McCain readies to hammer away for Pa. swing votes

PIPERSVILLE, Pa. -- If John McCain wants to be the first Republican in two decades to win Pennsylvania, he will need help from swing suburbs such as those in Bucks County.

The challenge is that Bucks County, one of four "collar counties" around Philadelphia, is turning more Democratic.

For the first time since 1978, registered Democrats have an advantage in the county, outnumbering Republicans by about 3,500 voters. The last Republican presidential candidate to win the county was George H.W. Bush in 1988 — also the last time a GOP nominee won the state of Pennsylvania.

"There is no way a Republican statewide candidate can lose those suburban counties and win the state," said Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.

Taking Pennsylvania will be tough, McCain said Monday to voters attending his a town-hall-style meeting here in Pipersville, north of Philadelphia. But the Arizona senator said the task is doable if he can persuade voters with his plans to improve the economy, cut federal spending, reduce dependence on foreign oil and prevail in Iraq.

"I'm the underdog, have no doubt about it," the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said during the meeting at a mechanical construction company. "Pennsylvania again may decide who the next president of the United States is."

Between November and April, Democrats outpaced Republicans in Bucks County by more than 5,000 new voters, according to the county's voter registration report. Madonna attributed that gap to interest in the high-profile Democratic primary on April 22 between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Jack Field, 78, is emblematic of the newly registered Democrats. The retiree from Bristol, Pa., voted for President Bush in 2000 but went for Democrat John Kerry in 2004. Now an Obama campaign volunteer, Field said federal spending and the Iraq war are "the two issues that killed my Republicanism."

But Louan Lukens, a social worker, said McCain's experience and character could help him win both Bucks County and the state. "He's a man of the people," she said.