Pennsylvania: A Mr. Rogers Kinda Place
Voters in the most critical swing state temproarly find it a challenge right now to be neighborly
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump — along with their running mates — have been spending a lot of time in Pennsylvania. So has Joe Biden, the first lady and the second gentleman. All of the campaigning, along with the broadcast advertising and billboard buys, have probably given a bit of a boost to the economy of the Keystone State. I have been among the hundreds of journalists on expense account from around the world lunching in diners and overnighting from Allentown to Zelienople, leaving behind many Hamiltons and a few Benjamins.
According to the number crunchers and prognosticators who get paid to advise campaigns, there is less than a one in ten chance that whoever is defeated in Pennsylvania next Tuesday will become the next president of the United States.
Although I wish Hawaii could be the pivotal swing state, I am not unhappy that the honor is currently held by Pennsylvania. There are no palm trees but the natives are downright friendly (sorta like the Aloha spirit). There is increasing diversity (not yet quite as diverse as Hawaii) and the state is just — I can’t think of another description — authentic (something difficult to find in the mid-Pacific touristy state unless one is fortunate to visit the Hilo side of the Big Island or gets to chill in Molokai.
The artistic talent Pennsylvania has given the world is uncanny — Andy Warhol, Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, Taylor Swift and Will Smith, to name a few. Both Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant honed basketball skills in PA. If football is your favorite sport, think of Joe Montana and Joe Namath. In golf, Arnold Palmer. (Perhaps best not to elaborate on the Latrobe native after Trump’s, um, tribute.)
The quintessential Pennsylvanian for me is Mr. Fred Rogers. I wish he were still with us so he could co-host PBS’ Election Night coverage to interject, as the results are tabulated: "Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person."
I did not hear kind words in Pennsylvania from partisans about the opposing party’s presidential candidate. Democrats, Republicans and independents also told me the obvious — they’re fed up with the bombardment of TV and radio commercials for the presidency and Congressional races exhorting them to vote for candidate X because candidate Y is the worst politician in the Solar System. I am slightly exaggerating in attesting that every one of the few remaining undecided voters willing to admit that status has been pounced on for a soundbite from an out-of-town TV crew. At this late juncture they probably could wrangle a free plane ride from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia on Air Force Two or Trump Force One if they’re willing to endure a 45-minute personal appeal from the vice president or the former president.
My VOA story is out this evening from Erie County, which along with Northampton County from which I reported earlier, is a bellwether. Please have a read and also take a look at the accompanying TV report.
I’ll be back with another report after the election from Braddock, Pennsylvania, where Nippon Steel is poised to take over the once-iconic U.S. Steel. But first, I am off to Gwinnett County, Georgia, where I’ll be reporting on Election Day, that night and perhaps a day or two beyond depending on how it all turns out.
I have a hunch I’ll be thinking next week about another Mr. Rogers truism: “Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else.”
