SMITHFIELD, Ohio -- Sen. Barack Obama took an easy, late summer amble through this rural region of Ohio yesterday, managing to make very little news -- but just enough to stay visible during the Republican National Convention.

In a departure from the huge rallies and big speeches of last week, Mr. Obama is deliberately playing it low-key this week, focusing on intimate gatherings, picnics and family barbecues in battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan -- albeit with plenty of national and local media along to record every move.

In a hot courtyard at the Kent State University Tuscarawas campus in New Philadelphia -- attended by 250 people -- a shirtsleeved, relaxed Mr. Obama did blast the Republican Party for ignoring the economy during Tuesday night's convention speeches.

And later, at a barbecue at Piergallini Farms near Smithfield, a small, economically depressed town of about 1,000 people near the Pennsylvania border, Mr. Obama spoke against a classic late summer backdrop of rolling farmland and American flags, while the audience savored barbecued pork and sat on bales of hay.

"These images will show up not just on local or national television, but on YouTube and Facebook, and that's the point," said James McCann, a political scientist at Purdue University. "The Obama campaign has mastered the art of social networking, which is why these small events have great value because they'll be up on the Internet almost immediately. Plus the campaign will get a new mailing list out of it."

Traditional political convention etiquette always dictated that a presidential candidate keep a low profile during his opponent's convention week, but neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. McCain has paid attention. Last week in Denver, the Republican National Committee opened a "war room" featuring McCain surrogate Mitt Romney, daily media briefings on Mr. Obama's gaffes and even, at one point, a "Hillary Happy Hour." The Democratic National Committee has been firing back at Mr. McCain at its own daily briefings in Minnesota.

Still, with all the churn and controversy over Sen. John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Mr. Obama hasn't needed to campaign particularly vigorously this week, said Darrell West, vice president and director of governance at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

"The way the Obama campaign is handling things this week makes sense," Mr. West said. "It's good for him to do small events, which will humanize him and keep him in the news without stepping on any negative publicity that might come out of the Republican convention. It's the best of both worlds."

The Kent State event was billed as a forum on women and the economy, and featured an introduction by a tearful single mother, Gabrielle Neavin, who told the group she was voting for Mr. Obama because "I believe Barack Obama understands my struggles."

It's not clear if the Obama campaign scheduled the women's forum before or after Ms. Palin's selection was announced, but it allowed the Illinois senator to showcase his own concern for women during the same news cycle that would feature Mrs. Palin delivering her first big speech to GOP delegates.

For his part, Mr. Obama repeated some of the same themes enunciated in his speech to Democrats a week ago.

"I don't think they [the G.O.P.] are connecting with what ordinary folks, like Gabrielle, are going through every day," Mr. Obama said at Kent State, adding that it "wasn't hard for me to connect" with Ms. Neavin since his own mother was 18 when he was born.

For the first time, though, he mentioned Ms. Palin by name, albeit in the mildest of terms, noting that he disagreed with her and Mr. McCain on the issue of pay equity for women.

Despite a positive reception at Kent State and later at the Smithfield event, Mr. Obama has his work cut out for him in this region of eastern Ohio. In 2004, George W. Bush narrowly won the state, and several recent polls show Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain running about even in Ohio -- at 47 percent to 45 percent.

"I'm not sure he has a lot of support here," said Bette Hill, a retired schoolteacher and resident of New Philadelphia -- despite her own enthusiasm for Mr. Obama, which she's showing by working phone banks and registering voters. "This whole district is full of conservative Democrats who went for Bush last time. More of them may go with Obama this time, but I'm not sure enough of them will."

"He won't win Ohio," added James Massey, 75, of nearby Cuyahoga Falls. "He's too young and inexperienced. A little light in his shorts, you know what I mean?" he said while downing scrambled eggs and biscuits with gravy at Michael's Restaurant yesterday morning.

"He seems to have wanted to position himself on the national ticket the minute he got elected. Now, that Sarah Palin, I like her," he added. "She's got tenacity, conviction. She seems the sort of person our framers of the Constitution envisioned representing us, a common person, who understands what normal people go through. And she didn't go to Harvard."