One Last Pitch in Mississippi Before Looking to Pennsylvania
FAIRLESS HILLS, PA. -- On the day of the Mississippi primary, Barack Obama already had his sights on Pennsylvania, a state whose primary is six weeks away and offers 188 pledged delegates. However, before heading to the Keystone State, Obama made a last pitch to voters at a local diner in Greenville, Mississippi.
"I just want to ask something, have you voted yet?" Obama asked the crowd, "If you haven't voted, you have to vote now."
One patron called out, "We need some jobs!"
"I promise when I'm president of the United States, I'll come back to the Delta. You all keep me in your prayers, now," he replied.
The economy and jobs were the focus of his campaign message in Pennsylvania as well, where Obama toured a wind energy plant and hosted a small town hall meeting with workers.
"Whether it's the rising cost of health care, or a tank of gas that's more than $3 a gallon, or wages that aren't much higher than they were a generation ago, the challenges folks are facing here aren't all that different from the ones folks are facing across this country," Obama said in his opening remarks.
"And what we also know is that while the world is changing and poses new challenges, these challenges aren't beyond our control. The truth is, working families are struggling today in large measure because of a failure of leadership and imagination in Washington."
Obama did not mention Hillary Clinton on either campaign stop and avoided questions about Eliot Spitzer and Geraldine Ferraro. However, his staff denounced Ferraro's comments and called for her dismissal from the Clinton campaign finance committee.
"When you wink and nod, you tell supporters anything goes," campaign strategist, David Axelrod, told reporters on a conference call.
"Senator Clinton is seen as a divisive and polarizing force, and this is an opportunity for her to address that."
Obama heads back to Chicago tonight where he will await results from the Mississippi primary.