Determined Steps in a Tough Slog

They all have stories. Among the most interesting one is Anthony Simonovich's. Unemployed, he was downtown looking for work when he walked into Obama headquarters as it was just getting set up. "I was dressed Johnny Cash-style, all black with a blue tie, Windsor knot." He saw Bergeron and two other organizers who asked if he wanted to help them register voters in Scranton public housing tenements. He had grown up in Scranton, and had just returned to the area from San Diego. The women were beautiful, he thought, he was single. Why not? The next day he got a call, and was told he had a job until at least April 22. Though he had no college degree and no political experience, he had worked as a telemarketer. He was made phone bank director for three counties.

Simonovich, 27, also could relate to Obama, having been the product of a biracial marriage. He has a curly Afro, 18 tattoos and likes Pink Floyd and Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes and the Doors. "I actually think biracial people are their own group: Zebrahead Posse."

On one day last week, Simonovich and his team made 1,533 calls to registered Democrats over a 10-hour period. The goal is 1,000 calls a day.

"Sure, there are long hours," he said. "But we're like a family here. Everybody's last name is Obama."

The Obamas have been aided by a squad of energetic surrogates. "We don't mind that uphill climb," said commissioner Washo, "but that climb is steep, I gotta tell you." Someone from the Clinton family, it seems, has been in the area every week for the past six weeks. Hillary Clinton herself was scheduled to make her fourth appearance in Scranton this morning.

Obama was given a big boost with the endorsement of Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who lives in Scranton along with other members of his well-regarded political family. Yesterday evening, Obama campaigned with Casey and Caroline Kennedy at Scranton's Riverfront Sports complex, the Illinois senator's second visit to the area. The Kennedy clan, though, have been mainstays for Obama in the Scranton region. Last week brought two of Robert F. Kennedy's children, Max and Rory, and their mom, Ethel, plus actor Joe Pantoliano (a.k.a. "Joey Pants," a.k.a. "Ralphie" from HBO's "The Sopranos").

Max took the early-early shift, part of a two-car caravan that included his wife, Vicki, commissioners Washo and O'Brien, and Sen. Casey's brother, Pat, a local attorney. They started at 6 a.m., hitting a string of landmark diners and Dunkin' Donuts shops, two senior centers and a veterans center. Max led seniors in singing Irish songs, and they all tried to persuade voters one at a time. Literally, there were moments when a single diner was surrounded by five surrogates trying to make the Obama case. This is what happened with Thomas Basta, 58, who is legally blind, on disability assistance and worried that Social Security will be privatized and Medicare benefits reduced. He didn't think much of Obama or any of the candidates, for that matter. But the surrogates kept talking to him, and Basta started reminiscing about the Kennedy years, telling Max how his father had been a JFK delegate at the 1960 Democratic National Convention. Next thing, Basta had come around and was promising to give Obama a shot. Some in the group yelled: "Break out the champagne!"

They got Basta, but they have a long way to go from there.

"If he loses by under 30 points here," O'Brien insisted, "it's a big victory. It really is."

Clinton's Philly Targets

Polls show Clinton with the overall lead in Pennsylvania and her strategists are hoping for a big victory that will redefine the race. For Obama to have a chance, political experts say he needs to win Philadelphia by a margin of 75 percent to 25 percent and its suburbs by 60 to 40 to offset Clinton's advantages in northeastern Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the state. There are about 4 million registered Democrats in Pennsylvania, and some 1.5 million of them reside in the southeastern portion of the state where Philly is located. Clinton can't afford to get drubbed there. Which is why Maria Monte has been working 9 a.m. to midnight shifts out of Clinton's Mayfair campaign office in northeast Philly, snacking on almonds and Diet Coke. She is a 21-year-old field organizer, an English major who took the semester off at Cornell and has been spending her days looking at a computerized map, trying to figure out where canvassers should go. "My bubble," she explains.

Clinton staffers expect Obama to take West and North Philadelphia, predominantly black neighborhoods, as well as most parts of Center City, home to largely upscale, white dwellers. The opportunities, they say, lie in South and Northeast Philly, both blue-collar, working-class neighborhoods heavily populated by Italians, Irish and Russians.