In fact, just the opposite -- they are ramping up efforts, including targeting Northeast and South Philadelphia!!
As many of you know, for the past six weeks I've been traveling with volunteers from New York City to join the efforts of local volunteers in Northeast Philadelphia.
There is no way we're going to let McCain undo the hard work we've been doing.
Ain't.
Gonna.
Happen.
According to a story in Allentown's The Morning Call, the McCain campaign and the Republican Party are going to try to make inroads in the white, working-class neighborhoods of Northeast Philly.
Pennsylvania Republicans are targeting 17 wards in Northeast and South Philadelphia that are home to high concentrations of white, blue-collar voters and large immigrant communities in a bold effort to blunt Democrat Barack Obama's margin of victory in the city.
The unusually intense push will be on display this week, with GOP presidential candidate John McCain at a rally in Northeast Philadelphia on Tuesday and his wife, Cindy McCain, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the National Constitution Center in Center City Monday.
An ad blitz is also planned for the final two weeks. The hope is to keep Obama's victory close to 350,000 votes in Phildadelphia (Kerry won by 412,000 votes in 2004).
"John McCain is doing well everywhere else," Gleason said of the rest of the state. "And I don't want to reach the [Route] 202 corridor ahead and then lose by an avalanche of votes."
I've got a message for Senator McCain: We refuse to let you win more votes in Northeast Philly!
Northeast Philly is a huge area full of white working-class voters. Many are Reagan Democrats.
It's not the easiest place to canvass, and persuasion is not the most comfortable kind of work a volunteer can do. But every person I've talked to who has worked with us in NE Philly come away feeling certain they are making a difference. We've been moving people from leaning McCain to undecided, from undecided to Obama.
There is nothing like talking to a voter and knowing that your visit probably just won Obama another vote. That's why we keep going back.
And now, John, you've just provided added incentive for volunteers to get go knock on doors next weekend. I'll bet this news of your last-ditch effort to make inroads in Philadelphia will double or triple our volunteer turnout for the next two weeks -- great job!
It should be noted that I have not once come across a single McCain canvasser. One week we did see a few people out on a busy street corner with McCain/Palin signs, but that was the only evidence -- beyond yard signs -- of enthusiasm for the Republican candidate in Northeast Philadelphia.