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As a Pennsylvanian, I see things here on the ground that just aren't making it into the national narrative - things that speak well to Barack's chances in PA. Such as:
- my 80-year old Catholic mother from Berks County (raised in small-town south-central PA near Gettysburg), who hasn't voted for a Dem since Carter, proclaimed to me that she'd vote for Obama, "I don't care what color he is" (!). She said this back when he announced, and she repeated it again in recent weeks. (Please forgive her language - she'd never even *seen* a black person until she was in her twenties...)
- my 50 year-old brother from Reading, also very Catholic, actually switched his registration from Republican to vote for Obama, out of conviction (no, he's not some Limbaugh sabateur). He's the kind of white male who was supposed to be irrevocably lost to BO because of the Wright affair, but the Philly speech strengthened his support even more. His Catholic Republican wife is also on board - not least because of her opposition to No Child Left Behind (she's a teacher) but also because she appreciates Obama's candor and appeal to our better nature as a nation.
- my brother-in-law out in Lancaster Co., who's actually a Republican District Justice, hasn't switched his registration, but he and his wife have been enamored of Obama since reading his books and are leaning his way in the general.
I could go on and on (my neighborhood in NW Philly is Obama country through and through), but my point is this: Obama may well do much better than expected. PA is not nearly as depressed as Ohio, with 3% economic growth this decade (compared to something like .5% in Ohio). There's also an intelligent electorate that isn't always measured by stats like the number of college degrees (half of my 10 siblings don't have BAs but follow politics and are pretty well-informed). Obama-mania is not just a phenomenon of Philly and the colleges here - he has broad appeal in places you might not expect because of his candor, poise, and yes, his intelligence and charisma.
And Yuengling is not some boutique beer! It's from America's oldest continuously operating brewery, proudly brewed in Pottsville since 1829 - and the cheap beer of choice for Pennsylvanians for generations....
