Here's another thought as to why Obama would be in PA: to give an energy boost to his local operation, which may be solid, but is probably less enthusiastic relative to his other states. Let's not assume that McCain's is THAT much better either
...which might be why Palin is visiting!
A candidate's visit only does so much. Think about it: it mostly just generates local news headlines, gives some excitement to the base, and shows that the candidate cares about people like the ones in his audience.
Where to visit is just part of a risk/benefit analysis. What can the candidate gain by visiting times what are the odds that this will materialize. Pennsylvania, given its size and large population of Obama's "target demographic that he wants to appeal to" will be visited many more times than a much smaller state of the same political leaning (let's say O+6-7% like New Mexico).
McCain wants to be viewed as competitive throughout the Midwest.
Let me advance a new theory to contrast with the prevailing theme of the forum and pundits:
A candidate does not want to appear desperate. McCain needs to keep the TV analysts listing Wisconsin and Iowa as competitive as much as possible for his own image of competitiveness.
Given that a candidate's visit doesn't really mean anything, if the local news shows McCain being applauded by a bunch of Iowans or Wsiconsinacs, that's not necessarily a bad image for Ohio or Pennsylvania. If it was obvious McCain was putting all of his eggs into the basket of winning Ohio, Colorado, Nevada, Florida, *AND* Virginia, he would be ridiculed by the media that doesn't really have any depth of understanding. I was initially extremely critical about McCain's repeated events in Iowa, but held back on posting here too much, speculatin' a bit but not justifying it, and now it's just hit me why he's doing it. He wants to appear mildly offensive in front of a bunch of rural white people, not on the defensive in states that he desperately needs to win like Ohio and Florida. Trust me, he'll visit both plenty of times before the election, but he's still fundraising for the RNC and needs to keep his enthusiasm up!
I'm almost ready to say that visiting Iowa and Wisconsin is a good move for the McCain campaign, although measured in millimeters and not yards. Visiting Oregon would be ridiculed. Top-level visits is a traditional indicator of campaign investment in a state: where you see the top surrogates is where internal polling shows the most interest. but the McCain campaign is an untraditional campaign at the macro level.
Palin needs to spend two or three consecutive days in Colorado Springs ASAP though.
