Addressing thousands of screaming partisans in the Mellon Arena, Sen. Barack Obama delivered what his campaign called a "closing argument" to the campaign that ends in just over a week.
Mr. Obama was introduced by Steelers President Dan Rooney whose presence sparked incongruous calls of "Here we go Steelers, Here we go," in the home of the Penguins.
"Eight more days, eight more days," the crowd chanted taking the lead of Sen. Bob Casey, who, along with Gov. Ed Rendell joined Mr. Obama on the arena floor. As they voiced their support for the Democratic nominee, thousands of other supporters still waited in the long line that wrapped around the Lower Hill site.
"In eight more days we are going to change the course of American history," Mr. Casey said. "There's only one way to do that and that is to elect Barack Obama the next president United States."
Taking the stage to thunderous applause, Mr. Obama promised to deliver a new tone in the capital, leaving behind the partisanship he has frequently denounced over the nearly two years he has been on the campaign trail. While doing so, however, he managed to take a few partisan shots at the opponent who was campaigning at the other side of the state.
"After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and 21 months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one week away from change in America," he said as a wave of applause broke over the arena.
"I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics -- one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans."
Polls show Mr. Obama with a double-digit lead in the state over Sen. John McCain, who was on the stump in Pottsville, Schuykill County in the first of a series of appearances in a state he badly needs as a buffer against potential losses in traditionally Republican states now leaning toward the Democrat.
"Now, Sen. McCain has served this country with distinction. And he can point to a few moments over the past eight years, on torture for example, where he has broken from George Bush," Mr. Obama said. "But when it comes to the economy -- when it comes to the central issue of this election all across then region, he don't get it. The plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this president every step of the way. Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed.
"Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt. He called for less regulation twenty-one times just this year. Those are the facts."
Mr. Obama will appear Tuesday in Chester County, in the ring of once Republican Philadelphia suburbs that he hopes to capture next Tuesday.
Western Pennsylvania hasn't seen the last of the Obama campaign however. On Wednesday, former President Bill Clinton will seek Democratic votes in Washington County.
First Published: October 28, 2008, 2:00 a.m.
