Attention, pundits. It ain't over

The press may be fatigued by the Clinton-Obama battle, but the actual voters in Pennsylvania are still pumped -- no matter who wins.

By Rebecca Traister

Read more: Democratic Party, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Politics, News, Rebecca Traister, Barack Obama, 2008 election

Reuters/Tim Shaffer

Sen. Hillary Clinton smiles during a rally at Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pa., April 20, 2008.

April 22, 2008 | BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- "Isn't this exciting?!" bellowed an improbably peppy Hillary Clinton from the stage of the Liberty High School gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.

Anyone old enough to vote would guess that Clinton's level of hyperanimated glee -- at the end of six weeks of pitched battle for Pennsylvania -- surely came straight from the Eleanora Duse School of Dramatic Performance. But she managed to radiate something akin to jubilation as she stood in front of a crowd that had been waiting for hours, and was certainly not faking its buoyant, foot-stomping pleasure.

The energetic gathering was a reminder, in the final hours before the Pennsylvania primary, that the popular election narrative about how sick and tired we all are of the fierce Democratic primary battle is, at least in some climes, a fiction.

It's true that it's late April, and that most of the journalists covering the primaries have been doing so since the Pleistocene. It's true that the contest between Clinton and Obama has become ugly, that political loyalties are testing friendships, that many people are in a very bad mood about the whole thing. Pick up a paper and you'll find calls for Clinton to pack it in; talk to friends and you'll hear grousing from both sides about how the competition is tearing Democrats apart, how McCain is gaining ground while we poke at each other's eyes with flag pins and fake Bosnian bullets. Everyone's grumpy and exhausted, supposedly, and more than ready for it to be over: candidates, reporters and the public alike.

Everyone, that is, except for the millions of people who have yet to vote. In states like Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina, voters who never expected to have an opportunity to cast a meaningful primary ballot are being presented with a thrilling opportunity -- the chance to help pick a president. In Pennsylvania, the voters I met were positively rapturous that they still had a voice in choosing a Democratic nominee -- and, in yet another instance where actual voters prove confounding to the punditocracy, they also seemed to like both of their choices.

If you doubt that Pennsylvania voters are stoked, check the turnout. Barack Obama spoke to the biggest crowd of his campaign to date on Saturday, when 35,000 people gathered in Philadelphia's Independence Mall. Here in Bethlehem, a faded steel town of 70,000 60 miles north of Philly, Clinton supporters started lining up before 7 a.m. to get into the Liberty High gym for the scheduled 1 p.m. rally. By 12:30, there was a queue snaking for blocks, and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton backer, was feeding on the line like a hungry college student at a brunch buffet.

"I think she could win by 5 to 12 points," Gov. Rendell told me as he shook hands and posed for photos. "But even if she wins by 6 or 7, that would be tremendous, considering the record levels of money that the Obama campaign has spent in Pennsylvania." Here Rendell was clearly tempering any lingering expectations of a Hillary rout, and hewing to campaign talking points about the $2.2 million-a-week ad habit Obama reportedly developed here in Pennsylvania, a budget that made him the highest political spender in state history, including Rendell himself.

Rendell also spoke about what makes Pennsylvania such a potential sweet spot for Clinton, recalling that both Clintons banked goodwill in the 1990s by supporting his turnaround of Philadelphia as mayor. The Clinton administration sent his city gobs of federal money. Then there's the state's mix of high-tech and traditional manufacturing jobs. "We've been hurt by trade," said Rendell. "Not as much as Ohio or Michigan, but we've been hurt, and we have a lot of blue-collar workers who love her." Rendell also noted Pennsylvania's "strong feminist movement" (huh!) and the fact that it's the third oldest state in the union (Clinton does great with the olds).

But political stereotypes and pre-polled voter profiles often crumble in the face of actual flesh-and-blood voters. While the hordes of people waiting for Hillary were predominantly white, and the majority of them female, many did not conform to the suppositions about who will be supporting whom on Tuesday.

Joesette Houpe, 37, one of the few black faces in the crowd, said she has a "trust issue" with Obama. "I don't think he has a real vision for the future, and maybe no plan behind his words," she said. Houpe's daughter, Brianna, 8, shyly allowed, "I like Hillary." She didn't care to elaborate, but her mother told me that at school, Brianna engages in political jousting with friends. "They'll tell her, 'Hillary's going to raise taxes,' and she'll say, 'So is Obama!'" As a family, said Houpe, "we watch a lot of news in our house. Either way, this is going to be history in the making, so she picks up some of that, I'm sure."

But most of the people I spoke to were warm toward Obama, and said they would vote for him if he were the Democratic candidate. When explaining their preference for Clinton their reasons often had to do with her experience, or a sense that she was a woman of action.

Psychologist Ziona Brotleit, 57, wore a T-shirt that said "A Century of Women on Top," and praised Clinton's brains. "What impresses me is that she has the information, the knowledge, and that she can speak about more specific information than her opponent is able to," she said. "And that's what I want, someone who can think."

And even the Obama fans in the crowd were anxious for the race to stay competitive. Lori Felker, a 29-year-old teacher from Chicago, was visiting her native Bethlehem along with Adam Strohm. Felker said she was happy that Clinton was visiting her hometown, and was anxious to hear how she would address local concerns. Both Felker and Strohm are Obama supporters, but Felker said, "I'm not at all anti-Hillary. If she were nominated, I would be excited to vote for her in the general election." Moreover, she added, she does not believe Clinton should drop out. "Everyone should stay in to the end," said Felker. "No way should she give up."

Next page: "That's just not the case, and you shouldn't believe gossip about him being a Muslim, either"