In my ninth month of canvassing and campaigning in PA, I have some observations. Rich, poor, middle class Pennsylvania, the people are smart. Young, old and middle aged, they can't be fooled.
What McCain doesn't know is that Pennsylvanians have a keen sense of fair play, even though other issues may distract them. They know a hard worker when they see one, and they know a flim-flam as well.
I shivered in the cold in downtown Easton last February, gathering my first voter registrations. Many of the registrants were poor, inner-city dwellers. I found them as they waited for the bus, or visited the grocery store. Many were frustrated, tired, sick of the old politics. Many were on the brink of giving up, and some had already done so. A frequent refrain was, "My vote doesn't count, so I just don't register." Some reported to me that as they had just been released from prison, they weren't eligible to vote.
Well, not so today. Pennsylvanians in the poor and middle-class region where I have spent the past nine months working for Obama, are finally coming clean. They are saying, "You know, I am just not sure who I want." When we talk, when I discuss the options, and the reasons I am voting for Obama, I have been able to convince them, because they are often just one milimeter of skin (color) away from being able to vote for him. They will confide in me now, as I have reached the point of being able to converse with them and get at the truth of their voting issues.
One thing that drives the difference between McCain and Obama home for them is the issue of...for want of a better word...flim-flam.
They don't like the way Palin jumped in to stir up trouble in the campaign, and doesn't offer much in exchange for her stinging criticism of Obama.
They don't like the way McCain wants to sell off and privatize social security, especially since many are retirees, and finding out what little money they have won't cover the bills.
They don't like the fact that McCain just attacks Obama, and doesn't really come up with his own ideas.
They don't like the rumors they hear about Obama, and at first, they admit to me, they didn't like his name. They didn't trust him, because his name sounded "Arab."
Well, things are changing.
They fear Sarah Palin as a potential President, and realize that she just isn't prepared. They heard that she thinks she can handle foreign policy because she can see Russia from her porch, and they think that's pretty funny.
They've met the fresh-faced, wide-eyed New York kids, Montana housewives, Massachusetts retired school-teachers who have come to Pennsylvania to work for Obama.
They have seen these folks, huddling on corners then fanning out across their neighborhoods, trudging up and down sidewalks and stopping to listen to their concerns.
They have voiced in a variety of tones, sharp and angry as well as kind and thoughtful, their concerns about Senator Obama, their own lives and hardships, and their dreams.
They have even stated joining up.
You can ask them what their plans are, and very often they will say, "Well, I'm a Democrat." Then, you say with some trepidation in your voice, "So we can count on you to vote for Senator Obama then?"
They respond "Oh, yes."
It's not a ringing "oh, yes." It's not a reluctant one.
It's just a matter-of-fact, "yup" that you might get in the mountains of Massachusetts or Maine.
These are folks one generation removed from the agricultural life-style, or manufacturing, who lived hard-scrabble lives, and either conquered poverty to gain modest success, or let poverty conquer them. There are fewer and fewer middle-class folks in Pennsylvania these days.
You will see, if you come and work with us, that these folks are not fooled by a pretty face, nice jewelry, wealthy politicians.
They are convinced by watching someone work in the trenches, take their licks and come out with dignity and grace.
For them, that adds up to one person, the One, Senator Obama.
You will see on election day, Senator Obama has won their shy, quiet and thoughtful hearts.