GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin took some heat Wednesday from two of Pennsylvania's top political leaders.
Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell told business leaders at a postelection breakfast that McCain would have had a better chance of winning Pennsylvania with a different running mate, and U.S.Sen. Arlen Specter, a GOP moderate, tried to refute the notion that the Republican party belongs to Palin.
Rendell said McCain made a mistake in selecting Palin.
"It drove the last of the Republican moderates into the Democratic column," Rendell said. "It turned off the independent voters and ... literally you have five Hillary Clinton voters in the state of Pennsylvania who voted for the Republican ticket."
An exit poll by The Associated Press found that McCain was only able to win over about 1 in 5 Democrats who voted for Clinton in Pennsylvania's April primary, which she won.
McCain would have been better off selecting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, Rendell said.
"I think he would've had a better chance, but I don't think it would've altered the eventual outcome," Rendell said.
Specter said the odds were stacked against McCain, but that he should have emphasized his independence from President Bush on issues such as global warming and embryonic stem cell research. He also said Republicans should have done a better job showing that the economy's troubles were caused by mistakes from both sides of the political aisle.
Specter was asked if the Republican Party now belongs to Palin.
He flatly answered "No," to laughter and applause. He then said, "If my answer needed amplification, I would've done so."
Rendell then quipped, "I think the answer to that is, 'you betcha."'
