A “victory in Pennsylvania” sign hung to the right of presidential candidate John McCain’s American-flag backdrop during his rally Tuesday evening at Robert Morris University.
His speech uttered a victory tune while re-iterating what has been clear to both campaigns for the past few weeks, citing Pennsylvania as a key state for success.
“It’s great to be here in Pittsburgh, Pa. We need to win Pennsylvania,” McCain said.
McCain had been campaigning across the state Tuesday, making stops in Bucks County, Harrisburg and Moon Township, at the main campus of Robert Morris where some 4,000 supporters attended. His day-long campaigning showed that despite Obama’s current lead in Pennsylvania’s polls, the state is not to be taken for granted in McCain’s strategy.
“The national media has written us off. They forgot one thing; they forgot to let you decide,” McCain said to the cheering crowd.
A Reuters/CSPAN/Zogby International poll reported Sen. Barack Obama with an 8-point lead over McCain Tuesday. In Pennsylvania, Obama led by 11 points in a poll at realclearpolitics.com on Tuesday. Winning Pennsylvania, as a part of McCain’s strategy, with its 21 electorate votes, would lessen the need of winning other states, such as Colorado.
Yet many of McCain’s supporters do not agree that Pennsylvania is yet shaded blue, and by the sign of enormous applause at his rally, his supporters show a representation of Republican votes in the upcoming election.
“I don’t believe the polls. I really feel it’s much closer than that. The media is much closer to the Obama side, and they want to make us feel it’s over, and it’s not,” said Mary McGarrity, 57, of Penn Hills.
McGarrity said she believed there were just as many, if not more, McCain supporters not gaining attention.
“I wanted to show that there are even more people for McCain in Pennsylvania. This election is much more crucial than many people realize,” McGarrity said.
Addressing the Moon Township community at Robert Morris, McCain touted Western Pennsylvania while condemning remarks by an Obama supporter, Democratic Rep. John P. Murtha, who said recently that many of his own constituents were racist.
“You may have noticed that Sen. Obama’s supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately,” McCain said. “This is a great part of America. This is a heartland of America. People in Western Pennsylvania believe in the future of this country.”
Republican State Rep. Mark Mustio of Moon focused on McCain’s plan for job creation for Pennsylvanians through energy reform. According to Mustio, McCain’s plans would create 2 billion jobs in clean coal technology and return approximately 30,000 jobs to Pennsylvania’s coal-rich land.
“Pennsylvania is sitting on a reserve of natural gas, and something tells me Sen. McCain can look to Alaska,” Rep. Mustio said. Chants of “Sarah, Sarah,” followed this remark.
Republican State Sen. John Pippy addressed the supporters about the importance of Pennsylvania in the election
“We’re going to make sure Pennsylvania is going to be McCain-country, ladies and gentlemen,” Pippy said.
In addition to energy issues – including the GOP supported use of nuclear power and off-shore drilling- other issues addressed included taxes, meeting unconditionally with international leaders, government help for retirement planning and government spending.
“I’m going to make government live on a budget, just like you do,” McCain said.
One supporter agreed.
“I’d like to see government spending not being misappropriated. People have no concept of how much government waste is used. Sen. McCain has that concept. If he can fix D.C., that’s my biggest issue,” said Denise McArthur, 41, of Penn Hills.
On the issue of the War in Iraq, McCain addressed the crowd, where earlier in the night about 50 veterans had raised their hands to show representation.
“I’ll bring our troops home, but I’ll bring our troops home with honor, not in defeat,” McCain said.
“Just Say No to Socialism,” “PA ‘hearts’ McCain” and “Vets for McCain,” signs were common at the rally. However, a campaign sign unique to the Western Pennsylvania region was a Terrible-Towel remake reading “McCain,” that hung from car windows and swung from the arms of rally supporters.
About two dozen Obama supporters were present outside the university’s basketball stadium, the Sewall Center, before the rally. Jaruis Powers, a 23-year-old information security major at Robert Morris, volunteers for the Obama campaign registering people to vote, and said the main issue, disregarding opinion polls, is getting people to their local polling places on election day.
“Just because you’re registered to vote doesn’t mean you actually go out to vote. The opinion polls won’t say anything. The biggest thing right now is getting people to vote,” Powers said.
While Obama supporters are recognizing their candidate’s lead and attempting to keep a hold on those likely voters, McCain re-emphasized that Pennsylvania was still a battleground state.
“I am an American, and I choose to fight. Be strong. Don’t give up,” McCain ended his speech.
