The intelligent question thrown out among strategists for both campaigns is, can John McCain really win Pennsylvania?

Really win it, not pretend to go for it, as Republicans did in 2004, all the while closing the deal in Ohio when no one was looking.

The last Republican presidential candidate to win Pennsylvania was George H.W. Bush, in 1988 -- a win preceded by two Reagans but followed by two Clintons, a Gore and a Kerry. The Kerry win was narrower than the others, however.

Since this year’s Pennsylvania primaries, many people have been schooled on the mechanics of how Democrats win this state. Call it the “Rendell rule”: Stack up high numbers in the Philly collar counties, hold the losses to a minimum in the other 60, and try to win Allegheny for good measure.

Can Barack Obama pull off a Rendell?

Villanova University political science professor Bob Maranto says political undercurrents are playing against him. “This is an old state, demographically, and some older white voters will be reluctant to vote for a black candidate,” he explains, “but there is something more at work. Even if they call themselves independents, most voters more or less automatically vote either Democratic or Republican.”

Maranto calculates that the 20 percent or so of voters who really are up for grabs will use information about a candidate's background to make assumptions about his policy views.

Pennsylvanians don’t see McCain in the “failed Bush policies” category by which Democrats try to define him. Instead, they see a war hero, a brand that resonates in the blue-collar areas where their unions are trying to persuade them otherwise.

“He is a guy you can depend on,” said Tom Miller, 54, of Lancaster, a registered Democrat who is very comfortable voting for McCain. “He has had no problem bucking his own party and he does not ask me to make sacrifices that he isn’t willing to make.”

Add the stereotypes that some voters hold about black candidates and Obama dilutes the Rendell rule.

So, where can McCain offset traditional Democrat voting blocs?

In Allegheny, Bucks and Chester counties, where a large number of those voters live. Continued...