McCain stumps for support in Delco ("No Republican has won without carrying Springfield Township")

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20080315_McCain_stumps_for_support_in_Delco.html

Republican senator calls Pa. a 'key battleground state'

By WILLIAM BENDER
Philadelphia Daily News

benderw@phillynews.com 215-854-5255
SEN. JOHN McCAIN doesn't have to carry Springfield Township in Delaware County to win the November presidential election, but it ain't a bad place to start.

"No Republican candidate for president of the United States has won that office without carrying Springfield Township," local GOP chairman Michael Puppio told the 1,300 people who packed the Springfield Country Club yesterday for McCain's first Philadelphia-area campaign event.

While Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to slug it out ahead of Pennsylvania's April 22 primary, McCain is plotting his general-election strategy.

And the presumptive Republican nominee said he has no intention of conceding Pennsylvania to the Democrats, even though Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry carried the state in the last four presidential elections.

"I do recognize that Pennsylvania will be a key battleground state," McCain told reporters after wrapping up the first of many town-hall meetings he intends to hold in the state.

The Arizona senator was joined by former Navy Secretary John Lehman as he fielded questions from war veterans, mothers and students at the Springfield Country Club.

FULL story at link.

*shakes fist*