Obama Not Predicting Win In Pennsylvania

Often it is the campaigns and their surrogates, not the candidates themselves, who do the heavy lifting in setting expectations ahead of key election contests. But this morning Barack Obama told a Pittsburgh radio station exactly what he expects in tomorrow's Pennsylvania primary.

"I'm not predicting a win," Obama said, according to the Associated Press. "I'm predicting it's going to be close and that we are going to do a lot better than people expect."

Hillary Clinton leads Obama in the final Pennsylvania polls – one survey out today has the former first lady leading by seven, while another has her up by 10. The Clinton campaign, pointing to Obama's heavy campaigning and spending blitz in the state, is arguing that any win on her part constitutes a victory in the larger sense. Obama's team, meanwhile, has been suggesting that Clinton must win by double digits for her performance in the state to be considered a success.

"We've run a tough race here in Pennsylvania," Obama told the radio station. "Senator Clinton obviously was heavily favored. She was up 20. And you know, we've just been trying to chip away."