Joe Biden to the Rescue?

The only one of the four candidates hardly mentioned in main stream news media may have an effect on the outcome in Pennsylvania. Joe Biden was born in Scranton, Pa and remained there until the age of 10 when his father, a working class man, could no longer find employment. The economic hardships that forced the Biden family to move from Pennsylvania could be connected to the current economic despair. This type of relation between a candidate and present circumstances is important because voters want to relate on a more personal level with a candidate and Joe Biden, the unknown candidate, needs to exploit this relation if he is to do his job in controlling key northwest swing states. Biden is a great small town meeting campaigner and has been able to connect with voters in those meetings. This style of campaigning Will be needed if the Democrats are to control Pennsylvania yet again. The areas of concern within the state come in the more rural and white working class sectors. With regards to the rural, Joe Biden may not be the guy, but he can and should absolutely play upon his own middle class upbringing and the fact that he and his family had gone through similar economic hardships that face many Americans, and Pennsylvanians today.

Obama on small town America

Back in April 2008, before the democratic primary election in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama made a few comments over the phone that he may still have to pay up to in the general election.
Obama was quoted as saying residents of small town America, "cling to their guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them." This statement insulted much of the state's rural residents and ultimately led to the primary victory of Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania. What really angered Pennsylvanians was that just before the controversial statement Obama mentioned that there is bitterness in small towns across Pennsylvania specifically and included the rest of the Midwest. Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain had immediate responses to Obama's comments. At the time McCain choose to spin Obama"s comments in a way to make the Illinois senator appear out of touch with the working classes of America. This spin of things may have some truth to it, as many of Obama's supporters within the Democratic party consist of the highly educated and wealthy voters. Clinton was considered to have a stronghold within the working class on the Democratic Party. This issue of Obama being out of touch with the working class is bound to come up within the race in Pennsylvania.

Mayfair Philadelphia

Most people outside of the northeast political world may have never heard of a neighborhood in Philadelphia called Mayfair. However, this mostly white, working-class neighborhood located in the northeastern part of Philadelphia could be the key to John McCain's victory in Pennsylvania. In 2004 John Kerry won the city of Philadelphia but a little more than 400,000 votes and eventually went on to win Pennsylvania by a margin of about 100,000 votes. As for the 2008 election, it has been said that Barack Obama will need to Philadelphia by at least 350,000 votes in order to win the state. In 2004 John Kerry won the neighborhood of Mayfield by a 15 point margin but Republicans are encouraged by what they saw during the Democratic primary race in April. There was very strong support for Hillary Clinton in the neighborhood, receiving 75% of the primary votes. This shows that there is a low support for Obama in this area and that McCain may have the chance to capitalize on the Democrats who aren't "sold" on Obama yet. The McCain campaign set up their Philadelphia headquarters in Mayfair hoping to capitalize on the larger northeastern part of Philadelphia that has a population of about 400,000. Another bright spots for Republicans is the fact in 2004 George Bush was highly criticized in Mayfair and the rest of Philadelphia but John McCain is seen as a more moderate with better policies that immediately keep with problems such as: high gas and health care costs. After all that being said, Obama's choice to have Joe Biden on the ticket with him, has increased the Democrats connection and strength within the entire Northeast. The race for Pennsylvania may lie in this one small but meaning Philadelphia neighborhood.

Backround

Since the 1992 general election the majority in Pennsylvania have voted for the Democratic presidential nominee. Bill Clinton won the nomination in 1992 and 1996 by large margins. However the democractic nominee won the last two elections by a much smaller margain, with most recently John Kerry winning by about 200,000 votes or a little more than 2% of the vote.

Democractic strongholds are located in and around the metropolitan areas of Philadelphia and Pittsburg. The tradition strongholds of the Republic party remain in the more rural and smaller suburban areas located in the northern and central party of the state. The resulting political map of Pennsylvania ends up appearing like a red "T" in the middle with Pittsburg and Philadelphia located in the southwest and southeastern corners representing the blue portions of the state.

Because of Pennsylvania's has no real clear dominant party and it is the 6th most populus state in the union it has been and will continue to be a battle ground swing state for the general election.