Former Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said he “believes” a victory for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in Pennsylvania is “a possibility” since both President Obama and Romney have not actively campaigned in the state.
What is the Romney campaign thinking? Rendell speculated.
“Maybe they’re saying, ‘With two weeks to go, we probably don’t have enough time to influence voter choice by 5 percent, but maybe if we just stay quiet — and the Obama folks stay quiet — maybe the Democratic turnout basically collapses,” Rendell suggested at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce forum with former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum on Wednesday.
“Our voters are not nearly as reliable as Republican voters, regardless of the enthusiasm gap,” Rendell added. (RELATED: Santorum: Republicans ‘can pull off a surprise’ in Pennsylvania)
“Maybe they figure our turnout collapses, Republicans still turnout well, and they sneak across the finish line and do a startling upset. And I believe that that’s a possibility enough that I was on the horn to Chicago, and … I said, ‘Number one, I want [a] Bill Clinton robo-call to every home in Philadelphia and every home in Pittsburgh. I want the president one more time, even for an hour, in Philadelphia.'”
Rendell concluded that he still does not believe Pennsylvania’s twenty electoral votes are “in play” because “you haven’t seen the Rommey campaign or [American] Crossroads put a dime on TV [ads] in Philadelphia.”
But “on the other hand,” he added, “you never know.”