A 32-year gap in Pa. votes that matter

It's been a long time since the Pennsylvania primary has had such an influential role in determining the presidential nominee for either major party - 32 years, in fact.

Usually, Pennsylvanians vote so late in the primary season that both parties have a clear frontrunner for the nomination.

But this year, a close race between Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama means tomorrow's primary will play a major role in who gets the nomination - something the Pennsylvania contest hasn't done since 1976.

In November of that year, Jimmy Carter was elected the 39th president of the United States. But getting to that point wasn't easy - he faced a tough primary season that culminated in Pennsylvania on April 27, 1976.

In the primary, Carter was up against Arizona Rep. Morris "Mo" Udall and Washington Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson.

"Udall was the traditional left candidate, the 'George McGovern 2,'" said Political Science professor Henry Teune, who has been a member of the Penn faculty since 1961.

He added that Jackson was seen as a conservative Democrat, while Carter was a more moderate figure.

Penn alumnus Marty Siegel, who was managing editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian in spring 1976, said it seemed that Udall had a significant amount of support on Penn's campus.

"He was probably the most liberal of the group at the time, and that seemed to be the pick of most people around Penn," Siegel said.

But despite the high level of student political involvement today and attention on youth voters in this year's election, alums noted the apparent lack of campus activism leading up to the 1976 primary.

The election came in the aftermath of national economic trials, a defeat in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal.

"It was kind of a dark period for American political events," Teune said. "You could say we have that today, but at least young people are all turned onto politics with the Obama contest against Clinton."

The political climate of the time might have turned some students away from the election, said alumnus Ed DeAngelo, who covered the 1976 primaries for the DP.

"Students were disillusioned with the kind of conventional political process they felt belonged more to their parents," he said.

DeAngelo added that, in 1976, the youth vote that presidential candidates have intensely pursued this year was not such an issue.

"I think that at the time it was taken for granted that young people were going to vote Democratic in the [general] election, but they weren't as important a factor in the Democratic primary," he said.

By the time the Pennsylvania primary came around, Carter had already proved himself as a formidable candidate.

"Carter really had an open field in many ways," Teune said.

But in order to secure the nomination, he needed to do well in Pennsylvania.

In the end, Carter won 37 percent of the state's votes, while Jackson garnered 25 percent and Udall received 19 percent. Carter won 64 of the state's 67 counties, although Jackson won Philadelphia.

Members of the Penn community say presidential politics have changed since the last time the state's primary played a significant role.

"It was easier to get closer to candidates at the time, and it didn't seem that the image manufacturing was as refined as it is now," Siegel said.

He added that campaign events mostly involved formal speeches, and the "town hall" style events candidates use so often today never happened in 1976.

DeAngelo said because voters then did not have Facebook, YouTube and blogs, obtaining information about the candidates was in some ways more challenging.

"It was hard to get information about platforms, and I think people's platforms were a little vaguer," he said. "People relied a lot more on the mainstream media."

According to DeAngelo, the 1976 primary helped usher in a new style of campaigning. Carter, for example, gave an interview with Playboy and shared details about his personal and religious life.

"One thing about Carter is that he did start, I think, a change in political culture in trying to be more down-to-earth," he said.

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