in the race for the Republican nomination since October.

Scranton withdraws from GOP primary BREAKING NEWS By Brad Bumsted STATE CAPITOL REPORTER Tuesday, February 7, 2006 GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Scranton today announced he is withdrawing from the Republican primary in May. His decision comes with Republican candidate and Pro Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann poised to capture the GOP party endorsement for governor on Saturday. Scranton, a former lieutenant governor, has trailed Swann in recent polls.