Primary fight drew all eyes

Despite all of the hand-wringing among Democrats about how the long-running Clinton-Obama battle could hurt the party’s eventual nominee in November, not everyone is so sure that a drawn-out struggle is a bad thing.

One of those optimists is Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, whose state hosts the next big Democratic contest. Rendell, who supports Hillary Rodham Clinton, points to his own victorious primary fight in 2002 against Bob Casey, now the state’s junior senator.

In 2002, Rendell said, Republican nominee Mike Fisher couldn’t get any publicity because the media was riveted to the Rendell-Casey fight. Similarly, he said, presumptive GOP nominee John McCain is having trouble getting media attention these days.

“Mike Fisher couldn’t have gotten publicity if he walked down the street playing the banjo,” Rendell said during a conference call with reporters Thursday. “We got all the publicity. There were some barbs between Casey and myself, but on the day after the primary I emerged as a far stronger candidate. No one knew Mike Fisher’s name.”

Casey, not surprisingly, doesn’t seem to have such fond memories of 2002. He said he is very concerned about an extended fight between Barack Obama and Clinton, particularly if it goes all the way to the Democrats’ national convention in August.

“I would love to read about a brokered convention in the fictitious sense,” Casey said, quickly adding: “I don’t want to be in the middle of one.”