I live in Union county, and worked for the Obama campaign.
Its true that the students made the difference. Union county went for Obama 52-48, which was a hard count of +190 votes. The students registered about 700 new voters and delivered about 70% I think.
our biggest claim to fame is Lewisburg is the home of Earl Pickens, whose song, "Obama Everyhwere" was used by the campaign!
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/...
Obama's campaign had an organizer ON CAMPUS. That was smart. There was another organizer in the region who helped alot here also. In 2004, the Kerry campaign had no one on the ground and we took our orders from the State wide "coordinated campaign." Obama's people were nice and smart.
There was no Clinton operation on the ground as far as I could tell.
At our county dinner, where I expected way more Clinton folks, it was 50 50. Hugh Rodham spoke, and was less impressive than Obama's surrogate- Senator Harris Wofford. Very nice octagenarian who agreed to help two friends running for state office- Steve Connolley and Trey Casimir.
Union county's biggest town is Lewisburg where Bucknell (slayer of KS an AR in the NCAA tourney!) is. We have more than our fair share of area professionals and even NY and Philly expats who can telecommute and live here in our little Normal Rockwell town. They may have also helped pushed the numbers for Obama. A friend of mine and I have discussed "river towns" in PA. They were traditionally sources of commerce, county seats, and had more of a cosmopolitan history that may come into play as this area starts an economic revival and may help color violet the famous red "T." If we ever get around to any, you know, data, we'll post it.