Obama's uphill climb in Pennsylvania
PENNSYLVANIA | Uses grass-roots campaigning as underdog
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- In Pennsylvania, where Sen. Barack Obama is still the underdog, smaller crowds are supposed to be better.
Obama is faced with an electorate much like the one he faced in Ohio where Clinton -- with the support of a popular five-term congresswoman, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones -- handed Obama a key defeat.
(AP)
Clinton, who has the support of the state's governor, has also spent more time in Pennsylvania.
During his bus tour, Obama has concentrated on the grits and gravy of politicking -- personal contact.
Before rolling out of Pittsburgh, Obama visited with workers outside a U.S. Steel plant. In Johnstown, he toured a wire factory. In Altoona, he ate hot dogs at a local restaurant and went bowling. And at Penn State in University Park, he toured the agricultural facilities and petted the cows.
Obama told reporters during a press briefing that the personal interaction represented a tweak of his campaign strategy.
"We were having these huge rallies, and it's just hard to get questions and have a lot of interaction," Obama told reporters after the Johnstown rally where about 1,200 people showed up, a small crowd compared with some of his other rallies.
"We're having an event a week, and so you couldn't really take time for the retail politics that I enjoy and think helps people know me better," he said.
"We're gonna be doing more town hall meetings, fewer rallies."
There's little chance for Obama to interact with voters except in places like the J.P. Edwards Bar & Grill in Burnham, and even there, a small crowd was content to gawk from the parking lot.
At the Penn State rally, an estimated 22,000 people showed up outdoors on the Old Man Lawn and listened to the 40-minute speech.
A few hours later, Obama spoke before a standing-room-only crowd in the Forum Auditorium in the State Capitol Complex in Harrisburg, where he took questions.
The crowd was so enthusiastic, Obama had to ask them to settle down. Among the questions posed were concerns about Medicaid fraud, the lack of care for the mentally ill, education and universal health care.
A veteran, who said he was a Republican but switched to the Democratic Party to support Obama, asked him to give a speech about true patriotism.
Obama ended his talk by acknowledging that some people have gotten tired of the primary season.
"I think we have had a great primary," he told the crowd.
"It is terrific that Sen. Clinton has a passionate bunch of followers," he said.
"I want everybody to feel engaged and enthused and interested and paying attention. It bodes well for our democracy."