Students in a Swing State

There will be a number of states up for grabs in November. Everyone is pointing to Ohio as a battleground state. Some think Florida could be just as close as it was eight years ago, when the results there determined the election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

And then there's Pennsylvania.

In the primary elections, more than 2.3 million votes were cast on the Democratic side, with Hillary Clinton edging out Barack Obama. For the Republicans, less than a million votes came down, with John McCain garnering nearly 75% of the GOP vote.

But the state is still up for grabs - which is why college democrats at the nearby University of Delaware are making it a point to get their guy as much credibility as possible.

I spoke with Andrew Lease, the Data Director for UD for Obama, about the organization's canvassing work in West Chester, PA.



Grant Tunkel: Why go to West Chester, PA, to spread the word for Barack Obama?
Andrew Lease: West Chester is only about 45 minutes to an hour from here, there's an Obama headquarters there, and there's a college campus there. Part of our job there is to help mobilize their campus along with going around to the actual citizens of West Chester to get them to vote. It was just basically the most practical place in Pennsylvania to go

GT: When you're on the ground in West Chester, what exactly do you do?
AL: A variety of things. The first week we were there we strictly went to residential neighborhoods and knocked on doors. The next week they had us go to the campus of West Chester University to register students to vote and then last week we basically did a mix of both. So I guess you could sum it up as we're trying to get everyone we can to register to vote, and making sure that those who are registered go out to vote and try to sway anyone who's undecided or needs more information about Obama.

GT: How important do you believe the youth vote is in this election?
AL: I think it's basically going to decide the election. Obviously people in that demographic tend to heavily favor Obama, but in past elections, the youth vote has been talked up and it's been said multiple times that youth will come out to vote in record numbers and it never happens. If it does happen this year, Obama will win because he will overwhelmingly win that vote. As far as I'm concerned, the amount of youth who vote in this election could easily decide who becomes the next President.

GT: What is the general feeling on the ground in West Chester? Are the people leaning towards one candidate, or is there a lot of indecision?
AL: When we were in the more wealthy areas, it was more mixed. I would say the majority of people were undecided but those who had decided were split between McCain and Obama. When we went to the more lower class area of West Chester, it was heavily Obama. I don't think any of us had any McCain supporters in that area but clearly that's part of Obama's core voters. He should do very well in southern PA, but the Democrats have only won Chester County twice all time so its a big county to try to sway.

GT: The people who take the trips with you, they're all college students, right?
AL: Yes.

GT: Among the people in your group, which issue is the one you think will decide the election?
AL: Well I think that's changed in the last few weeks. At this point I think the economy has become the most important issue and is going to decide the election because it's just in absolute shambles. Something like Iraq is obviously important but the most important thing has to be how this country is going to get back on its feet so we don't wind up in the Greater Depression, and I don't think that issue is going to go away in the next six weeks.