presidential election

Barack Obama is maintaining his comfortable double-digit lead over John McCain, 52 percent to 42 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday morning.

That's a 2-point reduction for the Democratic presidential nominee from the same poll taken last week, mirroring a trend that shows the Democratic presidential nominee's lead in the Keystone State dwindling but still above the margin for error.

The poll surveyed 1,493 voters from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2 and has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points. 

"In the end, Sen. John McCain's troops in central Pennsylvania, led by veterans, disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters and God and gun clingers, will be swept over by a wave of young black urban new voters, giving Sen. Obama the Keystone State," said Clay Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.  

Pennsylvania pollsters say the state is no more or less racist than others, The Morning Call reports.

Race has emerged once again as an issue in the Keystone State after U.S. Rep. John Murtha (D-Johnstown) said last week that western Pennsylvania is a "racist area." After apologizing, Murtha called some of his constituents "rednecks."

His remarks echo ones made by Gov. Ed Rendell earlier this year, when he said some Pennsylvania voters will not vote for an African-American.

But Pennsylvania pollsters Chris Borick, of Muhlenberg College, and Terry Madonna, of Franklin & Marshall College, said race plays a factor everywhere.

''I understand that politicians have to be careful not to offend, but what is so radical about the concept?'' Borick told the Call. ''The simple reality is that race matters. It is an undeniable reality in our society.''

Madonna said he draws a distinction, for example, between people who vote for a candidate because they identify with them, and those who vote against a candidate specifically because of his race.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. plants an Obama sign in a constituent's front yard Saturday after she asked the senator to do so: Politicker Photo

Democrats now hold a 1.2 million voter-registration advantage in Pennsylvania, sparking speculation the commonwealth is no longer a "swing state." Is Pennsylvania, like its neighbors New Jersey and New York, officially blue?

"I hope we are," U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Scranton) told PolitickerPA.com. "Talk to me November 5." Pennsylvania remains a "purple" state, he said.

The junior senator spoke to PolitickerPA.com on his campaign bus between a series of Obama rallies in northeastern Pennsylvania. Casey spent the weekend practicing retail retail politics in the region, holding backyard rallies at supporter homes and canvassing neighborhoods like a part-time volunteer.

HARRISBURG -- The state Republican Party filed an injunction Friday against Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro Cortes and ACORN, alleging a fair vote on Nov. 4 is impossible because of rampant voter fraud.

The injunction signals a step up in action against ACORN, which for weeks has been the recipient of attacks from the state GOP and John McCain's presidential campaign.

At a press conference in the Capitol, state GOP Chairman Bob Gleason Jr. said the sheer number of registrations submitted by ACORN has overwhelmed many county election offices and the state department has not provided the local bureaus with enough support.

"I am not confident we can trust the results of this election," Gleason said.

The Scranton Times-Tribune has a full recap of GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's Tuesday visit to Scranton, where the Alaskan governor espoused all of her party's familiar themes and criticisms of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

John McCain plans to eliminate the federal deficit while jump-starting the economy, the paper reported Palin said..

"America is deep in debt and he (Barack Obama) will get us in deeper," she said. "America cannot afford another big spender in the White House."

Chris Hackett, a GOP challenger to U.S. Rep. Chris Carney (D-Dimock) in the 10th Congressional District, addressed the crowd before Palin's arrival. The Times-Tribune reported in response to Hackett mentioning Obama's name, one man in the crowd yelled "kill him." The paper reported that was the only such incident at the event.

Another poll, another wide gap for John McCain in the Keystone State.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has a 12-point advantage over his Republican rival in the latest Marist Poll, a seven-point increase from the same poll taken last month. 

Obama leads among likely voters 53 percent to 41 percent, the poll finds, compared to 49 percent to 44 percent in September.

It's the latest in a succession of polls that show the GOP nominee down by double-digits in the Keystone State, which is universally agreed to be a critical state for both candidates. McCain can claim the presidency without Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes, however, if he wins Ohio and Florida and holds on to new battleground states, such as Virginia and North Carolina. He would also need to win battlegound states out west, such as Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. 

A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday reports Barack Obama now has a 15-point advantage over John McCain in Pennsylvania, a dramatic swing in Obama's favor the poll credits largely to the country's financial crisis, the declining popularity of GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and Obama's debate performance.

The Democratic presidential nominee is up 54 percent to 39 percent over his Republican opponent in the Keystone State, the poll reports. It sampled voters from Sept. 27 to Sept. 29, the three days after Friday's first presidential debate. 

A Quinnipiac poll taken before the debate showed Obama up only six percentage points -- 49 percent to 43 percent -- over McCain.

Fiften points is by far the largest margin shown between the two candidates by any poll in the Keystone State, considered critical to both candidate's chances this fall. All of the polls, however, have shown the senator from Illinois increasing his once slim lead over McCain since the onset of the country's financial crisis. 

The poll showed Obama gaining similar leads since the debate in other battleground states. It reports Obama is up 8 points in Ohio and Florida.

"Pennsylvania is back in its role as the most Democratic swing state of the 2008 election, mainly because voters believe Obama will do a better job handling the economy," said Clay Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The race for Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes is in a statistical dead heat, according to the inaugural Big Ten poll released Thursday.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain has the support of 41.6 percent of the state's registered voters, compared to 42.6 percent for Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

When the poll incorporates undecided voters who are leaning toward either candidate, the race tightens. McCain has 44.6 percent support, Obama 45 percent.

The poll's margin of error is 4 percentage points.

It was conducted Sept. 14 through Sept. 17 and included responses from a random 600 registered voters in the state.

The poll's finding are in line with another poll taken earlier this week that also shows the candidates tied.

The Big Ten Poll was conducted in the eight Midwestern states in the collegiate conference. It included Penn State professor Michael Berkman on its advisory board, although the poll was conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean will make a three-stop campaign trip in Hershey and Philadelphia on Friday as the latest Barack Obama surrogate to spend time with state voters.

Dean will speak on behalf of the Democratic presidential nominee at the SEIU union Healthcare PA Annual Convention in Hershey Friday morning before heading to Temple University for an afternoon registration rally. His last stop will be in the heart of Philadelphia at a Campaign For Change field office at 1500 Sansom Street.

The trip will be Dean's second to Pennsylvania in as many months. The chairman made a mid-August visit to Harrisburg, calling Pennsylvania a "must-win" for Obama.

Some polls have shown Obama's lead in the Keystone State, once consistently at 5 points or higher, entirely disappeared.

A 527 advocacy group called "Catholics United" is set to air an ad in Pennsylvania that questions John McCain's "pro-life" commitment, saying the Republican presidential nominee's opposition to expanded children's health insurance and support of the Iraq War are "inconsistent with an authentic pro-life policy."

The group said in a statement that beginning Friday, the ads will air for seven days in "heavily Catholic" areas of the state. The ads will run on major news networks and channels with high female viewership, the statement said.

The 30-second spot features an anti-abortion mother of three, who sits at her kitchen table while ticking off a list of measures McCain opposes, such as a support program for pregnant women.

"Senator McCain, when will you start defending all human life, without exception?" she asks. 

Catholics United describes itself as a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the message of justice and common good found at the heart of the Catholic social tradition." 

The ads will also air in Ohio and Michigan.