Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, which as Pennsylvania Avenue notes, continues to be raising more questions than it answers, has apparently finally picked a state director to manage the day-to-day campaign in the state.

Craig Schirmer, a Californian with little if any Pennsylvania experience who was involved in Obama’s South Carolina, Wisconsin and North Carolina primary operations, will run the Pennsylvania campaign.

Republican John McCain will be making his first campaign swing through central Pennsylvania with a rescheduled visit to an aircraft parts manufacturer in Harrisburg.

McCain, the likely GOP presidential nominee, plans to tour and visit with employees at Turbine Airfoil Designs Inc., an airplane parts manufacturing company in Harrisburg Monday morning.

He’s then off to Pipersville in Bucks County for a town hall meeting and tour of Worth & Company.

What do you all think of this “unity tour”? Will it make a difference in your vote or were you going to vote Democratic either way?

Barack Obama returns to Pennsylvania Thursday morning for an invitation-only “economic competitiveness summit” on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, has been touring the country and trying to show working-class voters he not only gets how they are struggling but also has solutions to make things better.

The next day, Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will begin their “Unity Tour,” to help repair some of the rifts from the primary and get Clinton backers on board with Obama.

Obama represents a radical change in direction for the country – of course, his ideas and platform, but also the question of race. Despite the boos we heard, Ed Rendell was right in saying that many Americans still aren’t comfortable voting for a black man.

The presidential election will be about many things. Mostly, it will be about Barack Obama.

Millions of Americans are ready for change. But many aren’t comfortable with the man who’s calling for it, at least not yet.  read more »

John McCain has a new ad running in Pennsylvania focusing on his big ideas for the country, including corporate accountability and healthcare. Oddly, the ad forgot some punctuation both on screen (acceptable in this context) and in narration (unacceptable). Energy is “cleaner cheaper” and taxes are “simpler fairer” under McCain. Don’t forget it.

(via Josh)

Even though he’s a committee chairman, you don’t hear much about Rep. Bob Brady, but this week he asked his fellow Democrats to put their cards on the table. Strangely, he remains undeclared…

Rep. Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.) is trying to cajole the largest single cache of undeclared Democratic superdelegates – members of Congress – to make their presidential choices public within a week of the final primaries June 3.

“We need an endgame; we need a timetable,” Brady, who also is chairman of the Philadelphia Democratic Party and an undeclared superdelegate, said in an interview.  read more »

Peace, preserving our planet, and … hand to hand combat? We’re talking about Cynthia McKinney of course, the former congresswoman who caused a stir after punching a Capitol police officer in DC.

The PA Green Party reports that McKinney, who switched her registration to Green, is their choice for presidential candidate.

“Cynthia McKinney is the embodiment of Green values,” said Pennsylvania party chairwoman Hillary Aisenstein. “Cynthia McKinney represents real change for American voters and you can tell it by looking at her record in Congress.”

Best of luck. And Hillary? I’d learn some self-defense if I were you.