Rendell "concerned" cause Obama didn't hand out street money [View All]

[RamboLiberal]

Fast Eddie - good for Obama - guess where you can stick your street money. Time to get this old pol crap out of the system.

Salena Zito at the Trib says Pennsylvania Dems will be largely without "street money" this election:

For the first time in any Pennsylvania general election, "street money" -- the cash apparatus used mainly by the Democratic Party to reward its supporters on Election Day -- is in danger of extinction. "It's a problem and a concern," said Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who distributed nearly $500,000 in his 2002 primary battle against fellow Democrat Bob Casey Jr., who lost that race but won a 2006 campaign for the U.S. Senate.

The Democratic Party in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are two of the last party machines that expect cash from candidates for city council races on up to the presidency. The cash is doled out by low-level party leaders to volunteers to get out votes. Those volunteers can reward reluctant voters with small amounts of cash or free lunches. Longtime Pittsburgh pol and Duquesne law professor Joe Sabino Mistick explains that the practice of handing out cash in city neighborhoods is perfectly legal.

Why no street money? Obama isn't playing ball:

Barack Obama did not distribute cash in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh during the state's April primary - and Democratic state party chairman T.J. Rooney said that decision was reflected in the turnout for Obama in both cities. Neither did Hillary Clinton's campaign. "Sen. Clinton has no street money," Rendell said at the time. "We barely have enough to communicate on basic media."

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/earlyreturns/