One key I believe to Barack Obama's victory in Iowa was the time spent in the state touring around on a chartered bus speaking with average Iowans and letting them get to know him. What we know from the polls is that Hillary Clinton always begins with a rather large lead in most states but as Barack spends time in these states the lead either decreases significantly or evaporates in its entirety. So with this in mind, I emailed the Obama campaign two weeks ago to suggest they repeat the Iowa strategy.
Many here on this webite as well as many PA supporters of Obama have wondered when he would begin to spend sigificant time and effort in the state. Today the campaign announced the beginning of a Six Day Pennsylvania Road Trip. I don't actually believe the campaign read my email and thought, hey smartdemmg has a pretty good idea here but I am glad to see them deploy what was a very effective strategy. In particular, given some of the misconceptions about him that currently exist, I believe it is critical that he go to the small towns in Western, Central and Eastern PA and make his case in person. Hitting Philadelphia and Pittsburgh will be the easy part. He will have plenty of support in those regions.
Central PA is where he needs to spend time according to the local paper, The Harrisburg Patriot News. He has yet to make it there despite the potential support offered by the Mayor of Camp Hill, who switched from the GOP to the Democratic party so that he may vote for Barack.
Obama will launch what his campaign has called the "Road to Change" Bus Tour across Pennsylvania.
Tour stops haven't been announced, but the road trip will begin Friday in western Pennsylvania and conclude in the southeast.
Presumably along the way he'll make it to central Pennsylvania
[snip]
I look forward to seeing the poll numbers after the Road Trip.