Sens. Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr. drove headlong into a post-nomination bus tour yesterday, working to distract voters from John McCain’s headline-grabbing selection of running mate and that most formidable of public policy issues in Western Pennsylvania: Friday night high school football.

He dispatched Mr. McCain, who will accept the Republican nomination at the Republican National Convention next week, by tying him to President Bush: “John McCain just does not get what ordinary people here in Beaver, Pennsylvania, are going through. Here’s a guy that said we’ve made great economic progress under George W. Bush. I don’t think you’ve seen that progress here in Beaver,” Mr. Obama told a crowd at Beaver’s Irvine Park.