Corzine declares Pennsylvania a must-win for Clinton

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D), a key supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), said Friday that the former first lady must win the Pennsylvania primary next week to keep her hopes of winning the Democratic nomination alive.

A loss in Pennsylvania, where Clinton is leading in the polls, would be “trouble.”

{mosads}“I’m going to follow her lead with regard to what she would do,” Corzine said on MSNBC. “But I think any objective analysis would say… that’s pretty much a door closer.”

However, he also said that it would not be as crucial for Clinton to prevail in Indiana. The key for the first lady at this point is to win the popular vote. Corzine argued that the vote in Florida, where Clinton won but no delegates were awarded, should be reflected in the popular vote tally.

The New Jersey governor also criticized the way this week’s Pennsylvania debate was handled, saying that ABC’s moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos disproportionally focused their questions on issues that do not address the country’s problems.

“Spending that much time and never asking a question about global warming or climate change, or how we're going to educate our kids seems to me to be — it's just not focused on the right issues in a proportionate sense,” Corzine said.