Keystone Speaker

Gov. Ed Rendell Is Volubly Pitching Hillary Clinton To Pennsylvania

HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE, Pa.

Ed Rendell, the charming and garrulous governor of Pennsylvania, is currently being described by Sen. Hillary Clinton in the context of manure.

"One of the things I love about Ed is he is an optimist," Clinton says, standing onstage in a college gymnasium near a banner that says "Hillary Is Erie sistable." Rendell has just finished hyping the crowd with his Emcee Eddie routine.

"He reminds me of the story about that little boy," Clinton tells the crowd. "A man walks by the barn, sees this little boy in this room filled with manure. And he's standing there and he's digging and he's digging and he's digging. And the man says, 'Son, what are you doin'? Up to your hips in manure with that little shovel?' The boy says, 'Well, with this much manure around, there's gotta be a pony and I'm gonna find it!' "

The audience finds this funny, as does Ed Rendell. Granted, the analogy -- an old favorite of Ronald Reagan's -- leaves some unresolved questions, like:

Is Clinton the missing pony? In which case, what does that portend about her presidential hopes, which hinge on Pennsylvania, a state that Rendell is exerting himself mightily to help her win? What if the pony isn't really there?

And who's the manure?

* * *

Here's the thing about Hillary Clinton and Pennsylvania's Tuesday primary, according to Rendell.

"It's Gettysburg," Rendell says. "If the North lost at Gettysburg, it was over."

This may amount to more honesty than most campaign surrogates feel it's their place to provide, but it is Ed Rendell's opinion and he's gonna give it. That's what he does. He's been many things -- a frenetic campaigner and a prodigious fundraiser, mayor of Philadelphia for two terms in the '90s, general chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 election, reelected to his second gubernatorial term in 2006 by a margin of 20 big fat points -- but most of all, he's an epic talker.

Back in February, Rendell, 64, kicked up trouble by saying some white voters in his state might not be comfortable voting for Barack Obama. During a recent day and a half of interviews, he calls the New York senator's chances of becoming the Democratic nominee "still a big if" and he brings up the fact that he's criticized other Clinton supporters. ("Look, I threw James [Carville] under the bus a couple Sundays ago but he deserved to be thrown under the bus," he says.)