Rendell to Obama: Let Americans See Your Personality

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) has advice on how Barack Obama can improve his standing in polls, which have shown his leads over John McCain dwindling.
“To make that gap [in polls] wider? Well, to campaign like heck, to let the people of the United States see your personality, see what a terrific, fun, smart, effective person you are,” said Rendell on CNN Wednesday. “Barack Obama is going to be a great leader for this country. He’s got the right ideas. He’s just going to — going to get that across in the next 10 weeks, and we’re going to have a big victory.”

The latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll showed Obama ahead of McCain by just two percentage points, while a Reuters/Zogby survey showed McCain leading by five points.

Rendell acknowledged that Democrats are worried about the election, but he said that that’s a common reaction for members of his party.

“We’re the worst worrywarts in America, active Democrats,” Rendell said. “We’d worry if the lead was down from 30 to 20, we’d be worried. Sure, everyone’s worried. We believe the country is in such trouble. We believe that the Bush administration has done such a bad job. We believe that Sen. McCain has said he’s going to continue the policies of the Bush administration.”

He added that while Democrats would like a 20-point lead, “there’s something good about those polls, and that is nobody’s going to leave Denver overconfident.

“We’re going to leave Denver united and ready to rip,” Rendell said.