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<< Previous   of   Next >> Alex Brandon / Associated Press  (click to enlarge) Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at a rally in Philadelphia on Saturday.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Sunday, October 12, 2008 Philadelphia a key for Obama The big prize is Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes. Los Angeles Times PHILADELPHIA -- Barack Obama barnstormed the city of Brotherly Love on Saturday, telling tens of thousands of supporters that their votes and their volunteering would play a crucial role in deciding the presidency. "If you will join with me, if you will work with me and organize with me and make phone calls with me and knock on doors with me, I promise you ... we'll win Pennsylvania," Obama told 15,000 people gathered in a predominantly black neighborhood near Temple University. "You and I together, we are going to change this country and we are going to change the world." It was the first of four stops Obama made in the city, highlighting the importance to his campaign of turning out votes in Philadelphia to offset Republican John McCain's popularity in other parts of the state. Hillary Rodham Clinton did well among working-class white voters in northeast Philadelphia, helping her beat Obama by nine percentage points in the Pennsylvania primary. So when Obama rallied 5,000 supporters outside the Mayfair Diner on Saturday, in a northeast neighborhood full of brick row houses with pumpkins on the stoops, he portrayed McCain as out-of-touch with working families. "John doesn't really seem to get what's going on with this crisis. When it first started, he talked about how the fundamentals of the economy are strong," Obama said. "Where I come from, nothing's more fundamental than a job." Obama touted his proposals to provide every American with access to health care, to cut middle-class taxes and create green jobs. And while he praised McCain's call to tone down the vitriol that has marked recent GOP rallies, Obama urged voters not to be "bamboozled" by his opponents' talk about changing Washington, D.C. "Change isn't just a slogan," the Illinois senator said. "Change is an understanding of what the American people are going through." If he wins the White House, Obama said, he would use the $10 billion the nation spends each month in Iraq on domestic programs. "If we can rebuild Baghdad, we can sure as heck rebuild Philadelphia," he told 20,000 supporters in Germantown. Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes are one key to winning the presidency. Both campaigns are blanketing the airwaves, having spent at least $27 million combined since mid-June on Philadelphia television stations ads in an attempt to reach 40 percent of the state's voters. Obama has 80 Pennsylvania field offices and has spent six days in the state since the April primary; McCain has more than 50 offices and has visited 19 days since then. Obama has a double-digit lead in recent polls, but his campaign expects the race to be tight. Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell told Philadelphians that their primary-day turnout of 53 percent of registered voters was insufficient. For Obama to win the state, 70 percent to 75 percent must go to the polls, he said. "It's on each and every one of you to bring your friends, your relatives, your co-workers, people on the block, everybody has to vote," Rendell said. "I don't care how long the lines are. Nobody leaves." Saturday was an unusual day on the campaign trail; presidential candidates are more likely to hopscotch among four states in a day than four spots in one city. As Obama's motorcade snaked through Philadelphia's streets, drivers got out of their cars to cheer and residents rushed onto their stoops to wave. The events, capped with a sprawling rally at the intersection of 52nd and Locust streets that drew 20,000, were also a tribute to Philadelphia's neighborhood-centric politics. Obama was criticized during the primary for staging massive rallies, where he seemed disconnected from voters, said Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. Saturday's events, though large, seemed designed to create a more intimate, informal feel. Beverly Wood, 59, was overwhelmed. "I've seen him on TV, in the debates. But to see him in person ... he's so engaging," the retired teacher said. "I've never felt like this before. It's a very strong emotional connection, a spiritual connection." But in Philadelphia, there also is an undeniably seamier side to politics: the long-standing practice in which candidates give "street money" to Democratic operatives in return for getting out the vote. Ward leaders and party bosses dole out small amounts to field workers on election day. Obama aides declined comment on whether they would give out street money. But Madonna said that if they don't, someone will do it on the campaign's behalf. "There will be ample money on the streets of Philadelphia handed out by the Democrats in this campaign," he said. While money might serve as a motivator for some people, many voters said the historic nature of Obama's candidacy was all they needed. Betty Corcoran's eyes grew wide as she thought of a fellow black person reaching the White House. "I can't even imagine it, really," she said. But the 60-year-old retired AT&T worker said she was worried about whether voters in the middle of Pennsylvania will sink Obama's chances to win the state. "His race comes into play there, even though people won't openly admit it," she said. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. 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