Mar 10, 2008 11:44 pm US/Eastern
Clinton, Obama Campaigns Gear Up For Pa.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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Presidential hopefuls Sens. Hillary Clinton (l) and Barack Obama.
AP, Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
In six weeks, nearly 3.9 million Democrats in Pennsylvania will get to vote for a presidential candidate.
On Tuesday, former President Bill Clinton will campaign in Beaver and Washington counties for his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton.
That's the visible side of the campaign. But behind the scenes, camps for both Sens. Barack Obama and Clinton are gearing up for a very hard-fought local battle for votes.
Volunteers for Obama moved lots of chairs into their Pittsburgh headquarters in East Liberty. Inside, tables were set up to handle the dozens of volunteers the campaign expects until the primary.
"It's going to be a very tight race, and right now we need all the help we can get," Gayly Crawford, Pitt student and Obama volunteer, said.
It's clear that the campaign is attracting some devoted supporters.
Ann and Jim Petre, both graduate students from Illinois, just arrived in Pittsburgh Monday.
"We've been doing everything we can. We went to Iowa, we went to Missouri, we went to Ohio, and now we're in Pennsylvania," Jim told KDKA.
The day's mission at Obama headquarters was calling Independent voters and encouraging them to register as Democrats so they can vote April 22.
Only registered Democrats can vote in Pennsylvania's Democratic Primary and Obama, who has done well among Independents, wants them to switch.
Clinton Western Pennsylvania Campaign Director Kevin Kinross says their focus is on Democrats.
"Here in the west, we're at the present time focusing more on the Democratic vote that we have, the identified super voters, folks we expect to go the polls," he said.
While Obama headquarters is up and running, on the eve of President Clinton's visit, you won't find anyone yet on the second floor of the Pitt Building on Smithfield Street, downtown, where Clinton headquarters is filled with boxes.
"We're just getting our Pittsburgh office opened, and these were shipped to us over the weekend from Cleveland, Ohio," Kinross said.
The campaign is moving equipment such as computers, printers and phones to the office. Some items are being reused from Ohio to save money.
But other things are new, like hundreds of lawn signs, window placards and campaign buttons that are ready for distribution.
He says that Western Pennsylvania is key to a Clinton victory in the state.
"Senator Clinton is going to be here often. The staff is going to have talented people from the national campaign," Kinross said. "We have a great amount of local resources and local talented people. We have to win Western Pennsylvania."
The Clinton campaign has been using phone backs at a nearby labor union so they haven't exactly been inactive, but their headquarters downtown won't be open until later this week.
Tuesday, KDKA-TV will have its first statewide poll in the race between Clinton and Obama.
We'll see if the Ohio and Texas victories have given a lift to Clinton and -more importantly - what issues are moving Pennsylvania voters.
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