Clinton and Obama Vie for Women Of Philadelphia Suburbs

[DeepModem Mom]

WSJ: Clinton and Obama Vie for Women Of Philadelphia Suburbs
Young, Educated Could Be the Key To Primary Victory
By NICK TIMIRAOS
April 10, 2008; Page A6

MALVERN, Pa. -- With polls showing a closer Democratic contest in Pennsylvania, both candidates have stepped up efforts to court a prized constituency: the young, college-educated women who reside in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Sen. Barack Obama returned Wednesday to these suburban battlegrounds, and Sen. Hillary Clinton will head this way later in the week. Sen. Clinton has performed well across the country among older voters and women, and polls show she continues to do well among both groups in Pennsylvania. Sen. Obama does well among higher-income voters, male voters and younger voters.

With Pennsylvania's manufacturing and steel towns financially distressed, the economy has been the top focus for both candidates across the state, but Philadelphia's suburban counties remain better off than the rest of the state.

That means the Iraq war could be of greater importance in the suburbs than it is elsewhere....

Both candidates have campaigned at old steel factories that have been repurposed to create green jobs in Bucks County. Sen. Clinton, who has doggedly courted blue-collar steel and manufacturing workers in the state, unveiled a middle-class-tax-cut proposal in Philadelphia last week. At a town-hall meeting Wednesday, meanwhile, Sen. Obama appealed to suburban moderates and those wary of big government. "We know that government cannot solve all of our problems, and we don't expect it to. We don't want our tax dollars wasted on programs that don't work," he said.

In an effort to court women voters, Sen. Obama released a 30-second television ad in the state this week that features his wife, Michelle, his half-sister and his grandmother. Michelle Obama made three suburban stops last month, and supporters Caroline Kennedy and television actress Kate Walsh have campaigned in Philadelphia. The New York senator held a "rally for women" in the Philadelphia suburb of Blue Bell last month that drew 3,000 supporters. "There were women who brought their daughters and said, 'I just wanted my daughter to meet the next president of the United States,' " says Rep. Allyson Schwartz, who represents the district and is backing Sen. Clinton....

Among Philadelphia's suburban voters, Sen. Obama now leads 53% to 42% after trailing by a 44%-to-52% margin last month. Sen. Clinton's 24-point lead among women in the state last month, meanwhile, fell to 13 points. The margin of error in the survey of 1,340 likely Democratic-primary voters was 2.7 percentage points. Other polls show Sen. Clinton with double-digit leads statewide, buoyed by a growing lead in southeast Pennsylvania....

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120779021834803625.html