Sarah Palin reached all the way back to Super Bowl III and channeled Joe Namath in his hometown in guaranteeing a win in Pennsylvania on November 4th.  The odds against the McCain-Palin ticket don’t look nearly as high as when Broadway Joe guaranteed a win against the Baltimore Colts in 1969, and perhaps Palin has some inside dope on how the Keystone State may turn in two weeks:

Near the hometown of Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin guaranteed a come-from-behind victory for the McCain-Palin ticket in Pennsylvania. …

“Now, Joe Namath is probably a little bit before your time,” Palin said to the high school students in the crowd. “But do you remember, though, in the biggest game of his life, all the experts had Joe Namath and the Jets written off to defeat? They were up against the elite team that had all the money, and they were held in awe by the media. And Broadway Joe replied, ‘we’re gonna win the game, I guarantee it.’ And they won.

“And I hope Joe won’t mind if I paraphrase him some in this state, his home state, Pennsylvania, with your help, we’re going to win this state. I guarantee it,” Palin said to wild applause.

Public polling has Barack Obama leading outside of the margin of error, but a number of media reports now say that both campaigns see Pennsylvania as a toss-up.  The fallout from Joe the Plumber may be just one reason, a large reason but perhaps not the most important one.  The polling in John Murtha’s district has reversed after his comments about Pennsylvanians being racists, which has happened just over the last few days.  Murtha may lose a seat considered as safe as any for the Democrats as a result.

Could this also have affected the presidential race?  It’s possible, and given Palin’s guarantee, perhaps internal polling already shows this.

If McCain wins Pennsylvania, that puts Obama in a bad position even if he wins Virginia.  That’s a net loss in the swap of eight electoral votes.  It also would mean no hope of winning Ohio, and that cuts into Obama’s strategies for winning the race considerably.

Let’s hope Palin and McCain can channel Broadway Joe all the way to the end zone on November 4th.