YORK, PA. — Republican presidential candidates rarely tout their collaborations with liberals such as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. But while trying to attract Democratic and independent voters, that's exactly what presumptive GOP nominee John McCain did Tuesday at a town hall session.
"I have a record of reaching across the aisle and working with my friends, whether it be Joe Lieberman or Ted Kennedy, no matter who it is, and that's what I will do," McCain told thousands of cheering supporters in this community, about 25 miles south of the state capital in Harrisburg. "America wants us to put our country first."
Pennsylvania figures to be a vital battleground in the November election. The state has voted for Democrats in the last four presidential elections, and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 1 million. Yet in the last presidential race, the Bush-Cheney ticket lost by just more than 2 percentage points -- or less than 150,000 votes, close enough to suggest that Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes can be won by the GOP.
Sean Smith, a spokesman for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, said that Pennsylvania was not "in play" until McCain emerged as the GOP choice for president and that the race in the state appeared likely "to be a dogfight."
Obama, McCain and the Republican National Committee have spent $10.3 million blanketing Pennsylvania with general-election ads, the most spent in any state, according to a July 30 analysis by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project.
Obama has a larger ground operation here, with 29 field offices. And the Illinois senator boasted high-single-digit leads over McCain in recent polls.
Still, since losing the Pennsylvania Democratic primary to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by 10 percentage points, Obama has campaigned here only twice. He has focused more on trying to win over traditionally Republican states.
McCain, between his campaign field offices and Republican Party outposts, has about one-third as many open in Pennsylvania as Obama.
But he has campaigned frequently in the state. Tuesday marked his 15th day in Pennsylvania since he became the presumptive GOP nominee in March, and he plans after the Republican National Convention to make a bus tour through Pennsylvania with former Gov. Tom Ridge.
"You're going to be seeing a lot of me in this state," McCain told workers Monday at a General Electric locomotive plant in Erie.
