According to an analysis by Evan Tracey of Campaign Media Analysis Group sponsored by Talking Points Memo, McCain ran 336 spots in Pennsylvania last Monday but only 284 this Monday. That is a week over week 15% drop in Pennsylvania ad spending by the McCain campaign.

Athena Jones gives her rundown of 5,000+ hours covering Hillary:

I covered the once-”inevitable” nominee from September to late April, when I was reassigned to Obama’s plane. What follows is this embedded reporter’s take on the best, and only, political story I’ve ever followed on such a massive, exhausting, exhilarating, demanding scale — a close-up view of the unique form of life-giving, yet life-consuming, submersion that has come to define modern-day political campaigns.

Things fall apart, the center cannot hold…
Among the lessons learned over these many months: One, whatever the final judgment on Bill Clinton’s effect on this race, which by most accounts was Hillary’s to lose, and the value of his brand, one thing is sure, he is no longer the much-loved, well-respected king of the party in many people’s eyes. (Nor is he likely to be referred to again as “the first black president,” even in jest.) Two, as much as the media’s hunger for metaphors may at times overreach, it turns out that a campaign’s organization or lack thereof is a good indicator of the candidate’s ability to win.

The AP is reporting that, according to their tally, Obama has now secured enough delegates to secure the nomination for President of the Democratic Party.

From the wire service:

Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House.Campaigning on an insistent call for change, Obama outlasted former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a historic race that sparked record turnout in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial divisions within the party.

The AP tally was based on public commitments from delegates as well as more than a dozen private commitments. It also included a minimum number of delegates Obama was guaranteed even if he lost the final two primaries in South Dakota and Montana later in the day.

The Obama campaign drew a huge, essentially capacity-filling crowd to Pittsburgh’s Petersen Events Center, home of Pitt Panthers basketball. The crowd began pouring in at 7:30 pm and didn’t really stop coming until Obama took the stage after 10 pm. Obama’s crowds, due to their sheer size if for no other reason, draw a greater diversity of people in Pittsburgh. It was the largest political rally I’ve ever attended, and the sound inside the stadium was deafening at times.

The atmosphere at these rallies has been described as like a rock concert, but to me they more resemble a sporting event. Of course, the energy and excitement is palpable among the supporters, and frankly, a lot of the press as well, and yet there’s also a sense of drama to the spectacle. The campaign’s event orchestration and Obama’s rhetoric itself has a rhythm to it that, much like an African-American sermon, takes the crowd on an emotional journey. Folks are literally on the edge of their seats with tension and leap for joy at all (and I mean all) of the applause lines.

Obama was introduced by Teresa Heinz Kerry, his wife Michelle and Senator Bob Casey. He gave basically his latest stump speech. Afterwards, the crowd poured out into the Oakland night. Their enthusiasm was evident, but one wonders whether that will translate into tangible votes in the morning. If so, the rally would indeed have been a rousing success.

I have a slideshow of this Obama rally in Pittsburgh.

In Philadelphia Friday night, Obama drew about 35,000 people in downtown Philadelphia, easily surpassing his previous high of 30,000 in South Carolina with Oprah Winfrey.

Sen. Barack Obama drew 35,000 people at a downtown rally tonight in Independence Park, local security officials told the campaign, making the crowd at this evening’s event his largest ever. The sea of people sprawled across nearly three city blocks.

The crowd – the estimate of 35,000 came from officials at the Independence Visitors Center – began assembling early, filling Independence Mall and spilling into the surrounding streets. They waited with relative patience, chanting “O-ba-ma” whenever the music stopped, until 8:45, when the rally finally started. They gave him a thunderous greeting and cheered often throughout a speech that was crafted with the setting in mind.

His speech, a new one, painted Clinton as an opportunist.

She’s taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any other candidate in this race, even John McCain, because she says that lobbyists represent ‘real Americans’.  She’s taken different positions at different times on issues as fundamental as trade and even war to suit the politics of the moment,” Obama said. “And in the last few months, she’s launched what her campaign calls a ‘kitchen sink’ strategy of negative attacks, which she defends by telling us that this is what the Republicans would do.

Clinton returned to Philadelphia later that night for her own Pennsylvania barnstorming tour.

The Philadelphia ABC News debate featured a question from a Pennsylvania voter about Obama and his flag pin. While the question is probably not worth the air time that ABC gave it, the reporters over at McClatchy have dug a little deeper into Nash McCabe, the author of that question. It’s a fascinating story of a woman from Latrobe, just east of Pittsburgh, and her take on the personas of Clinton and Obama.

“That’s what upsets me about Barack Obama,” she says. “He takes everything so nonchalantly.”

Barack Obama will join former Pittsburgh Steelers greats like Franco Harris and Dwight White for rallies in Pittsburgh and surrounding towns on Friday.  He’ll cap off his Steeler fun with an evening tailgate at Heinz Field with Sen. Bob Casey and Steelers owner Dan Rooney at 6pm.

These events are sure to generate a ton of local media coverage, even if the Pens are on the hunt for the Cup.

He’ll be in Aliquippa, Carnegie, Greensburg, Charleroi, Uniontown and Pittsburgh on Friday.

While neither Democratic candidate looked particularly good last night, both looked better than ABC News debate moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous. Where were the questions about policy and issues?  It may or may not be ABC’s fault that both candidates performed so poorly, but the likely winner of this debate was John McCain.

Obama certainly had the spotlight during the debate and didn’t handle the glare particularly well, as essentially every negative of his campaign was resurrected.  He stayed on message, repeating the same answers to these same questions as he has on the campaign trail.  Clinton did her best to pile on where she could, and she probably barely won the debate.  In doing so, however, she may have set herself back some in her superdelegate campaign by explicitly and emphatically saying “Yes, Yes, Yes!” in regard to Obama’s electability.

Pittsburgh’s big daily newspaper, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, endorses Obama following his meeting with their editorial board.

On Thursday, April 3rd, President Bill Clinton will be in Altoona, Pennsylvania for a “Solutions for America” event.  This is part of his ongoing rural hitman tour.

I wonder if this is as close to Pittsburgh as he’s going to get.  If you’re thinking of going, it’s at Penn State Altoona.  He’s going to be discussing how Hillary has been fighting for American families for 35 years and go over her policy plans for the future.

Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 2:00 PM -  4:00 PM

Steven A. Adler Athletic Complex
3000 Ivyside Park
Altoona, PA 16601
General Area: Penn State Altoona