Risky in Pennsylvania

With only 21 days left until November 4th, John McCain is continuing to campaign in Pennsylvania, a state that has not voted Republican in a presidential election since 1988. Obviously, this can seem a little risky because of the states voting history. However, with it's 21 electoral votes, campaigning in Pennsylvania is a "high-risk, high-return endeavor," as stated in an article on politico.com by Kenneth P. Vogel and Amie Parnes.

McCain's campaign will be focused in the historically Republican Philadelphia suburbs, as well as the rural and industrial reaches of the state. According to Vogel and Parnes, "The McCain campaign believes it can sway voters in those areas by emphasizing a socially conservative message and branding Obama an elitist liberal with shady past associates."

Barack Obama plans to combat McCain's last minutes sweep for Pennsylvania by labeling the Arizona senator as "out of touch" with PA citizens' economic hardships and by encouraging an overwhelming turnout in the state's most populated city, Philadelphia.

My thoughts...

This actually sounds very familiar to what Barack Obama is doing in Indiana. (In class on Friday we discussed the Indianapolis Star article that laid out the number of times visiting IN for both Obama and McCain.) Indiana is a state that has historically voted Republican. In a way, in makes sense that Obama would campaign here more than McCain. I think the Obama campaign sees the Indiana electoral votes as still 'in the air,' while the McCain campaign views Indiana as more of a sure thing. Even though Pennsylvania has voted Democrat many times in the past, McCain still thinks he has a chance to win the state, and will certainly try to do so before election day.